How Europe Underdeveloped Africa

The Supposed Benefits of Colonialism to Africa

Chapter 6 is about colonialism’s role in hindering African development. Rodney begins by summarizing the argument that colonialism benefited Africa before systematically refuting it. This rhetorical style conveys his familiarity with the scholarship and underscores his contributions to the field. Colonial apologists claim that Europe brought socioeconomic services to the continent, such as hospitals, schools, and railroads. As Rodney observes, however, Europe invested very little in services during the first three decades of colonialism. Moreover, the services brought to Africa reflect patterns of domination and exploitation. Rodney cites several examples to support this assertion. White settlers, for instance, had access to services they could not afford in their home countries, such as health care, while Africans were largely deprived of these services. Further, any investment Europe made in services was always self-serving. For example, some colonizers realized it was economically advantageous to maintain a healthy, somewhat literate African workforce and thus invested in hospitals and schools. Similarly, Europeans built roads and railways, but only in areas they needed for trade. Europe established financial institutions in Africa, but these companies catered almost exclusively to white people. Most of the funds European governments earmarked for African development in the mid-20th century went to economic infrastructure, such as loans for ports, railways, and power plants. Not coincidentally, these projects provided outlets for European products, notably, steel, concrete, and electrical machinery. Development funds were also funneled into prestigious public works used primarily by European expatriates. Even school funding benefited the colonizers by providing jobs for Europeans.

Apologists often claim that Europe modernized Africa by introducing capitalism on the continent. Although colonialism introduced some elements of capitalism to Africa, it did not establish a capitalist system on the continent. Europeans blocked Africans from developing into capitalist societies because they did not want to create rivals who would threaten their monopolies. The capitalist mode of production is dynamic. It creates growth, which in turn creates more growth. This did not happen in Africa because industries that used African raw materials were in Europe. In other words, colonialists deliberately kept the conditions that sparked innovation and growth off African soil.

Negative Character, or the Social, Political, and Economic Consequences

This section addresses the negative impact of colonialism on Africa. Africa was colonized during a time of dynamic global change. Technological advancements ushered in the nuclear age, while socialism brought unprecedented growth to various parts of the world. Colonialism hindered African development during this decisive period. The continent’s power to defend itself and its interests declined relative to the precolonial era, when African societies exercised some control over social, political, and economic life. Colonialism stripped Africa of its ability to act independently, thereby removing it from history except in a passive sense, which is reflected “in its attraction for white anthropologists, who came to study ‘primitive society’. Colonialism determined that Africans were no more makers of history than were beetles—objects to be looked at under a microscope and examined for unusual features” (272). In the realm of politics, African states lost power, independence, and meaning. Some traditional rulers and political structures remained in place, but power lay in the hands of the colonialists.

Colonial rule not only eradicated African political power across the continent, but it also arrested African socioeconomic development. Rodney’s discussion of the status of women is illustrative in this regard, in addition to being forward-thinking. Women lost all political and religious power under colonialism. Before colonial rule, the widows of the Nguni kings in Mozambique became priestesses in charge of their husbands’ shrines and had to be consulted by incoming kings on all important matters. African rulers also had influential female councilors, usually blood relatives. Women were stripped of all political, social, religious, and constitutional privileges under colonialism. Their quality of life fell as men abandoned family farms to seek employment, leaving the work of subsistence agriculture and childrearing entirely to women. Women’s work was viewed as traditional, while men’s work was modern, further deteriorating the status of women.

Europe before the colonial period fostered divisiveness between different African societies to support its economic and political interests. Tribalism intensified under colonialism, which blocked Africans from developing national identities. Colonialism also stifled African economies. Although some African trade persisted across colonial boundaries, colonialism stopped most inter-African trade that did not benefit Europeans. At the same time, colonialists denied Africans the opportunity to develop global trade links except with Europe and North America. Widespread job loss occurred as mass-produced goods from Europe decimated African handicraft industries. Traditional life eroded as the monetary economy encroached on all but the most remote communities. Colonialists responded by placing many traditional communities in national reserves, but the size and fertility of the land were inadequate to support them. Rural and urban Africans became more dependent on Europe. The invention of monoculture exacerbated this dependency and left Africa vulnerable to famine. Malnutrition was widespread. Africa in the colonial period experienced growth but not development. Its exports of raw materials increased, as did its imports of European products, but the profits were sent abroad.

Education for Underdevelopment

This section focuses on the role of education in underdeveloping Africa. A key aspect of precolonial education was its relevance to Africans. Education was collective, multipronged, closely linked to social life, and attentive to the successive stages of children’s intellectual, physical, and emotional development. Education was both informal and formal. Children acquired knowledge from observing the example and behavior of elders, as well as from educational programs for hunting, religious instruction, medicine, and crafts. Religious organizations also ran schools to train clerics.

Colonialism did not introduce education to Africa. Rather, colonizers established formal educational institutions that supplemented and partly replaced existing ones. Aside from Christian missionaries, Europeans opened very few schools during the first 40 years of colonial rule, citing a lack of funds. Only in the 1920s did colonial education become more common. However, statistics show that spending was extremely limited compared to the profits Africa brought Europe:

In 1935, of the total revenue collected from taxing Africans in French West Africa, only 4.03 percent was utilized on education. In the British colony of Nigeria, it was only 3.4 percent. In Kenya, as late as 1946, only 2.26 percent of the revenue was spent on African education. By 1960, those percentages had gone up two, three, or four times, but, being so small to begin with, they still remained insignificant (294).

Educational opportunities varied between colonies and even between regions in the same colony. Urban dwellers had more educational opportunities than people who lived in the countryside. Education was also racialized, with white settlers having more opportunities than Black people. Drop-out rates were high. This did not concern colonial powers because the primary aim of the schools was to train Africans for low-level positions in the colonial government. Too much learning was considered superfluous and dangerous, as evidenced by remarks in colonial records: “What need is there to educate the natives? You will give them the weapons to destroy you!” (335).

Rodney argues that colonial education supported cultural imperialism. The explicit aim of colonial schools was to Europeanize locals and promote assimilation. The curriculum and languages of instruction were Eurocentric. Thus, the Africans with the most education were also the most alienated. Racism pervaded colonial education and cultural patterns. This manifested in hostility, on the one hand, and paternalism, on the other. For example, some educators wanted to eradicate “inferior” African cultural practices, while others considered them quaint and wanted to preserve them. Most colonial educational commissions focused on religious and moral instruction, even as the Christian church’s influence waned in Europe. Missionaries became prime agents of colonialism. The church preserved the social relations of colonialism by stressing humility, docility, and acceptance. Further, it equated African ancestral beliefs with the devil and became the arbiter of what was culturally correct. Polygamy was attacked, extending European influence to family patterns. The educational system also created an elite African class that helped perpetuate colonial rule. The sons of traditional rulers formed this class, forging bonds between colonialists and recognized individuals in local communities. Studying at a colonial school virtually guaranteed entrance into the African elite. Schools also functioned as a pipeline for the armed forces and police. Colonialism waned after the Second World War. Europeans ceded their territories to avoid costly and violent wars of independence. The end of colonialism, however, did not bring an end to Europe’s hold on Africa. Education and assimilation created psychological bonds between colonial subjects and their colonizers. These bonds outlived colonialism and remain relevant to the study of Africa to this day.

Development by Contradiction

This section describes African development after colonialism, with a particular emphasis on the education sector. Education was necessary to keep colonialism functioning by training low-level clerks, but it laid the groundwork for African independence. Educated elites played a key role in ending colonial rule in Africa. These elites articulated the interests of entire African societies and helped form new political structures. Africans understood the importance of education and rightly viewed it as an avenue for advancement in colonial society. Across the continent, Africans actively sought educational opportunities, making their demands known to colonial administrations. In many places, Africans had to lobby to receive even a primary education, because colonial powers understood that uneducated Africans were easier to exploit. Reluctance on the part of colonialist governments to invest in education incentivized Africans to take charge of their education. Some Africans financed the construction of schools using profits from agriculture and trade. Others relied on religious institutions for education. Christian missions and Muslim organizations were especially important. Throughout Africa locals joined efforts to increase their educational opportunities. In Sudan, for example, a group of students, merchants, and civil servants used donations to promote education. Similarly, Kikuyu peasants, Ga market women, and Kabyle shepherds saved to build schools.

Colonial education produced results that were contrary to some aspects of colonial exploitation. Colonialists wanted cash-crop payments and other funds in circulation to return money to Europe through the purchase of European goods. African educational investments not only diverted these funds to Africa but also established African priorities that were at odds with those of the colonizers. These contrary aims became more pronounced in the later colonial era, when Africans saw education as critical to self-governance. Colonial powers offered educational services to keep colonialism functioning, but the demand for education exceeded the supply. Bottlenecks occurred. Many Africans abandoned primary school knowing they would not find places in secondary schools or jobs that were aligned with their skills. Widespread frustration led Africans to view colonial powers as the enemy.

Africans clashed with their colonizers over the quantity of education as well as its quality. Colonizers provided Africans with an inferior education to facilitated exploitation. Books, teaching methods, and disciplines were dated, preventing new ideas from entering the colonies. Science education was virtually nonexistent. Agricultural schools designed to prepare Africans for manual jobs were so bad they prompted Africans to demand a European curriculum. Europe resisted, with some arguing that a nonliterary education was more relevant to Africa and that Africans were incapable of rigorous intellectual work. The struggle against agricultural schools raised awareness about the exploitative and racist nature of colonialism. Independent schools became hotbeds of rebellion. Dissatisfaction extended to the job sector, where limits to professional advancement angered educated Africans. The promotion of less qualified and less experienced white colleagues exacerbated the problem, as did unfair remuneration and allowances. African students spoke out against inequality. White teachers joined them at the front of national independence movements, as did many members of the church. African workers mobilized and staged strikes. Global events, such as World War II and the independence of China and India, energized African independence movements. A domino effect occurred across the continent. Egyptian independence led to the emancipation of other parts of Africa, including Sudan and Ghana, as well as wars of independence in Algeria and Kenya. As Europeans reluctantly withdrew, new forms of government emerged as Africans seized opportunities to make history.