Worthy of reading! African Elites and their Post-colonial Legacy: Cultural, Political and Economic Discontent by Way of Literature by Samba Diop The major theme of this article is a discussion of the complex relation that Africa’s post-colonial classes have with the question of tradition as they struggle to keep pace with the dictates of modern neo-liberal capitalism. Capitalism produces wealth, but it is unbalanced wealth. As a result, most of Africa’s populations are disillusioned with their contemporary economic life as dictated by the international institutions that hold sway over their lives within the context of changing traditions and the growing embrace of modern material culture. The reader must have noticed that the word ‘elites’ is in the plural. In so doing I want to express the idea that all elites are concerned here: intellectual, political, cultural, and those of the business world. The reason is that each particular elite group is necessarily imbued with the cultural tokens of tradition. But what creates the cultural antinomies is the fact that – for the most part they willingly allow themselves to succumb to the temptations and blandishments of neoliberal capitalism. And in spite of the communitarian principles of their traditional cultures, the dictates of neoliberalism force them to satisfy their own individual wants and needs and not extend such privileges beyond their neo-class boundaries. A classic example is that of the socialist communitarian-minded intellectual or academic who on being appointed to an important ministerial position in government is transformed from living the life of the mind to living the superficial life of exaggerated material wealth, openly on display with its expected posturing and pomposity. A major theme of this article is articulated around the idea that the modern Africa bourgeois classes find themselves in a sociological and economic situation not of their own historical making. They have been placed in the positions they now hold as a result of the departure of the metropolitan servants of Empire. The metropolitan servants of Empire in Africa worked hand-in-hand with their entrepreneurial business counterparts to ensure that the exploited proceeds of empire were efficiently harvested before being shipped back to the metropolis. The metropolitan servants of Empire were merely Europeans working within the matrix of Empire, all sharing the same culture and traditions with their homologues in the European headquarters. They worked as competently as most civil servants do while watching the calendar until retirement with full pension. They just did the books for their governments and mostly stayed within the boundaries of their European cultures. They were hardly stirred by the comprador spirit. But the vast profit-making enterprise known as empire needed much help in its efforts. Thus apart from the recruited and often forced labour needed to build infrastructural systems that would facilitate transporting agricultural and mineral resources to the coast, there was also need for assistant workers for the colonial bureaucracy. First, the locals had to undergo some training, hence the introduction of the mission and colonial schools. The result of this was the creation of a new class of individuals exposed to aspects of European culture that were super-imposed on the local ethnic cultures. Full paper (pdf) here! codesria.org/IMG/pdf/8-AD_Vol_37_4_2012_Diop.pdf
Posted on: Fri, 18 Apr 2014 20:29:53 +0000
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