how europe underdeveloped africa sparknotes

In addition to the economic exploitation of the African people, Rodney also dealt with the anti-imperialist and anti-racist political struggles in Africa.

He was a scholar who applied Marxist theory in a creative fashion to the African condition. Rodney was not a person rigidly bound to some idea. It is demonstrated that Rodney’s ideas are usually presented in distorted forms and the criticisms against them lack a valid foundation. After outlining Rodney’s life and contribution to historiography, he examines how the main textbooks on African history in use today deal with How Europe Underdeveloped Africa.

However, the imperialist forces mounted a ruthless effort to counter the revolutionary forces and grand reversals occurred almost everywhere. It was an era of worldwide struggles against imperialism. Starting with a chapter by chapter summary of How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, Hirji goes on to outline the global context in which Rodney wrote his book. Thereby, young people in Africa and the Caribbean today have no clue who Rodney was. It is claimed that Rodney may be relevant for the study of the enslavement of Africans and the colonial era but for the postcolonial era, the African rulers bear the full responsibility for the underdevelopment of Africa. But his principal work, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, faces strong ideological antagonism in the modern political and social discourse in Africa and beyond. Walter Rodney was one of the major Pan-Africanists and historians of the 20th century. Africa Update joins committed scholars like Hirji and Angela Davis (who wrote the race-class-gender based preface to the 2018 edition of the book by Verso Press) to appreciate the contributions of Walter Rodney. He argues that the main work of Walter Rodney, ‘a pre-eminent, paradigm-shifting text,’ remains as relevant for Africa today as it was when it was first published in 1972. Hirji, a retired Professor of Medical Statistics and Fellow of the Tanzania Academy of Sciences has published The Enduring Relevance of How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. With a view to countering misperceptions and explaining Rodney’s ideas, Karim F. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Professor of Sociology and Africana Studies Guest Editor (Special Edition of Africa Update) Nigel Westmaas: How Europe Underdeveloped Africa and the contemporary relevance of Walter Rodney Kimani Nehusi: Forty-seven Years After: Understanding and Updating Walter Rodney How Europe Underdeveloped Africa: A Tribute to Walter Rodneyīiko Agozino, Rethinking Education for Underdevelopment and Education for Development in Africa

How europe underdeveloped africa sparknotes