Africa: A Continent Exiting and Entering a Century in a ‘Sick-Bay’

Abstract

The paper appears in three parts, which must be read as one. Part One situates the current development crisis in Africa in the relevant theoretical and historical context. It also highlights the global context of the crisis and the extent it has hindered genuine human-centred development in the continent to date. Part Two examines the ideological assumptions that underlie and sustain the development crisis. These are the myths and deceptions on and about Africa, its natural and human resources and the reproduction of these distorted images. The relationship between the ideologies and the anti-social and anti-environmental growth patterns is examined. Part Three examines current philosophies and practices that are increasingly pushing Africa into the fangs of global capitalism on the basis of an intensified `sponsored-peripheral capitalism'. Finally, suggestions as to how the continent can enjoy the twenty-first century outside the `sick-bay' of `mal-development' are made. A select bibliography is included at the end of each part.