Sustainable Development in Pre-Colonial, Colonial, and Post-Colonial Africa: Issues and Contexts

Abstract

Primitive, uncivilized, the Third World—these are current and common ways in which Africa is described. As the second largest and second most populous continent, Africa is consistently home to the highest ranked “failed states” along the global index. As compared to the rest of the termed “Third World,” including Asia and Latin America, Africa’s economies have been lagging behind in the race to becoming emerging markets. Yet Africa’s failure is waved away as fact, its foundation not often questioned. As Professor of Economics Paul Collier has addressed, a society can climb out of poverty unless it gets “trapped” (Collier, 2008). This paper will outline what has trapped African societies over a historical sketch of development in pre-colonial, colonial, and post-colonial contexts. Although Africa may be the ancient origin of human civilization, “civilization” has since been a concept rooted in and reused by the West. Thus, Africa’s true strength, its ingenuity for survival, must emerge from the shadows behind imperial discourse to successfully attain and sustain development.

Keywords: Sustainable development; “bottom billion;” ecological imperialism