Colonial & Postcolonial Literary Dialogues: Text Page

How Europe Underdeveloped Africa

By: Walter Rodney

The author of How Europe underdeveloped Africa copyrighted in 1981 is Walter Rodney. He was a Guyanese writer that wrote and fought for the liberation of his people. Walter Rodney was concerned, from the awakening of time of his awakening, with the destiny of the poor. He was concerned with the deprivation of the oppressed classes inside any given country and also with the oppression of the subject peoples of the earth by oppressing nations.

In this particular book, he describes the tactics of Europe, used to underdevelop Africa. This book is very informative, it offers plenty of insight on the issues that Africa has and still are facing. It also concentrates on the negative and forceful powers that were in place at that time. Rodney does a great job explaining the tactics of the Europeans in the successful underdeveloping of Africa.

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Dialogues

This particular book can relate to many different themes, but one theme in particular that stands out is Racism. Rodney talks about the ideology that Europeans had about Africans and other nations. Unlike Fanon, Rodney analyzed the situation in Africa and approached it in a very scholarly way. Rodney knew that the emancipation of the oppressed could be brought about only by the oppressed themselves. Fanon wrote his book Wretched of the Earth with anger and intent for his voice to be heard. This particular book of Rodney's has to read as a history book filled with facts and not as a story that has some truth.

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Notes

It is truly evident that Europe has colonized all of America, which resulted in the underdevelopment of mentalities and whole cultures in Africa and all over the globe. Scholars like Walter Rodney recognized the problems that have been placed by force on Africa. The whole idea of someone changing a way of life to another lifestyle seems unbelievable to a reader of such accounts, but just imagine it actually happening to you. This is what Rodney does best; you gain a mind frame of unbelief while reading this book. It 's not in the form of a story, which allows the reader to read facts and no fiction. There are many books that were written in Africa to please European audiences, this isn’t one of the novels. Instead Rodney, approaches colonialism from a Marxists standpoint. I truly admire his integrity, to inform the world of the wicked plot of the Europeans to rule land that wasn't their own.

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Links

***Saxakali People of Color Portal has a useful essay on Rodney's book.

**Amazon.com This site contains valuable information on the author and a brief summary of the book, from readers who have read the book. You also have the option of buying the book for your own personal collection.

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Teaching

There isn't to many ways to teach this book, except by just teaching the bare facts. It will be beneficial to understand and gain information about the people that occupied the land before the Europeans. This will allow the students to gain an understanding of their culture before the invasion by the Europeans. Once the understanding is apparent, then teaching the book will be more beneficial.

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Citations

This is where you put citations. Let's use the Chicago Manual of Style. I think that is easiest.

Colonial & Postcolonial Literary Dialogues

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Page Created by: Grant Brooks

Last Updated: 2/20/01