The New Diaspora
Myths and Realities of Higher
Education as a Vehicle for NationBuilding in Africa
Seth Agbo
State University of New York at Potsdam
Sequence of Topics
What is the African Diaspora?
 Phases of Africa’s presence in the New
world
 The new diaspora
 Post-independent higher education policy
 Theoretical perspectives on development
 Realities of higher education in Africa
 Pan Africanism
 Conclusion

The African Diaspora
Diaspora--Greek word for dispersal as
enshrined in the Book of Deuteronomy
(28:25).
 First used widely for the scattering abroad
of the Jews--began to have the adjective
African or Black in mid 1950s and 1960s.
 The term African Diaspora first originated
in 1956--First International Congress of
Negro Writers and Artists in Paris.

3 Paradigmatic Phases of the
African Diaspora
 The
era of the labor imperative--the source of the
diaspora of enslavement--labor globalization
Slavery from the 16th century onwards--wasted
brain drain.
 Territorial imperative--the era of imperialism--the
Monroe Doctrine (1823) and founding of Liberia
as a repercussion for the Scramble for Africa.
 Extractive imperative--Resource globalization-industrialization
Critical minerals--gold & diamonds
agricultural raw materials--cocoa, coffee, etc.
Oil
The African Diaspora
Represents a global space, a worldwide
web, that accounts as much for Africa as for
wherever in the world her offspring may
have been driven by the unkind forces of
history.
 The valor, skill, and fertility of the African
Diaspora made it possible for Europeans to
subdue, settle and develop the New World.
 African labor did much to facilitate the rise
of industrial capitalism, and with it
European hegemony over the globe.

The New Diaspora--Labor
Globalization(2 Forms)
20th century labor movements--voluntary
brain drain.
 Colonial ties--early migration of Africans to
the U.K., France, Belgium, etc.

Changes in immigration policies
 Focus
from Europe to North America
Immigration policies favor highly educated
migrants from Africa.
1990 U.S. Census
Over 400,000 Africans in the U.S.
 Most were human capital immigrants,
highly educated and skilled African
immigrants, have higher scores that
promote employability than the general U.S.
population.
 African immigrants have lower scores on
human capital variables that increase
dependency.

Post independent investment in education for
social and economic development
Investment in education tied to economic
development and technocratic visions of
societal reconstruction.
 Generate direct benefits to the state in the
form of providing necessary high level
manpower
 Carry out development-oriented research
 Serve needs of society by rendering various
services and advice to policy-makers.

UN Checklist for Development
 minimum
standard of living compatible
with human dignity
 underpinned improvement of the wellbeing
of the individual
 sharing of benefits by society at large
 more equitable distribution of income and
wealth
 a greater degree of income security
 the safeguard of the environment
Theoretical perspectives on
development
Modernization Theory
 Human Capital Theory
 Dependency Theory

Modernization theory




Response scholars gave to nation and institution
building after WW II.
Modernization closely linked with acquisition of
modern values.
Interest for politicians of the West to demonstrate
that newly independent countries could sustain
development by adopting Western strategies.
David McClelland (1961)--some societies are
more advanced than others because of differences
in cultural and personality styles--advancement
caused by the need for achievement.
Rostow’s Stages of Economic
Growth
 The
traditional society
 The preconditions of take-off
 The take-off
 The drive to maturity
 The age of high mass consumption
The Human Capital Theory




Schultz (1961)-The most productive route to the development of
any society depends on its population--human
capital
Education as productive investment and not
merely a form of consumption.
Education improves individual choices available
to people and provides the category of labor force
required for industrial development and economic
growth
Returns to education for selected countries: rates of return by
educational level (Adapted from Psacharopoulos & Woodhall,
1985).
country
Private returns
Primary Second. Higher
Social returns
Primary Second.
Higher
Ethiopia
35.0
22.8
27.4
20.3
18.7
9.7
Kenya
28.0
33.0
31.0
21.7
19.2
8.8
Nigeria
30.0
14.0
34.0
23.0
12.8
17.0
Mexico
32.0
23.0
29.0
25.0
17.0
23.0
Canada
-
16.3
19.7
-
11.1
14.0
Sweden
-
-
10.3
-
10.5
9.2
U.K.
-
11.7
9.6
-
3.6
8.2
U.S.
-
18.8
15.4
-
10.9
10.9
Education for Development or
Vehicle to Dependency?
DEPENCY THEORY rejects modernization
theory.
 The persistent poverty of the Third World is
an image of its dependency (Andre Gunder
Frank).
 Persistent poverty in the Third World is
caused by exposure to the economic,
political and social influences to the
advanced industrialized countries.
Growth of advanced countries means the
concurrent underdevelopment of countries
whose economic surplus the ADCs exploit
 Given time, poor countries would develop,
but as long as they are subject to the
exploitation of advanced countries, their
poverty would persist.

Realities of Higher Education in
Africa
Structure--serving interests of former
colonial masters.
 Foundation grounded in the shadow of
European affiliates--academic programs
based on international standards with no
relevance to domestic community.
 Institutions embedded in educational
philosophies and ideologies aimed at
training and sponsoring privileged elites

Realities of Higher Education in
Africa (cont.)
Functions--irrelevant to national
development.
 Graduates--produced in the sciences who,
either do not understand, or are not
dedicated to solution of national problems
(Saha, 1991).
 Lack of relevant curricula, adequate
teaching methods and sufficient equipment
and facilities for instructional development
(Van den Hoogen, 1989).

Development for Dependency
Catastrophe
Dependency theorists--Education as a
means of creating an exclusive, culturally
dependent elite likely to accept the
fundamental principles and values of the
dominant power and assist in administering
the former colonies.
 Schooling as an importation from the
Western world and continues to benefit the
dominant social group as it did for the
colonial system as a whole.

Development for Dependency
Catastrophe (cont.)
Schools as a new form of colonialism and
imperialism that adopt selection procedures
and curricula structures of former colonial
powers to continue serving their interests.
 Schools produce a local elitist class-Lumpenbourgeoisie--who serve overseas
interests (Andre Gunder Frank).

The Pan-Africanism as the New
Diaspora

The emergence of a Black middle-class that
begins to challenge Whites for public
position resources--middle-class jobs,
middle-class housing, modest forms of
material accumulation, official standing in
politics, and legitimation of the culture.
Problems
The objective majority perceives
racelessness and blamelessness as the
original inhabitants, while diasporans (or
visible minority) constitutes an unwanted
intrusion and even a possible contestant for
the use of power by the majority in the
pursuit of its objectives.
 Daily struggles with police, poverty and
other manisfestations of raw racism at the
mass level, while more subtle forms of
oppression are experienced by other middleclass Blacks and those few in the upper

CONCLUSION
Pan Africanism as a new meaning for the diaspora
 There is the need for the struggle to achieve
community
 The need for the struggle to maintain the
community
 The need for the struggle to use its resources in the
achievement of personal and collective social
objectives
 A dialectical process must occur between people
in the diasporas and their ancestral homes.
 The need to refer to people of African descent as
no longer African but as “Black” people and to
objectify their identity.

The African University

The African university needs to become
closely related to, and draw inspiration from
its traditional environment, for in it are
embedded the roots of African culture and
civilization--worldview, values, customs,
and traditions, creative works, knowledge,
skills, and technology. It must be a force in
the preservation of the traditional
environment and pride in the cultural
heritage (Sherman, 1990.
A Challenge to Diasporans