ABSTRACT
By the end of Chapter 8, you will be able to:
Discuss the difference between development and underdevelopment
Interrogate how Europe underdeveloped Africa and Africa developed Europe
Explain why modernity is a contested term and interrogate the subject of European Enlightenment
Examine postcolonial relations in Africa
Apply understanding to case studies
In Chapter 8, we define the difference between modernity and modernisation. This involves an interrogation of the subject of European Enlightenment. Development and underdevelopment are central to our discussion. We start with Guyanese scholar-activist and Marxist intellectual Walter Rodney’s (1942–1980) radical Marxist critique of development in Africa. Rodney’s central contention is that Western Europe underdeveloped Africa and Africa developed Western Europe. Next, we turn to Kenyan academic and postcolonial scholar Simon Gikandi (1956–), who helps us think about modernity as an important but contested term. We interrogate Africa’s place within the discourse of Western modernity differentiating between modernity, modernisation and tradition.