MODULE 1
SOCIAL MIS-CONSTRUCTION OF AFRIKA:
“KMT” UNDERMINED
Jungle
Misery
Crises
Chaos
Poverty
Primitive
Inequality
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Conflict
“
Corruption
© Dr. Francis Adu-Febiri 2014
1
Contents of Presentation
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Introduction
Quiz: Images of Africa
Imaging Africa from the outside: Stereotypes
Imaging Africa from the inside: “KMT”
Imaging Africa: The Danger of a Single Story”
Major concepts
Conceptual framework: Social mis-construction, deconstruction and reconstruction of Africa
Social Relationships in Africa: Political economy, social organization, culture, human agency
Imaging Africa from the outside: Power, Image and Identity
– The Name
– Representation: Afro-pessimism or Afro-optimism
– Power: Image and identity
Deconstructing the Afro-pessimism stereotypes
Reconstruction of Africa: Rebranding Processes
– Afro-optimism
– Balancing Afro-pessimism with Afro-optimism
– Futility of the rebranding processes without the transformation of the human factor
Social Construction, Deconstruction and Reconstruction of Africa: Sociological paradigms, development
theories, methodologies, and development practices
The Hope of Africa
Conclusion
INTRODUCTION:
Objectives of Sociology 211
• This module provides a systematic guide and
framework of analysis for Sociology 211
(Introduction to Africa). It outlines the major
concepts, main theories, and key issues that the
course covers. The objective is to provide
students with an academic context to make
sense of the details the course presents on the
human condition of Africa, the African
experience, challenges of and hope for Africa’s
sustainable development, and their connections
to globalization.
INTRODUCTION:
The Focus of Sociology 211
• Sociology 211 focuses on understanding
socio-structural forces, cultural
statics/dynamics, and human agency that
together
– (a) frustrate Africa’s development and fuel the negative images
of the continent
– (b) drive the resilience, resistance, survival, and hope of Africa in
the face of extreme poverty, inequality, conflict, and crises
– (c) engage Africans and their allies to utilize the seeds of
success on the continent and the diaspora to create
opportunities to transform the people, communities,
organizations, customs and traditions, the political economy, and
leadership to make globalization work for Africa
INTRODUCTION:
Intended Learning Outcomes of Sociology 211
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At the completion of the course, students will be able to:
Identify and assess the realities and misconceptions of African life, culture,
economy, politics, and aspiration in the global community.
Critically assess Western media representations of Africa and Africans on
the continent and the Diaspora.
Explain Africa’s resilience and hope in the contexts of social, political,
economic, and health crises.
Analyze the impact of colonial education on Africa’s history, demography,
health, culture, languages, indigenous knowledges, technological
development, politics, economics, social inequalities, and the human factor.
Outline the interconnections among the African ecosystem and African
civilizations, the disruptions of African civilizations by the slave trade,
colonialism, and globalization.
Apply critical thinking and sociological paradigms to theories and methods
of African Studies.
Identify a relevant need of Africa and contribute to meeting this need.
INTRODUCTION:
QUIZ
• What image(s) about Africa do you have in
your mind?
INTRODUCTION:
IMAGING AFRICA FROM THE OUTSIDE:
Stereotypes
• Since the 18th century, Western tourists, media and
scholars have mis-constructed Africa and Africans into a
negative image or framework that has fossilized into
stereotypes.
• This negative imaging of Africa undermines “KMT”, an
Afro-Egyptian concept
– Meaning “Blackness or “Black Land” designating an
Afro-Egyptian frame of reference or worldview
encompassing an Afro-centric perspective (Finch
1989, p. 28).
• Examples of this stereotypes are found in the next two
slides.
IMAGING AFRICA FROM THE OUTSIDE:
Stereotypes
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According to Popular Press (Moseley 2009, p. xxi; Chavis 2002)
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Corruption
Ethnic Warfare
Poverty
Hunger
Environmental Destruction
Exotic
Primitive
Wild
Pandemics/AIDS
Dark Continent
Savage
Jungle
Tribalism
Despotism
Underdeveloped
IMAGING AFRICA FROM THE OUTSIDE:
Stereotypes
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According to Ayittey (1999, pp. 6 and 13):
Squalor
Misery
Deprivation
Chaos
Crisis
IMAGING AFRICA FROM THE OUTSIDE:
Stereotypes
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Sociology 211 Students’ Perceptions not found in previous slides:
HIV/AIDS
Topless women
Suffering
Kids with distended bellies and flies on their faces
Ragged clothes
Unclean water
Genocide
Child soldiers
Mud huts
Exploitation
IMAGES OF AFRICA:
Students’ Perception Pattern
STUDENTS
PERCEPTIONS
1. What Most Students See
Flora and Fauna
2. What Few Students See
Culture and Soccer
3. Students Who See People
Africans as problem people or people
with problems
IMAGING AFRICA FROM THE OUTSIDE:
Stereotypes
• The negative images constitute "universal" but
powerfully subliminal message units, beamed at
global television audiences, connote something
not good, perennially problematic unworthiness,
deplorability, black, foreboding, loathing, sub
humanity (Chavis 1998)
http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Workshop/chavis98
.html).
IMAGING AFRICA FROM THE OUTSIDE:
Stereotypes
• This negative imaging of Africa is a onesided story. Africa has not always have
such a negative image. During the ancient
indigenous Egyptian civilization KMT
represented a positive African image and
black identity. Moreover, there are positive
things in Africa and about Africans that are
silenced by the mainstream
• http://www.africafornorway.no/
Imaging Africa from the Inside:
“KMT”
• KMT, pronounced or elaborated as
“Kemet” (Paulo Wngoola 2012, p. 10) or
“Kamit” (Charles S. Finch 1989, p. 28), is
an ancient Egyptian concept representing
a positive Africa.
Imaging Africa from the Inside:
“KMT”
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The social mis-construction of Afrika as a “dark continent” where nothing
positive that matters exists, is only a single story and a dangerous one
because it
• a) misrepresents “KMT” (black image/identity) as negative, distorts the
contributions of Afrikan civilizations to human progress, and
disempowers Afrikans
• b) misses the vibrant lifeworlds that sustain Afrikan societies despite
the long history of foreign assault
• c) contributes to a self-fulfilling prophesy that makes communities
focus on what they don’t have, and thus prevent them from using the
resources in their social organization, political economy, culture, and
human agency to produce sustainable people to rebuild sustainable
communities.
• d) reinforces Afro-pessimism at the expense of Afro-optimism, and
thus suppresses the “Ubuntu” philosophy, the “Sankofa”
methodology, and the “human factor competency” (HFC) strategies of
development that eliminates “human factor decay” (HFD) and restores
“KMT”.
• e) stops the “hippos to cheetahs” metamorphosis in its track.
Imaging Africa:
“The Danger of a Single Story”
• “Our lives, our cultures, are composed of
many overlapping stories. Novelist
Chimamanda Adichie tells the story of
how she found her authentic cultural voice
-- and warns that if we hear only a single
story about another person or country [or
continent], we risk a critical
misunderstanding”.
• http://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adi
chie_the_danger_of_a_single_story.html
Imaging Africa:
“The Danger of a Single Story”
• GUERRILLA GRANNIES depicts Bertels' third encounter
with these remarkable women, all three now
grandmothers in their 60s, and narrates the filmmaker's
long friendship with them. Today Mozambique has a
growing industrial economy and stable political system. It
also ranks among the top 25 countries in the world for
women, according to a 2012 World Economic Forum
report, thanks largely to the efforts of pioneers like
Monica, Amelia, and Maria. Their success in helping
transform the county has sapped none of their ambition,
and the film reveals their tireless efforts to create a better
life for their children and the future generations.
• http://icarusfilms.com/new2013/gg.html
Imaging Africa:
“The Danger of a Single Story”
• The Akwa Ibom State transformation:
– State of the art infrastructure
– Free education
– Free medicals for children, pregnant women,
and the elderly
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWROzi
rq5Dk
Imaging Africa:
“The Danger of a Single Story”
• PROJECTION MAPS:
– Mercator’s Map (https://www.google.ca/#q=mercator+map+definition)
• Greenland is larger than Africa
• North America is larger than Africa
• Africa is in the Southern Hemisphere
– Mcarthur’s Map (https://www.google.ca/#q=mcarthur+map+of+the+world)
• Africa is in the Northern Hemisphere
– Gall-Peters’ Map (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8zBC2dvERM)
• Africa is larger than Greenland
• Africa is larger than North America
• Africa is in the Northern Hemisphere
• MAJOR CONCEPTS
MAJOR CONCEPTS
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“KMT”
Power, Image, Identity and Misrepresentation
– Afro-pessimism and Afro-optimism
Social Construction
Social Deconstruction
Social Mis-construction
Social Reconstruction
Social Relationships
Social Organization
Political Economy
Culture
Human Agency
Ubuntu
Sankofa
Human Factor Competency (HFC)
Human Factor Decay (HFD)
Hippos and Cheetahs
• CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
• The Social Construction Framework:
– Argues that the images and human conditions
of Africa are not natural, they are made up.
– Therefore, it is feasible to focus on creating
prevention and intervention strategies that
together will eliminate the misconstruction of
Afrika and provide catalysts to empower
Afrikans to deconstruct and reconstruct their
own universes and their own development
journeys.
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
• Social Mis-Construction of Afrika:
• Layers of historical and contemporary
fallacies that explorers, missionaries,
scholars, thinkers, and the western media
consecrate as truths in their attempts to
denigrate Africa (Mengara 2001).
• Illustrations:
– The Berlin Conference and the social misconstruction of Afrika
(http://africanhistory.about.com/od/eracolonialism/l/blBerlinAct1885.htm)
– 21st century misconstruction of Afrika
(http://www.lizardpoint.com/fun/geoquiz/afrquiz.html)
st
21
Century Misconstruction of
Afrika
• http://www.lizardpoint.com/fun/geoquiz/afr
quiz.html
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
• Social Deconstruction of Western
misconstructed Afrikan Universe:
• This process is about uncovering,
unpacking and refuting the multifarious
images and stereotypes that, century after
century, have come to deform, invalidate
and misconstruct the African universe
(Mengara 2001).
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
• Social Reconstruction of Africa into Afrika:
• At the superficial level, this is about
“Rebranding Africa” to reflect the historical
and contemporary realities to facilitate
Afrikan renaissance.
• At the deeper level, it is about
transforming the human condition of Africa
to rid the continent of extreme poverty,
extreme inequality/inequity, violent conflict,
health and other crises.
SOC 211: CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK:
Social Relationships
THEORIES
SOCIAL ORGANIZATION
PRACTICES
CULTURE
AFRICA
Social Construction,
Deconstruction &
Reconstruction:
IMAGES
POLITICAL
ECONOMY
METHODOLOGIES
HUMAN
AGENCY
PRACTICES
• SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS
SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS IN AFRICA
• There are
– a) Relationships that sustain African people,
families, groups, organizations, communities
and countries
– b) Relationships that threaten the very
survival of African people, families, groups,
organizations, communities and countries
• These are structural inequities, customs and traditions,
social institutions, and social interaction that are located
in Africa’s political economy, social organization, culture,
and human agency.
• POLITICAL ECONOMY
– An integrated politicization and marketization
of human society. Specifically, combination of
the production and distribution of structure of
power (politics) and the structure of
market/money (economics) in human society.
POLITICAL ECONOMY OF AFRICA
• 1. POLITICIZATION OF GOVERNANCE FOR
PERSONAL FINANCIAL GAIN: The Issue of
Vampire/Hyena States
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Indigenous governance
Leadership
Democracy
Bureaucracy
Socialism
Communism
Corruption
Instability
Reconciliation
POLITICAL ECONOMY OF AFRICA
• The “Vampire State” concept has been
applied more to governments of African
countries than other
underdeveloped/developing countries
(Frimpong-Ansah 1991. The Vampire
State in Africa: The Political Economy of
Decline in Africa. Africa World Press,
George Ayittey, 1999. Africa is Chaos: A
Comparative History).
POLITICAL ECONOMY OF AFRICA
• VAMPIRE/HYENA STATES
• Vampire states are the states with “governments that have been
hijacked by a phalanx of bandits and crooks who would use the
instruments of the state machinery to enrich themselves and their
cronies and their tribesmen and exclude everybody else.” (“Hyena
States” would be a fitting metaphor considering the African
landscape and the rapacious and predatory nature of the crooks.)
Simply stated, much of Africa languishes under the rule of thugtators
(thugtatorship is the highest stage of African dictatorship) who cling
to power for the single purpose of using the apparatuses of the state
to loot and ransack their nations. Such is the unvarnished truth
about Africa’s entrapment in perpetual post-independence poverty
and destitution (http://www.ethiopianreview.com/index/tag/vampirestates).
POLITICAL ECONOMY OF AFRICA
• 2. MARKETIZATION OF
RESOURCES
– Natural Resources
• Extraction, export, processing of
raw material such as diamond
– Human Resources
• Education and Job training
institutions
• Labor Force
• Population and Health
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POLITICAL ECONOMY OF AFRICA
• MARKETIZATION AND AFRICA
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Slave Trade
Colonization, de-colonization and neo-colonization
Unfair Trade and Tourism
Consumerism
Foreign Aid, Loans and Debt
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3/24/2016
International Financial Institutions
Foreign Governmental Organizations
Non-Governmental organizations (NGOs)
African Governments’ “Begging Bowl”
Safety net for vulnerable Africans
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POLITICAL ECONOMY OF AFRICA
• MARKETIZATION AND ECONOMIC SECTORS OF AFRICA
– The Primary Sector
– The Formal Sector
– The Informal Sector
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POLITICAL ECONOMY OF AFRICA
• THE PRIMARY SECTOR:
• A focus on agricultural and extractive industries at the expense of
manufacturing
• THE FORMAL SECTOR:
• This parasitic sector only accumulates money and properties for the
political and bureaucratic elite. It is the battleground of the elites
creating repression and political instability—circulation of the elite—
in African countries.
• THE INFORMAL ECONOMY:
• African economies have very large informal sectors where a large
percentage of the population engage in petty trading, crafts, fishing,
small scale trades and vocational activities, etc., that are not
captured by the taxation system.
POLITICAL ECONOMY OF AFRICA
• POLITICIZATION, MARKETIZATION, AND POVERTY
IN AFRICA
– Extreme Poverty
– Absolute Poverty
– Relative Poverty
• POLITICIZATION, MARKETIZATION, AND WEALTH IN
AFRICA
– Money
– Property
– Material resources
– Knowledge
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• SOCIAL ORGANIZATION
– Pattern or system of relationships that
coordinate, direct and drive interaction of
individual and groups in a community or
society.
SOCIAL ORGANIZATION OF AFRICAN SOCIETIES
• 1. VIOLENCE: Vertical and
Lateral
– Conflict Resource
– Rape and Femicide
– Genocide
• 2. NON-VIOLENCE
– Positive Action
– Conflict Resolution
– Reconciliation
– Peace
SOCIAL ORGANIZATION OF AFRICAN SOCIETIES
• 3. KINSHIP
– Interrelated Components of African Kinship Systems:
Descent, Family and Marriage
• 4. FAMILY
– African families are a complex web of nuclear and extended
relationships
• 5. COMMUNITY
– In Indigenous Africa the individual and the community are
inseparable and scale did not make a difference in the
conceptualization of community. Moreover, community
membership transcends the living to encompass ancestors,
other dead, the unborn generations, and spirit beings.
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• CULTURE:
– Material and non-material stuff created and
shared in a group, organization, community or
society.
AFRICAN CULTURES
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1. African Values
2. African Beliefs/Worldviews
3. African Norms
4. African Symbols
5. African Languages
6. African Customs and Traditions
7. African Practices
8. African Technologies
9. African Infrastructure
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• HUMAN AGENCY:
– Ability and capability of individuals and groups
to create and act within the contexts of
culture, community, political economy, and/or
society.
HUMAN AGENCY
• The human agency in Africa is portrayed as human resource of
Africa, which Professor George Ayitey
(http://www.ted.com/talks/george_ayittey_on_cheetahs_vs_hippos.h
tml) categorizes into
“Hippos”
and
“Cheetahs”:
HUMAN AGENCY
• The 'Hippos' (lazy, slow, ornery, corrupt
African leaders) that have ruined
postcolonial Africa. These are in contrast
with the young, agile 'Cheetah
Generation,' a 'new breed of Africans'
taking their futures into their own hands
(Ayittey 2008).
HUMAN AGENCY
• Professor Senyo Adjibolosoo (1995)
conceptualize human agency as more
than human resource. The Human Factor
is used as a more appropriate
representation. The Human Factor has
two major dimensions—human factor
decay (Adjibolosoo 1995) and human
factor competency (Adu-Febiri 2000).
These dimension are defined in the next
slide.
HUMAN AGENCY
• Human Factor:
•
Distilling from earlier definitions of the HFC (Adjibolosoo, 1995; AduFebiri, 2000, 2001, 2003/2004 and 2011), HFC constitutes peoples’
thinking and humanitarian abilities that inspire and facilitate their
acquisition and application of appropriate resources to connect with
our common humanity and the environment emotionally, morally and
spiritually to make a sustainable difference in society. In essence, HFC
is an essential dimension of what Adjibolosoo (1995, p. 33)
conceptualizes as “the appropriate human qualities and/or
characteristics (i.e., the HF). Human Factor Decay (HFD) is the decline
or loss or lack of those human qualities and/or characteristics
(Adjibolosoo 1995). Senyo Adjibolosoo (1995, pp. 33 and 36), defines
the HF as
– a spectrum of personality characteristics that enable social,
economic, and political institutions to function and remain
functional over time. These [personality characteristics] include
human capital, spiritual capital, moral capital, aesthetic capital,
human abilities, and human potential.
• SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF
AFRICA:
– IMAGING AFRICA FROM THE OUTSIDE:
POWER, IMAGE & IDENRITY
• 1. Name: Top-Down and Externally Initiated and
Implemented
• 2. Representation: Power, Image and Identity
• 3. Stereotypes: Afro-pessimism
IMAGING AFRICA FROM THE OUTSIDE:
The Name
• Etymology of the name:
• The name “Africa” is the Latinized form of the Arabic
negative rendition “Ifriqa” or “Ifriqiyah” of the Indigenous
Black Nation’s (at the source of the Nile) word “Afrika”
meaning the nation of the black queen or goddess
(Wangoola 2012 and 2013).
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IMAGING AFRICA FROM THE OUTSIDE:
The Name
• Arabic (Berber): “Ifri” or “Afer” = Cave dwellers. With
Roman suffix “-ca” = Country of cave dwellers
(http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/30/140.html).
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IMAGING AFRICA FROM THE OUTSIDE:
The Name
• The Arabs changed the original indigenous
positive meaning of “Afrika” to a negative “Ifriqa
or “Ifrigya”. The Roman rendition, “Africa”, kept
the negativity in the name
• From the Land of Queens/Goddesses through the
country of Dust and Cave dwellers to the “Dark
Continent”.
• Contemporary Western society continues this
pejorative construction of Africa
• Africa is constructed as a country rather than
fifty-four (54) sovereign nation-states.
• Africans
respond by deconstructing this image.
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“Afrika” symbolizes this deconstruction.
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REPRESENTATION: IDEOLOGY & REFLECTION
• Issues of REPRESENTATION
• as an Ideology (Distortion)
» Afro-pessimism or Afro-optimism
» Discrepancies between the IMAGE
and IDENTITY of Africa
• as a Reflection
» Integration of Afro-pessimism and Afro-optimism
– No discrepancies between the IMAGE and IDENTITY
of Africa
IMAGING AFRICA FROM THE OUTSIDE:
POWER
• This global negative image of Africa is
constructed and plastered on Africa by powerful
outsiders and internalized as an identity by
powerless or less powerful Africans.
• Africa is not powerful enough to reject the
negative image is limited by its:
– 1. political, social, economic, and resource
deprivation
– 2. disadvantageous alliances with external imperialist,
political, and economic dynamics
– 3. Human factor decay/deficiency
IMAGES OF AFRICA:
AFRO-PESSIMISM
• Afro-Pessimism:
• Negative Image of Africa is dangerous
because it causes stereotypes and selffulfilling Prophesy rendering Africa and
Africans powerless in the global
community.
AFRO-PESSIMISM STEREOTYPES OF AFRICA
Famine
HIV/AIDS
Pandemic
Political
Instability
Civil Wars
De-forestation
AFRO-PESSIMISM
Poverty
Ethnic
Conflict
Oppression
of Females
Other
Resource
Curse
IMAGING AFRICA FROM THE OUTSIDE:
Deconstructing the Stereotypes
• The negative image of Africa tends to drown:
• 1. Successful local-level initiatives, relevant and realistic
strategies, and the energy and enterprise of the poor
(Hancock 1989).
• 2. Positive local cultural practices, indigenous
knowledge, and family support networks (Moseley 2009).
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IMAGING AFRICA FROM THE OUTSIDE:
Deconstructing the Stereotypes
• 3. Extraordinary diverse, vibrant, and dynamic
cultures; good neighborliness; enriching human
relations and family relationships; sustainable
resource utilization; progressive communitybased resource management; conservation
efforts; dramatic improvements in human rights,
political freedom, and economic development
(Moseley 2009, p. xxii)
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IMAGING AFRICA FROM THE OUTSIDE:
Deconstructing the Stereotypes
• 4. Uncovering and unpacking the political
economy, social organization, culture, and
human agency that are intricately
connected to the stereotypical image of
the African continent.
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IMAGING AFRICA FROM THE OUTSIDE:
Deconstructing the Stereotypes
• 5. Labeling and Self-fulfilling Prophesy:
• Negative images are externally produced and imposed
on Africa
• Expectations and Conditions are created that induce
Africa/Africans to behave in the expected manner
• This becomes a “proof” to those who did the labeling,
and even to the victims of labeling, that the expectations
are correct and that the stereotypes included in these
expectations accurately describe Africa/Africans, as they
really are.
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• RE-IMAGING AFRICA FROM THE
INSIDE AND OUTSIDE:
• Rebranding Approach
–Afro-optimism
–Balancing Afro-pessimism with
Afro-optimism
• Reconstruction Approach
–Sociology and Development Theories
–HFC Development
RE-IMAGING AFRICA
• A lot of energy and resources are being expended to use the mass
and social media to rebrand Africa into a positive image.
• Sociology and Development Theories focus on developing the
continent socially, politically and economically to change the image
of Africa.
• The Human Factor theoretical perspective agrees with sociology
and development theories that rebranding is futile because the
existing negative image of Africa relates to the state of the
continent’s development. However, HF theory argues that it is
human factor decay (HFD) that is preventing the sustainable
development of Africa. Replacing HFD with human factor
competency (HFC) the most effective way of equipping Africans to
create a development break through. When this is achieved, the
global community will respect Africa and Africans, and change the
image of Africa.
RE-IMAGING AFRICA
• The Rebranding Strategies include:
– 1. Afro-optimists recommend educating the
rest of the world to become aware of the
positive identity (Africans’ own self-image) of
Africa
– 2. The “objective or scientific” perspective
recommends the balancing of Afro-pessimism
with Afro-optimism in the western media and
academy.
IDENTITY OF AFRICA:
AFRO-OPTIMISM: ESSENTIAL LINKS TO AFRICA’S HOPE
Awareness of
Human Agency
Vibrant Informal
Economic Sector
Indigenous
Knowledges and
Education
Emergent Human
Factor Competency
Education
Indigenous Social
Support Systems
AFRO-OPTIMISM
Re-emerging of
Democracy and
Reconciliation
African Diaspora,
Transnationalism,
and Allies
Resilience of
Africans
REBRANDING AFRICA
• Objectivity/Scientific: Africans want to see an
image of Africa that is scientific, that is, a true or
complete reflection of the realities of Africa
– Balance Afro-pessimism with Afro-optimism
• Balance: Because of self-fulfilling prophesy
involved in labeling, rebranding Africa to reflect
the true/complete realities of Africa is more
critical than many of what the millennium
development goals have constructed as
priorities for African countries.
• http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/bkgd.shtml
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REBRANDING AFRICA: Toward “Science”
Balancing Afro-pessimism with Afro-optimism
Famine
Agricultural
Success
Stories
Political
Instability
Transition to
Democracy
HIV/AIDS
Pandemic
Reducing and
Living Positively
With HIV/AIDS
Civil Wars
De-forestation
Re-forestation
AFROOPTIMISM
Conflict
Resolution
AFROPESSIMISM
Poverty
Ethnic
Conflict
Multi-Ethnic
Cooperation
Enterprise
of the Poor
Oppression
of Females
Female
Power
Resource
Curse
Resource
Blessings
BALANCING AFRO-PESSIMISM
WITH AFRO-OPTIMISM
• For every famine there exists an agricultural “success story”
such as Botswana, where forward-thinking leadership has
made that country a net exporter of foodstuffs. For every
military coup d’etat there exists a transition to civilian rule,
such as Benin, where 19 years of military dictatorship (1972-91)
was replaced by democracy (1991- present). For every civil war
there exists a case of conflict resolution, as in Mozambique,
where a peace accord signed in 1992 ended nearly 30 years of
guerrilla warfare. For every ethnic conflict there exists a wellmeaning attempt to create multi-ethnic cooperation, such as
South Africa’s democratization under the leadership of
President Nelson Mandela (1994-99) and his successor,
President Thabo Mbeki (Schraeder 2004, p. 14).
BALANCING AFRO-PESSIMISM WITH
AFRO-OPTIMISM
• For the upwardly mobile cosmopolitan Africans…Africa is no longer
the poverty-stricken panderer of yesteryears, and a hopeful phase of
dramatic economic growth signals a new dawn. Articles from
renowned publications and projections from the IMF validate the so
called “rise.” In addition to the growth of the telecommunication
industry, an expanding consumer class, new natural resource
reserves, and a surge in foreign direct investment, the new
emerging African economy is a triumphant story that many in the
Diaspora promulgate and celebrate. Unsurprisingly, participants at
conferences and galas at Harvard and Columbia this year are
invited to embrace the momentum, realize that Africa is on the
move, and celebrate Africa’s successes. In doing so however, they
are discounting the overwhelming realities of millions of Africans
whose livelihood has stagnated or deteriorated in this period of
great growth (. http://www.compareafrique.com/africa-is-risingmost-africans-are-not/).
• RECONSTRUCTING AFRICA:
– The Perspectives of Sociological and
Development Paradigms/Theories
– The Indigenous African Perspective
– The Perspective of the Human Factor Theory
THE SOCIOLOGICAL PARADIGM
S(p)
Personal, particular, place,
political, passion are a
function of Social Forces
Auguste Comte, the Father of Sociology
DEVELOPMENT THEORIES
W.W. Rostow:
Modernization
Theory
Andre Gunder Frank:
Dependency Theory
Immanuel
Wallerstein:
World Systems
Theory
Senyo Adjibolosoo
Human Factor
Theory
DEVELOPMENT THEORIES
• The Western Strategy to Africa’s Reconstruction
• DEVELOPMENT THEORIES
• Modernization Theory: Marketization Approach and Civil
Society Approach: Adopt western culture and technology
– Flows from Functionalist Sociological Paradigm
• Dependency Theory: The State Approach: Break from
the western capitalist political economy
– Flows from Social Conflict Sociological paradigm
• World System Theory: Socialism/Communism
– Flows from Social Conflict Sociological Paradigm
WESTERN STRATEGY
• Top-Down and externally initiated:
– The Market Approach (Marketization)
– The State Approach (Politicization)
– The Civil Society Approach
(Humanitarianization)
INDIGENOUS AFRICAN PERSPECTIVE &
STRATEGY
•
•
Perspective: African solutions to Africa’s
problems
Strategy: Civil Society Approach: Bottomup, locally initiated and people-focused:
– The community approach
• African Hearts
– Lutaaya Abdul
• Women First
– Agnes Twoli
• Uganda Rural Fund
– Fr. John Mary Lugemwa
Mr. L. Abdul, Executive Director,
Senge Junior school, presenting to
Francis & Camosun field school
students in Uganda, May 2013
THE HUMAN FACTOR
PERSPECTIVE & STRATEGY
•Human Factor Theory:
– Intersects with the Interactionist Sociological
Paradigm.
Strategy: The human factor competency education
• Human Factor Leadership Academy
• THE HOPE OF AFRICA
THE HOPE OF AFRICA
• The hope of Africa lies in the development
of human factor competency and the
elimination of human factor decay, instead
of rebranding of Africa or the cheetah
generation.
THE HOPE OF AFRICA:
“Cheetah Generation”?
• http://www.ted.com/talks/george_ayittey_on_cheetahs_v
s_hippos.html
• “This grab-you-by-the-throat speech by Ghanaian
economist George Ayittey unleashes an almost
breathtaking torrent of controlled anger toward corrupt
leaders and the complacency that allows them to thrive.
These 'Hippos' (lazy, slow, ornery) have ruined
postcolonial Africa, he says. Why, then, does he remain
optimistic? Because of the young, agile 'Cheetah
Generation,' a 'new breed of Africans' taking their futures
into their own hands.”
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79
THE HOPE OF AFRICA:
“Human Factor Competency”
• The “Cheetah Generation” of Africans need to
acquire and apply Human Factor Competency
(HFC) that flows from the UBUNTU philosophy
in order to accomplish the laudable feat of taking
Africa from the quagmire of underdevelopment
to the desired levels of sustainable development
(Senyo Adjibolosoo 1995; Francis Adu-Febiri
2001 and 2003).
• Without the implementation of the human factor
education model in Africa, the “cheetah
generation” is likely to metamorphosize into a 80
3/24/2016
“hippo generation”
THE HOPE OF AFRICA:
“Human Factor Competency”
• Human Factor Competency (HFC)
constitutes peoples’ thinking and
humanitarian abilities that inspire and
facilitate their acquisition and application
of appropriate resources to connect with
our common humanity and the
environment emotionally, morally and
spiritually to make a sustainable difference
in society (Adu-Febiri 2014)
HUMAN FACTOR LEADERSHIP ACADEMY (HFLA):
Producing a generation with Human Factor Competency
• Hence the establishment of the Human
Factor Leadership Academy (HFLA) in
Akatse, Ghana
• www.iihfd.net
Prof. Adjibolosoo, Founder & CEO of HFLA
HUMAN FACTOR LEADERSHIP ACADEMY (HFLA):
Producing a generation with Human Factor
Competency
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83
THE HOPE OF AFRICA:
Producing a “cheetah generation” with
Human Factor Competency at HFLA
3/24/2016
84
THE HOPE OF AFRICA:
The Revival of UBUNTU
• Human Factor Competency education
would play a major role in reviving and
applying the African philosophy of
UBUNTU to create sustainable
development in Africa.
• Revival is built into Indigenous African
societies. Therefore, Africa does not need
to look elsewhere for inspiration to revive
ubuntu.
THE HOPE OF AFRICA:
REVIVAL OF UBUNTU
• REVIVAL = Sankofa:
• “The Sankofa Bird looks
backward with the egg of
the future in her beak,
constantly checking [with
the past] as she moves
into the future”.
(http://www.sankofa.com/
videobookscafe/).
Indigenous Akan (Ghana)
metaphor or symbol of
inspiration for revival.
THE HOPE OF AFRICA:
The Revival of UBUNTU
• …It [ubuntu] is the essence of being human. It speaks of the
fact that my humanity is caught up and is inextricably bound up
in yours. I am human because I belong. It speaks about
wholeness, it speaks about compassion. A person with ubuntu
is welcoming, hospitable, warm and generous, willing to share.
Such people are open and available to others, willing to be
vulnerable, affirming of others, do not feel threatened that
others are able and good, for they have a proper self-assurance
that comes from knowing that they belong in a greater whole.
They know that they are diminished when others are
humiliated, diminished when others are oppressed, diminished
when others are treated as if they were less than who they are.
The quality of ubuntu gives people resilience, enabling them to
survive and emerge still human despite all efforts to
dehumanise them (Tutu 2004).
CONCLUSION
•
To understand and “develop” Africa, we need
– 1) a real and complete scientific image of Africa.
– 2) an authentic indigenous African development vision
(ubuntu), methodology (sankofa), theoretical perspective (HF
theory), and processes/practices (HFC education) instead of
Africa mimicking Western development agenda and
focusing on rebranding.
– 3) the revival (sankofa) of the UBUNTU philosophy through
the development and application of human factor
competency (HFC) of Africans and their allies would engage
and uplift Africa to create its own capacity to initiate and do
its own development. This is how the image of Africa would
transform; not through rebranding and the cheetah
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88
generation that lacks HFC.
My visit to the HFLA Elementary School New Campus
in May 2014CONCLUSION
• It is through Human Factor Competency
Education that Africa and Africans will
experience sustainable development.
REFERENCES
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Adjibolosoo, Senyo B-S. K. 1995. The Human Factor in Developing Africa, Westport,
Conn.: Praeger.
Adu-Febiri, Francis. 2014. “Educated for a World that Does not Exist: Issues in
Africa’s Education and Training Programs” Forthcoming. Review of Human Factor
Studies.
Adu-Febiri, Francis. 2013. “Intercultural Diversities, Common Humanity”. LOTUS
Presentation on Intercultural Diversity and Restructuring Post-Secondary Education,
organized by LOTUS, the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
Adu-Febiri, Francis. 2004. “Re-defining the Human Factor: An Explorative exercise”.
Review of Human Factor Studies, Volume 10, No. 1, Special Issue, pp. 121-128.
Adu-Febiri, Francis. 2003/2004. “Facilitating cultural Diversity in a Monolithic Global
Economy: The Role of Human Factor Education.” International Journal of the
Humanities, Volume 1, pp. 885-908.
Adu-Febiri, Francis. 2003: “Putting the Human Factor to Work in African Tourism: A
Human Factor Competency Model.” In Victor N. Muzvidziwa and Paul Gundani
(eds.). Management and the Human Factor: Lessons for Africa. Harare: University of
Zimbabwe Publications.
REFERENCES
•
•
•
•
•
•
Adu-Febiri, Francis. 2001: “Human Factor Competence and the
Performance Effectiveness of Hospitality Professionals.” Senyo
Adjibolosoo, ed., Portraits of Human Behavior and Performance: The
Human Factor in Action, Lanham: University Press of America.
Adu-Febiri, Francis. 2000. “Putting the Human Factor to Work in African
Tourism: A Human Factor Competency Model”. Paper presented at the 4th
Bi-annial conference of the IIHFD, July 17-18, 2000. Harare: University of
Zimbabwe.
Ayittey, George. 1999. Africa is Chaos: A Comparative History. London:
Palgrave Macmillan
Chavis, Rod. 1998. “Africa in the Western Media.” A Paper presented at the
Sixth Annual African Studies Consortium Workshop, October 02, 1998).
UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA - AFRICAN STUDIES CENTER.
Finch, Charles S. 1989. “Meeting the Pharaoh: Conversations with Cheikh
Anta Diop”. In Great African Thinkers. Third Edition. Ivan Van Sertima
(ed.).New Brunswick, NJ.: Transaction Books, Rutgers.
Hancock, 1989………………………..
REFERENCES
• Mengara, Daniel (ed.). 2001. Images of Africa: Stereotypes and
Realities. London: Africa World Press
• Moseley, William G. 2009. Taking Sides: Clashing Views on African
Issues, Third Edition. Boston: McGraw Hill Higher Education.
• Schraeder, Peter J. 2004. African Politics and Society: A Mosaic in
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• Tutu, Desmond. 2004. God Has A Dream: London: Doubleday.
• Wangoola, Paulo. 2013. Mpambo Afrikan Multiversity: A
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Mpambo Afrikan Multiversity.
• Wangoola, Paulo. 2012. People-to-People Mini Summit of The
Afrikan Black Nation (The First nation) and The First Nations of the
Turtle Island (Canada) on Mulembr Mutinzi. Jinja, Uganda: Mpambo
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