Crafting the next chapter of my new book about digital tech and development, I found myself writing about poverty again, and remembered a paper On the richness of Africa that I wrote back in 2008. It was never accepted by the journals I submtted it to for publication, but on re-reading it I think that much of what I wrote then is even more pertinent today (the editors clearly thought otherwise, and that I was too far way from the accepted orthodoxy then, and probably still am!). Interestingly, though, I found that “pirate copies” seem to be available on AI generated sites, so someone must have found it interesting!
Given this, I just thought that I would make it available officially once more here. The abstract reads as follows:
ABSTRACT: This paper argues that there needs to be a shift in the balance of understandings of Africa from being a continent dominated by poverty to one that is instead conceptualised as being ‘rich’. It begins with an overview of arguments that seek to portray Africa as being poor, and then examines the interests that donors, African governments, the private sector, civil society and consultants all have in propagating such an image. In contrast, it then illustrates how Africa can instead be seen as being rich in terms of its mineral wealth, agricultural potential, culture, social and political institutions, and physical environment. It concludes by arguing that development initiatives that continue to seek to eliminate poverty in Africa will remain doomed to failure unless they refocus their attention on building upon the continent’s existing riches.
Hoping that others (than the digital pirates) might find it still of interest!
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