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Preface

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 April 2024

Lehasa Moloi
Affiliation:
University of South Africa
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Summary

This book is written for those who are interested in theoretical debates as they relate to the field of Development Studies. It is aimed at academics and all those who work in the field of development, politicians, policymakers and civil servants who need to familiarize themselves with key historical development debates, especially those relevant to Africa. The book takes an Afrocentric intellectual standpoint, grounded in the theory of Afrocentricity, in its interrogation of the ideas and processes of development in Africa. It also adopts a historical approach in its interrogation of the idea of African development as a by-product of political deliberations. This book is about how the discourse of development as a field of study needs to be reoriented to African-based epistemologies to dismantle coloniality, in opposition to the historical embeddedness of development discourse in Eurocentrism.

This book contests the limitation of the modern African understanding of Africa's journey with development to the period of the aftermath of World War II, to be specific, to President Harry S. Truman's 1949 Point Four programme. Instead, that journey should be understood holistically. By this, I mean that Africa's engagement with development did not begin with the politics of the Euro-North American political bloc – the story of African development must take into consideration Africa's classical civilization, namely the Nile Valley civilization and its contributions to human civilization. Such an approach provides a more holistic interrogation and casts light on how Africa's history of greatness continues to be an inspiration even in modern times. Such an approach rejects the many reductionist lies and half-truths that undergird the modernist paradigm which seeks to portray African people as dependent beneficiaries of the colonial Euro-modernity framework. This framework has undermined the humanity of non-western people in general, and Africans in particular. The book pursues the tradition of decolonial epistemic reflections to oppose discourses that are riddled with a racist agenda towards those in the Global South, especially Africans. In the spirit of the pursuit of cognitive justice in the twenty-first century, this book argues that the discourse of development must be decolonized from hegemonic Eurocentric propaganda and needs to be framed from the viewpoint of those who have been seen as being on the receiving end, those projected as ‘backwards’ from a Eurocentric perspective.

Type
Chapter
Information
Developing Africa?
New Horizons with Afrocentricity
, pp. ix - x
Publisher: Anthem Press
Print publication year: 2024

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  • Preface
  • Lehasa Moloi, University of South Africa
  • Book: Developing Africa?
  • Online publication: 13 April 2024
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  • Preface
  • Lehasa Moloi, University of South Africa
  • Book: Developing Africa?
  • Online publication: 13 April 2024
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Preface
  • Lehasa Moloi, University of South Africa
  • Book: Developing Africa?
  • Online publication: 13 April 2024
Available formats
×