Senegalese economist Felwine Sarr calls for abandonment of European values and development goals for Africa.
By Winfried Veit | 03/18/2019
Source: https://www.ipg-journal.de/aus-meinem-buecherschrank/artikel/afrika-muss-niemanden-einholen-3329/
When a delegation of German parliamentarians headed by Foreign Minister Heiko Maas recently visited West African Mali, one of the deputies, according to a correspondent's report, offered a sobering picture: the weak state could not guarantee security, broken trains would stand for lack of infrastructure, the capital would suffocate in the garbage, economic growth is too weak. It is a picture that does not surprise Africa connoisseurs and that is not only true of Mali, but even more drastic in other African countries.
But does not this look through the Western glasses obscure the understanding of a completely different reality? Exactly this question poses the Senegalese economist, author and musician Felwine Sarr in his now published book in German "Afrotopia", which was already published in 2016 in French. And he answers them with a clear and clear yes, which he bases on 176 pages of his in many places almost lyrical and philosophical essay. Sarr, in the very postcolonial tradition, questions the universality of Western values and models of development. According to Sarr, Sarr believes that it is not only the uncritical adoption of Western concepts such as development, growth, nation or representative democracy by the African elites, but above all that the West has succeeded in bringing "its ideas of human progress into the collective Imaginary of others ".
But does not this look through the Western glasses obscure the understanding of a completely different reality? Exactly this question poses the Senegalese economist, author and musician Felwine Sarr in his now published book in German "Afrotopia", which was already published in 2016 in French. And he answers them with a clear and clear yes, which he bases on 176 pages of his in many places almost lyrical and philosophical essay. Sarr, in the very postcolonial tradition, questions the universality of Western values and models of development. According to Sarr, Sarr believes that it is not only the uncritical adoption of Western concepts such as development, growth, nation or representative democracy by the African elites, but above all that the West has succeeded in bringing "its ideas of human progress into the collective Imaginary of others ".
It is not just about the appropriation of one culture by another, but more fatal and the appropriation and acceptance of the "image" that others make of this culture. With his criticism, Sarr follows up on the theses of Edward Said, who has mainly focused on "Orientalism", a trend emanating from Europe at the end of the 19th century, which has given its own stereotypes to the Middle East, some of them up to reverberate today. Similarly with Africa, Sarr demands nothing less than a "spiritual revolution" that puts an end to the "servile imitation of political models based on very different foundations and because they have no relation to the local (African) reality have, for extraversion, that is to lead to alienation. "
A departure from the "colonial library" and turning to a "pre-colonial library" was necessary. It is meant to throw overboard the narrative imposed by the colonial rulers of Africa and to reflect on the pre-colonial history of the "cradle of humanity". All the more so since since the Second World War in postmodern Europe its "great cultural orientations" are in disintegration: family, nation, sense of duty, social responsibility. Instead, there is now an extreme individualism, the cult of hedonism, fragmented identities and any social practices. In addition to the demographic, economic, political, cultural and social devastation caused by four centuries of slave trade and a century of colonization, there is now the "profound crisis of Western civilization", with which Europe and the West have finally served as models. As such, Japan in the Meiji era in the 19th century or the post-Hiroshima Japan, which both acquired Western technology while preserving its own tradition, are most likely to be considered. China, on the other hand, sees Sarr in the very colonial tradition of providing some infrastructure against the exploitation of natural resources and the colonization of lands.
A departure from the "colonial library" and turning to a "pre-colonial library" was necessary. It is meant to throw overboard the narrative imposed by the colonial rulers of Africa and to reflect on the pre-colonial history of the "cradle of humanity". All the more so since since the Second World War in postmodern Europe its "great cultural orientations" are in disintegration: family, nation, sense of duty, social responsibility. Instead, there is now an extreme individualism, the cult of hedonism, fragmented identities and any social practices. In addition to the demographic, economic, political, cultural and social devastation caused by four centuries of slave trade and a century of colonization, there is now the "profound crisis of Western civilization", with which Europe and the West have finally served as models. As such, Japan in the Meiji era in the 19th century or the post-Hiroshima Japan, which both acquired Western technology while preserving its own tradition, are most likely to be considered. China, on the other hand, sees Sarr in the very colonial tradition of providing some infrastructure against the exploitation of natural resources and the colonization of lands.
No, "Africa does not have to catch up with anyone. It no longer needs to walk on predetermined paths, but to take the path that it has chosen to swiftly follow. "But this path remains somewhat vague except for the constant references to the rediscovery of one's own tradition. Admittedly, Afrotopia is admittedly a utopia, but in Sarr's words it is an "active utopia that seeks to unearth the vast spaces of possibility within African reality and make them fruitful." If he opposes the Western He prefers to accept growth fetishism and instead focuses on the needs of the peoples. The same applies to his demand for a more ecological orientation of an African development model and the questioning of the Western concept of the nation. But all of this remains largely at odds, as it also somewhat nonchalantly overlooks the consequences of dramatic population growth in Africa, whose population will double by 2050 to two billion people. It is noteworthy, however, that Africa's share of world population at the beginning of the slave trade in the 16th century was 20 percent, at the end of which in the 19th century only 9 percent. If one could regard the re-growth to over 20 per cent by 2050 as compensatory justice, then it is certainly not sufficient to not only feed this growing number, but also to convey "education and the conditions for a life in dignity, in peace "in safety and freedom" must grant.
Despite some weaknesses, "Afrotopia" is a readable and worthy book by an African intellectual of the post-colonial generation, who recently became known to a wider public in Germany as co-author of a report to the French president about the return of looted colonial objects. The book should also give the West, and Europe in particular, more to think about in terms of, for example, devastating trade policies, but also the prevalent moral arrogance of making European values the measure of all things, despite all the 're-rhetoric'
Despite some weaknesses, "Afrotopia" is a readable and worthy book by an African intellectual of the post-colonial generation, who recently became known to a wider public in Germany as co-author of a report to the French president about the return of looted colonial objects. The book should also give the West, and Europe in particular, more to think about in terms of, for example, devastating trade policies, but also the prevalent moral arrogance of making European values the measure of all things, despite all the 're-rhetoric'
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