Throughout history, Africa has been a great topic of interest. Since Africa’s independence, there has been many challenges Africa has faced along with some success throughout the continent. My thesis is Africa has faced more challenges as a country than successes do to missionaries, economic challenges and foreign aid, colonization from the British, the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and other challenges. This paper attempts to make points known of some key arguments and debates that have formed these challenges in Africa. One challenge Africa has specifically faced was the challenges provided by the missionaries. This can also be seen as a success on the African’s part due to their strong politics within their specific culture. European …show more content…
The African people were constantly battling with the missionaries to keep their cultural practices and traditions. As a result of the missionaries and European colonization, the changing range of life in certain African societies was submerged in the dismantling of their cultural traditions and instilled by foreign rule. Economic challenges are another encounter that Africa has faced. Some may see the help of foreign aid accommodating because it’s a granting of aid to needy countries. According to Moyo, “Africa’s broad economic experience shows that the abundance of land and natural resources does not guarantee economic success, however” . Still, Moyo initially argues that the help of foreign aid has just created a master-servant relationship that creates lobbying for the foreign aid through borrowing. Conditionalities are a set of “rules and regulations set by the donors to govern the conditions under which aid is disbursed” which can ultimately lead to the master-servant relationship. The foreign aid is just flowing in to Africa so much that it develops “aid-dependency” . Moyo closes his argument stating that aid is not helpful or a solution, it’s actually the problem and increasing the aid in Africa is not the answer either. The British also posed a great challenge for the Africans. According to Khapoya, “the British wanted to ‘civilize’ the African, but not to the point
When the Europeans scrambled to colonize Africa, the reactions of the natives was progressively more apprehensive. At first the natives found that they could be peaceful with this strange new white man. Soon after, though, they found that these new men mistreated and cheated them greatly, and had superior military technology. Given these new conditions of the relationship the Africans decided it was in their best interest to take up arms against the Europeans and try to rid themselves of the harmful White Man.
European Imperialism and Colonization of Africa created many social and economic changes including superiority over different people, technological advances, and new territories for European countries.
The reactions made a small number of African natives was to resist diplomatic responses that promised the ability to maintain peace with the nations of Europe. When diplomacy failed, Africans resisted with violence, while others drew upon their religious traditions for strength in remaining independent. Yet another reaction among Africans was to encourage other Africans to fight back. Some Africans, meanwhile, complied with – and even willfully participated in – the continent’s colonization by Europeans.
During the European Scramble for Africa, in the early 20th century, Africans had a peaceful reaction with anti-imperialistic sentiments (docs. 2, 3, 4, and 7), peaceful actions through the approach of diplomacy (docs.1, 2, and 3) and also a rebellious anti-imperialistic reaction (docs. 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9) towards the Scramble for Africa.
During the 1800s, Europeans had a great desire to take over the colonization of Africa completely. This imperialism changed the way the African people lived, entirely. All ways of life, political organizations, and social structures were adjusted due to the large effects the Europeans had on the countries. However, one of the biggest changes was the European-dominated hierarchies and the arrival of Christianity, and Western ideals spread throughout Africa. However, the primary driving force behind European imperialism in Africa is the relentless pursuit of Africa’s abundance of raw materials to share among their countries.
The European missionaries wanted to come to Africa to share the good news of Christianity to the natives. However, often times the missionaries would get caught up in the valuable resources of Africa and make a turn for the cruel side. The novel Heart of Darkness, shows how corrupt the Europeans
In Basil Davidson’s video “Different but Equal,” he outlines the European perception of Africa upon their discovery of the continent. Claims that the Europeans were making about African culture, however, were far fetched and did not depict Africa in a positive manner. History according to pre-European Africa was rich and diverse, but once Europeans saw for themselves how different their continent was from Africa, they began to make up their own version of African history.
Dating back many decades, it appears that lobbying and politics have always gone hand and hand on any political stage. Lobbying has always had a strong presence in the legislation system. Lobbying is the process of offering campaign contributions, bribes, or information to policymakers for the purpose of achieving favorable policy outcomes. Conventional wisdom suggests that lobbying is the preferred mean for exerting political influence in rich countries and corruption in poor countries. The legislation is meant to benefit society and ensure that citizens are having their voices heard, instead of hindering them in favour of the multi-national corporations. Lobbying has a negative influence on legislations in both developed and developing
The dispersal of different ethnicities and the conflict that ensued because of the colonization of different countries, by Europeans, changed the culture and boundaries, set previously, by many overthrown nations. Africa was one of the biggest targets for European colonization and colonialism. The spread of the ideals that sprouted out of the 1884 Berlin Conference and the Scramble for Africa later spread to African American and Cuban culture. The ideals that were brought forth during this time broke apart the heart of Africa and many other countries, and by doing so also developed the concept of and ideals for White supremacy.
Social Upheaval and Low Self Worth was another one of the major impacts of the European commercial activities on West Africa. As a result of the slave trade through raids and trade, there is no doubt concerning the social ills that plagued Western Africa. Many Africans were betrayed by their own political leaders
Why are people so impatient to leave their own culture to adopt new beliefs? Throughout history, African countries have been full of Christian Missionaries who offered education, as long as people in the village convert to their faith and learn English leaving behind their cultural roots. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the British colonized Nigeria and built churches in villages to get individuals to practice their religion. Thousands of Nigerians started to accept Christianity and reject their own traditions. As time went by, European missionaries gained much power in these tribes and started controlling people. The British believed their culture was superior. They felt they were bringing civilization to primitive "sinful" cultures. Some individuals decided to escape the British colonial education system to reveal the truth about their history and renew their beliefs. This is presented in the short story “The Headstrong Historian” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie who writes to show the ways cultural conflict can influence different individuals in the same environment. Through her protagonist Grace, known as the headstrong historian, Adichie tells her own story and the story of her struggle to fight British ideologies. Adichie uses Grace 's dynamic character to show that an individual can reconstruct her lost knowledge of her people when she finds a cultural and spiritual connection to
In George Orwell’s book, Animal Farm, Napoleon maintains power over the animals by inducing fear and manipulation.
Beginning in 1880, there was a growing desire for European countries to expand and control their rule. The only continent at that time that was left uncontrolled and, in the European's eyes uncivilized, was Africa. This was the start of Western Imperialism. All European countries wanted their piece of Africa and to get it, they would let nothing stand in their way. They would change the entire government, religion, market, and behavior of most of the African nation and affect almost every person living there. An account of the impact of Imperialism is given in Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart. This book shows the changes that occurred in Africa during Imperialism and its affect on the community and the people
“African Perspectives on Colonialism” is a book written by A. Adu Boahen. This book classifies the African responses to European colonialism in the 19th century. Boahen begins with the status of Africa in the last quarter of the 19th century and follows through the first years of African independence. This book deals with a twenty year time period between 1880 and 1900. Boahen talks about when Africa was seized and occupied by the Imperial Powers of Europe. Eurocentric points of view dominated the study of this era but Boahen gives us the African perspective. There are always two sides of the story and Boehen tells us the side less talked about informing us of what he knows.
After most of the African nations got independence from the colonial rulers after the second half of the 20th century, there was the need to establish social, political, and economic structures to precipitate meaningful development of stable, cohesive, and functional governments. Even after independence, most African states are still in the continuous struggle for liberation from their colonial masters through their various treaties that are binding up to date. The process of liberation required praxis, that is, theory and action. The African continent is still in that struggle to achieve meaningful stability and hope for better future.