Walter Rodney, in this eye-opening piece of literature, compiles an articulate and nuanced chronology of Africa’s sojourn in the process of development. He cites Africa’s interactions with the western world and all the pitfalls of that affair in ways that unravel the writer’s perspectives on the events that stifled what ought to have been the natural self-advancement of the African peoples.

Covering a span of roughly five centuries, this book chronicles the historical evolution of African societies, from the time when they formed indigenous social relations to the time of interacting with Europe, going through subjugation in the guise of advancement (colonialism), and back to the state of independence. All these it did, while highlighting the various historical events that exposits the dominance imposed by Europe upon Africa. Some of these events include the transatlantic slave trade, religious/christian missions and colonialism. It also sights and expatiates on some of the ideals which the actions of the colonial powers were based on. A very prominent one being capitalism, which was the political system operated by the two major colonial powers in Africa.

"The growing technological and econmic gap between Western Europe and Africa was part of the trend within capitalism to concentrate or polarise wealth and poverty at two opposite extremes" [162]

It was clear from the piece that the opinions of the writer were affectedly critical of almost every action of the colonialists but what was particularly intriguing for me was the manner with which Walter drove his point home. As strong as his opinions were about the motives of the European powers, he never failed to acknowledge the works of other authors who had given their take on the happenings within the period covered by the book, citing a number of documentations and individual proclamations on the varied matters within the book and simultaneously providing his honest and, quite often, scathing reviews on them.

While the writer acquiesces to the notion that most parts of Africa were comparatively less developed to the major capitalist nations of Europe at the point of interaction with the outside world, he argues that it is only so because the indicators for making such assumptions were never holistic. Walter considers the term ‘development’ to be a sum of the state of various societal elements, and as such, one whose defining indicators ought to take the same consideration. A major indicator often singled out by the bourgeoisie scholar (as he often called them in the text) is that of the economic state of affairs (economic development). This Walter opines to be a prejudiced perspective to the matter of development, as Africa, like most parts of Asia, was at a different stage of societal evolution before the coming of the Europeans, communalism; at a time when maximizing/optimizing production or its contributing factors was not a top concern for most African states. He argues that a more equitable indicator would be culture, since it’s always been a mainstay of every society and it comprises of the totality of the way of life of a people at any given epoch—A point I quite agree with. In this regard, Rodney posits that Africa was just as developed on the cultural front as almost any other part of the world if not more. This was evident in some of the commentaries of the Europeans that first landed in Africa. An example he gave was that of the Ancient city of Benin.

According to Rodney, different societies developed at different rates in time. And even though the reason for this isn’t very clear, evidences tie the interacting superstructures formed from social relations within these societies and environmental factors to plausible causes. Plus, hardly were any two societies ever said to have possessed identical systems at any particular time. This disparity in cultures, superstructures and environmental factors is linked to as a probable cause of this shift in the developmental trajectory of different human societies. It is the clear assertion of the writer that, just like Asia, Africa was developing/evolving independently until the forced arrival of the Europeans on African soil. The economic part to it might have taken a bit longer considering the capitalist nations of Europe were already ahead of the curve. However, if the exploitation that took place in Africa between the 15^th and the 19^th centuries particularly had not occurred, the story would have been a lot different. As he put it:

”….but, on the issue of comparative economics, the relevant fact is that what was a slight difference when the Portuguese sailed to West Africa in 1444 was a huge gap by the time that European robber statesmen sat down in Berlin 440 years later to decide  who should steal which parts of Africa.” [161]

Strongly worded you’d agree. But so were his opinions on the other historical elements he dissertated: Africa’s technological stagnation; Africa’s contribution to European capitalist development; The peculiarities and state of developed African societies before European contact, where societies like Ancient Egypt, Ethiopia, Maghreb, Yoruba, Nubia, and Western Sudanic empires were discussed extensively.

Walter’s personal story, just like this work, is a bittersweet one. Definitely one worth discussing but that would have to be for some other time.  What is worth discussing however is how he dissected the repositories of African history to provide an alternative story to what he considered a bias in the narrative of development and/or underdevelopment of the African peoples at the time. In this piece, the writer evinced great voice, insight and resourcefulness, in narrating what was otherwise a historical account of the subjugation of the African people by the capitalist nations of Europe.

Recommendations: This being my first read off Walter’s catalogue was just as insightfully engaging as I had expected it to be when I first picked it up, and I personally would be looking into more of his works as they seem well researched. Other than the fact that some may find it a bit of a tedious read owing to the copious nature of economic and socio-political jargons, it was overall nothing short of an insightful piece of research work that deserves the plaudits it has gotten already and should be consumed scrupulously.  And if you’re a lover of Historicals, particularly those founded on characteristically strong illations, this is surely a good bet.

Personal Ratings: 4.8/5

You can read about the author here