12/15/20151 module 1 social mis-construction of afrika: “kmt” undermined “ © dr. francis...

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MODULE 1MODULE 1SOCIAL SOCIAL MISMIS-CONSTRUCTION OF AFRIKA: -CONSTRUCTION OF AFRIKA:

“KMT” UNDERMINED“KMT” UNDERMINED

“

© Dr. Francis Adu-Febiri 2014

Crises

ConflictPoverty

CorruptionInequality

Primitive

JungleMisery

Chaos

Contents of Presentation• Introduction• Quiz: Images of Africa• Imaging Africa from the outside: Stereotypes• Imaging Africa from the inside: “KMT”• Imaging Africa: The Danger of a Single Story”• Major concepts• Conceptual framework: Social mis-construction, deconstruction and reconstruction of Africa • Social Relationships in Africa: Political economy, social organization, culture, human agency• Imaging Africa from the outside: Power, Image and Identity

– The Name– Representation: Afro-pessimism or Afro-optimism– Power: Image and identity

• Deconstructing the Afro-pessimism stereotypes• Reconstruction of Africa: Rebranding Processes

– Afro-optimism– Balancing Afro-pessimism with Afro-optimism– Futility of the rebranding processes without the transformation of the human factor

• Social Construction, Deconstruction and Reconstruction of Africa: Sociological paradigms, development theories, methodologies, and development practices

• The Hope of Africa• Conclusion

INTRODUCTION: Objectives of Sociology 211

• This module provides a systematic guide and framework of analysis for Sociology 211 (Introduction to Africa). It outlines the major concepts, main theories, and key issues that the course covers. The objective is to provide students with an academic context to make sense of the details the course presents on the human condition of Africa, the African experience, challenges of and hope for Africa’s sustainable development, and their connections to globalization.

INTRODUCTION: The Focus of Sociology 211

• Sociology 211 focuses on understanding socio-structural forces, cultural statics/dynamics, and human agency that together– (a) frustrate Africa’s development and fuel the negative images of the

continent– (b) drive the resilience, resistance, survival, and hope of Africa in the

face of extreme poverty, inequality, conflict, and crises– (c) engage Africans and their allies to utilize the seeds of success on

the continent and the diaspora to create opportunities to transform the people, communities, organizations, customs and traditions, the political economy, and leadership to make globalization work for Africa

INTRODUCTION:Intended Learning Outcomes of Sociology 211

• At the completion of the course, students will be able to:

• Identify and assess the realities and misconceptions of African life, culture, economy, politics, and aspiration in the global community.

• Critically assess Western media representations of Africa and Africans on the continent and the Diaspora.

• Explain Africa’s resilience and hope in the contexts of social, political, economic, and health crises.

• Analyze the impact of colonial education on Africa’s history, demography, health, culture, languages, indigenous knowledges, technological development, politics, economics, social inequalities, and the human factor.

• Outline the interconnections among the African ecosystem and African civilizations, the disruptions of African civilizations by the slave trade, colonialism, and globalization.

• Apply critical thinking and sociological paradigms to theories and methods of African Studies.

• Identify a relevant need of Africa and contribute to meeting this need.

INTRODUCTION:QUIZ

• What image(s) about Africa do you have in your mind?

INTRODUCTION:INTRODUCTION:IMAGING AFRICA FROM THE OUTSIDE: IMAGING AFRICA FROM THE OUTSIDE:

StereotypesStereotypes• Since the 18th century, Western tourists, media and scholars

have mis-constructed Africa and Africans into a negative image or framework that has fossilized into stereotypes.

• This negative imaging of Africa undermines “KMT”, an Afro-Egyptian concept– Meaning “Blackness or “Black Land” designating an Afro-

Egyptian frame of reference or worldview encompassing an Afro-centric perspective (Finch 1989, p. 28).

• Examples of this stereotypes are found in the next two slides.

IMAGING AFRICA FROM THE OUTSIDE: IMAGING AFRICA FROM THE OUTSIDE: StereotypesStereotypes

• According to Popular Press (Moseley 2009, p. xxi; Chavis 2002)• Corruption• Ethnic Warfare• Poverty• Hunger• Environmental Destruction• Exotic• Primitive• Wild• Pandemics/AIDS• Dark Continent• Savage• Jungle• Tribalism• Despotism• Underdeveloped


• According to Ayittey (1999, pp. 6 and 13):

• Squalor

• Misery

• Deprivation

• Chaos

• Crisis


• Sociology 211 Students’ Perceptions not found in previous slides:• HIV/AIDS• Topless women• Suffering• Kids with distended bellies and flies on their faces• Ragged clothes• Unclean water• Genocide• Child soldiers• Mud huts• Exploitation

IMAGES OF AFRICA:Students’ Perception Pattern

STUDENTS PERCEPTIONS

1. What Most Students See Flora and Fauna

2. What Few Students See Culture and Soccer

3. Students Who See People Africans as problem people or people with problems


• The negative images constitute "universal" but powerfully subliminal message units, beamed at global television audiences, connote something not good, perennially problematic unworthiness, deplorability, black, foreboding, loathing, sub humanity (Chavis 1998) http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Workshop/chavis98.html).


• This negative imaging of Africa is a one-sided story. Africa has not always have such a negative image. During the ancient indigenous Egyptian civilization KMT represented a positive African image and black identity. Moreover, there are positive things in Africa and about Africans that are silenced by the mainstream

• http://www.africafornorway.no/

Imaging Africa from the Inside: “KMT”

• KMT, pronounced or elaborated as “Kemet” (Paulo Wngoola 2012, p. 10) or “Kamit” (Charles S. Finch 1989, p. 28), is an ancient Egyptian concept representing a positive Africa.

Imaging Africa from the Inside: “KMT”

• The social mis-construction of Afrika as a “dark continent” where nothing positive that matters exists, is only a single story and a dangerous one because it

• a) misrepresents “KMT” (black image/identity) as negative, distorts the contributions of Afrikan civilizations to human progress, and disempowers Afrikans

• b) misses the vibrant lifeworlds that sustain Afrikan societies despite the long history of foreign assault

• c) contributes to a self-fulfilling prophesy that makes communities focus on what they don’t have, and thus prevent them from using the resources in their social organization, political economy, culture, and human agency to produce sustainable people to rebuild sustainable communities.

• d) reinforces Afro-pessimism at the expense of Afro-optimism, and thus suppresses the “Ubuntu” philosophy, the “Sankofa” methodology, and the “human factor competency” (HFC) strategies of development that eliminates “human factor decay” (HFD) and restores “KMT”.

• e) stops the “hippos to cheetahs” metamorphosis in its track.

Imaging Africa: “The Danger of a Single Story”

• “Our lives, our cultures, are composed of many overlapping stories. Novelist Chimamanda Adichie tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice -- and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country [or continent], we risk a critical misunderstanding”.

• http://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story.html


• GUERRILLA GRANNIES depicts Bertels' third encounter with these remarkable women, all three now grandmothers in their 60s, and narrates the filmmaker's long friendship with them. Today Mozambique has a growing industrial economy and stable political system. It also ranks among the top 25 countries in the world for women, according to a 2012 World Economic Forum report, thanks largely to the efforts of pioneers like Monica, Amelia, and Maria. Their success in helping transform the county has sapped none of their ambition, and the film reveals their tireless efforts to create a better life for their children and the future generations.

• http://icarusfilms.com/new2013/gg.html


• The Akwa Ibom State transformation:– State of the art infrastructure– Free education– Free medicals for children, pregnant women,

and the elderly

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWROzirq5Dk


• PROJECTION MAPS:– Mercator’s Map (https://www.google.ca/#q=mercator+map+definition)

• Greenland is larger than Africa

• North America is larger than Africa

• Africa is in the Southern Hemisphere

– Mcarthur’s Map (https://www.google.ca/#q=mcarthur+map+of+the+world)

• Africa is in the Northern Hemisphere

– Gall-Peters’ Map (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8zBC2dvERM)

• Africa is larger than Greenland

• Africa is larger than North America

• Africa is in the Northern Hemisphere

• MAJOR CONCEPTS

MAJOR CONCEPTS• “KMT”• Power, Image, Identity and Misrepresentation

– Afro-pessimism and Afro-optimism• Social Construction• Social Deconstruction• Social Mis-construction• Social Reconstruction • Social Relationships• Social Organization• Political Economy• Culture• Human Agency• Ubuntu• Sankofa• Human Factor Competency (HFC)• Human Factor Decay (HFD)• Hippos and Cheetahs

• CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

• The Social Construction Framework:– Argues that the images and human conditions

of Africa are not natural, they are made up.– Therefore, it is feasible to focus on creating

prevention and intervention strategies that together will eliminate the misconstruction of Afrika and provide catalysts to empower Afrikans to deconstruct and reconstruct their own universes and their own development journeys.


• Social Mis-Construction of Afrika: • Layers of historical and contemporary fallacies

that explorers, missionaries, scholars, thinkers, and the western media consecrate as truths in their attempts to denigrate Africa (Mengara 2001).

• Illustrations: – The Berlin Conference and the social misconstruction of Afrika

(http://africanhistory.about.com/od/eracolonialism/l/bl-BerlinAct1885.htm)

– 21st century misconstruction of Afrika (http://www.lizardpoint.com/fun/geoquiz/afrquiz.html)

21st Century Misconstruction of Afrika

• http://www.lizardpoint.com/fun/geoquiz/afrquiz.html


• Social Deconstruction of Western misconstructed Afrikan Universe:

• This process is about uncovering, unpacking and refuting the multifarious images and stereotypes that, century after century, have come to deform, invalidate and misconstruct the African universe (Mengara 2001).


• Social Reconstruction of Africa into Afrika:

• At the superficial level, this is about “Rebranding Africa” to reflect the historical and contemporary realities to facilitate Afrikan renaissance.

• At the deeper level, it is about transforming the human condition of Africa to rid the continent of extreme poverty, extreme inequality/inequity, violent conflict, health and other crises.

SOC 211: CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK:SOC 211: CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK:Social RelationshipsSocial Relationships

AFRICA Social Construction,

Deconstruction & Reconstruction:

IMAGES

SOCIAL ORGANIZATION

POLITICALECONOMY

HUMAN AGENCY

CULTURE

THEORIES

METHODOLOGIES

PRACTICES

PRACTICES

• SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS

SOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS IN AFRICA

• There are – a) Relationships that sustain African people,

families, groups, organizations, communities and countries

– b) Relationships that threaten the very survival of African people, families, groups, organizations, communities and countries

• These are structural inequities, customs and traditions, social institutions, and social interaction that are located in Africa’s political economy, social organization, culture, and human agency.

• POLITICAL ECONOMY– An integrated politicization and marketization

of human society. Specifically, combination of the production and distribution of structure of power (politics) and the structure of market/money (economics) in human society.

POLITICAL ECONOMY OF AFRICAPOLITICAL ECONOMY OF AFRICA

• 1. POLITICIZATION OF GOVERNANCE FOR PERSONAL FINANCIAL GAIN: The Issue of Vampire/Hyena States– Indigenous governance– Leadership– Democracy– Bureaucracy– Socialism– Communism– Corruption– Instability– Reconciliation


• The “Vampire State” concept has been applied more to governments of African countries than other underdeveloped/developing countries (Frimpong-Ansah 1991. The Vampire State in Africa: The Political Economy of Decline in Africa. Africa World Press, George Ayittey, 1999. Africa is Chaos: A Comparative History).


• VAMPIRE/HYENA STATES• Vampire states are the states with “governments that have been

hijacked by a phalanx of bandits and crooks who would use the instruments of the state machinery to enrich themselves and their cronies and their tribesmen and exclude everybody else.” (“Hyena States” would be a fitting metaphor considering the African landscape and the rapacious and predatory nature of the crooks.) Simply stated, much of Africa languishes under the rule of thugtators (thugtatorship is the highest stage of African dictatorship) who cling to power for the single purpose of using the apparatuses of the state to loot and ransack their nations. Such is the unvarnished truth about Africa’s entrapment in perpetual post-independence poverty and destitution (http://www.ethiopianreview.com/index/tag/vampire-states).

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• 2. MARKETIZATION OF RESOURCES– Natural Resources

• Extraction, export, processing of raw material such as diamond

– Human Resources• Education and Job training

institutions• Labor Force• Population and Health

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• MARKETIZATION AND AFRICA– Slave Trade– Colonization, de-colonization and neo-colonization– Unfair Trade and Tourism– Consumerism – Foreign Aid, Loans and Debt

• International Financial Institutions• Foreign Governmental Organizations• Non-Governmental organizations (NGOs)• African Governments’ “Begging Bowl”• Safety net for vulnerable Africans

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• MARKETIZATION AND ECONOMIC SECTORS OF AFRICA

– The Primary Sector– The Formal Sector– The Informal Sector


• THE PRIMARY SECTOR:• A focus on agricultural and extractive industries at the expense of

manufacturing• THE FORMAL SECTOR:• This parasitic sector only accumulates money and properties for the

political and bureaucratic elite. It is the battleground of the elites creating repression and political instability—circulation of the elite—in African countries.

• THE INFORMAL ECONOMY:• African economies have very large informal sectors where a large

percentage of the population engage in petty trading, crafts, fishing, small scale trades and vocational activities, etc., that are not captured by the taxation system.

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• POLITICIZATION, MARKETIZATION, AND POVERTY IN AFRICA– Extreme Poverty– Absolute Poverty– Relative Poverty

• POLITICIZATION, MARKETIZATION, AND WEALTH IN AFRICA– Money– Property– Material resources– Knowledge

• SOCIAL ORGANIZATION– Pattern or system of relationships that

coordinate, direct and drive interaction of individual and groups in a community or society.

SOCIAL ORGANIZATION OF AFRICAN SOCIETIES

• 1. VIOLENCE: Vertical and Lateral – Conflict Resource – Rape and Femicide– Genocide

• 2. NON-VIOLENCE– Positive Action– Conflict Resolution– Reconciliation– Peace

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SOCIAL ORGANIZATION OF AFRICAN SOCIETIES

• 3. KINSHIP– Interrelated Components of African Kinship Systems:

Descent, Family and Marriage

• 4. FAMILY– African families are a complex web of nuclear and extended

relationships

• 5. COMMUNITY– In Indigenous Africa the individual and the community are

inseparable and scale did not make a difference in the conceptualization of community. Moreover, community membership transcends the living to encompass ancestors, other dead, the unborn generations, and spirit beings.

• CULTURE:– Material and non-material stuff created and

shared in a group, organization, community or society.

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AFRICAN CULTURESAFRICAN CULTURES

• 1. African Values• 2. African Beliefs/Worldviews• 3. African Norms• 4. African Symbols• 5. African Languages• 6. African Customs and Traditions• 7. African Practices • 8. African Technologies• 9. African Infrastructure

• HUMAN AGENCY:– Ability and capability of individuals and groups

to create and act within the contexts of culture, community, political economy, and/or society.

HUMAN AGENCY

• The human agency in Africa is portrayed as human resource of Africa, which Professor George Ayitey (http://www.ted.com/talks/george_ayittey_on_cheetahs_vs_hippos.html) categorizes into

“Hippos” and “Cheetahs”:

HUMAN AGENCY

• The 'Hippos' (lazy, slow, ornery, corrupt African leaders) that have ruined postcolonial Africa. These are in contrast with the young, agile 'Cheetah Generation,' a 'new breed of Africans' taking their futures into their own hands (Ayittey 2008).

HUMAN AGENCY

• Professor Senyo Adjibolosoo (1995) conceptualize human agency as more than human resource. The Human Factor is used as a more appropriate representation. The Human Factor has two major dimensions—human factor decay (Adjibolosoo 1995) and human factor competency (Adu-Febiri 2000). These dimension are defined in the next slide.

HUMAN AGENCY

• Human Factor: • Distilling from earlier definitions of the HFC (Adjibolosoo, 1995; Adu-Febiri,

2000, 2001, 2003/2004 and 2011), HFC constitutes peoples’ thinking and humanitarian abilities that inspire and facilitate their acquisition and application of appropriate resources to connect with our common humanity and the environment emotionally, morally and spiritually to make a sustainable difference in society. In essence, HFC is an essential dimension of what Adjibolosoo (1995, p. 33) conceptualizes as “the appropriate human qualities and/or characteristics (i.e., the HF). Human Factor Decay (HFD) is the decline or loss or lack of those human qualities and/or characteristics (Adjibolosoo 1995). Senyo Adjibolosoo (1995, pp. 33 and 36), defines the HF as – a spectrum of personality characteristics that enable social, economic,

and political institutions to function and remain functional over time. These [personality characteristics] include human capital, spiritual capital, moral capital, aesthetic capital, human abilities, and human potential.

• SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF AFRICA:AFRICA:– IMAGING AFRICA FROM THE OUTSIDE: POWER, IMAGING AFRICA FROM THE OUTSIDE: POWER,

IMAGE & IDENRITYIMAGE & IDENRITY• 1. Name: Top-Down and Externally Initiated and 1. Name: Top-Down and Externally Initiated and

ImplementedImplemented• 2. Representation: Power, Image and Identity 2. Representation: Power, Image and Identity • 3. Stereotypes: Afro-pessimism3. Stereotypes: Afro-pessimism

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IMAGING AFRICA FROM THE OUTSIDE: IMAGING AFRICA FROM THE OUTSIDE: The NameThe Name

• Etymology of the name:• The name “Africa” is the Latinized form of the Arabic

negative rendition “Ifriqa” or “Ifriqiyah” of the Indigenous Black Nation’s (at the source of the Nile) word “Afrika” meaning the nation of the black queen or goddess (Wangoola 2012 and 2013).

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• Arabic (Berber): “Ifri” or “Afer” = Cave dwellers. With Roman suffix “-ca” = Country of cave dwellers (http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/30/140.html).

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• The Arabs changed the original indigenous positive meaning of “Afrika” to a negative “Ifriqa or “Ifrigya”. The Roman rendition, “Africa”, kept the negativity in the name

• From the Land of Queens/Goddesses through the country of Dust and Cave dwellers to the “Dark Continent”.

• Contemporary Western society continues this pejorative construction of Africa

• Africa is constructed as a country rather than fifty-four (54) sovereign nation-states.

• Africans respond by deconstructing this image. “Afrika” symbolizes this deconstruction.

REPRESENTATION: IDEOLOGY & REFLECTION

IMAGING AFRICA FROM THE OUTSIDE: IMAGING AFRICA FROM THE OUTSIDE: POWERPOWER

• This global negative image of Africa is constructed and plastered on Africa by powerful outsiders and internalized as an identity by powerless or less powerful Africans.

• Africa is not powerful enough to reject the negative image is limited by its:– 1. political, social, economic, and resource deprivation– 2. disadvantageous alliances with external imperialist,

political, and economic dynamics– 3. Human factor decay/deficiency

IMAGES OF AFRICA: AFRO-PESSIMISM

• Afro-Pessimism:

• Negative Image of Africa is dangerous because it causes stereotypes and self-fulfilling Prophesy rendering Africa and Africans powerless in the global community.

Famine

De-forestation

EthnicConflict

Oppression of Females

PoliticalInstability

Civil Wars

Poverty

ResourceCurse

HIV/AIDSPandemic

AFRO-PESSIMISM

AFRO-PESSIMISM STEREOTYPES OF AFRICA

Other

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IMAGING AFRICA FROM THE OUTSIDE: IMAGING AFRICA FROM THE OUTSIDE: Deconstructing the StereotypesDeconstructing the Stereotypes

• The negative image of Africa tends to drown:• 1. Successful local-level initiatives, relevant and realistic

strategies, and the energy and enterprise of the poor (Hancock 1989).

• 2. Positive local cultural practices, indigenous knowledge, and family support networks (Moseley 2009).

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• 3. Extraordinary diverse, vibrant, and dynamic cultures; good neighborliness; enriching human relations and family relationships; sustainable resource utilization; progressive community-based resource management; conservation efforts; dramatic improvements in human rights, political freedom, and economic development (Moseley 2009, p. xxii)

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• 4. Uncovering and unpacking the political economy, social organization, culture, and human agency that are intricately connected to the stereotypical image of the African continent.

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• 5. Labeling and Self-fulfilling Prophesy:• Negative images are externally produced and imposed

on Africa• Expectations and Conditions are created that induce

Africa/Africans to behave in the expected manner• This becomes a “proof” to those who did the labeling,

and even to the victims of labeling, that the expectations are correct and that the stereotypes included in these expectations accurately describe Africa/Africans, as they really are.

• RE-IMAGING AFRICA FROM THE INSIDE AND OUTSIDE:

•Rebranding Approach–Afro-optimism–Balancing Afro-pessimism with Afro-

optimism

•Reconstruction Approach–Sociology and Development Theories

–HFC Development

RE-IMAGING AFRICA

• A lot of energy and resources are being expended to use the mass and social media to rebrand Africa into a positive image.

• Sociology and Development Theories focus on developing the continent socially, politically and economically to change the image of Africa.

• The Human Factor theoretical perspective agrees with sociology and development theories that rebranding is futile because the existing negative image of Africa relates to the state of the continent’s development. However, HF theory argues that it is human factor decay (HFD) that is preventing the sustainable development of Africa. Replacing HFD with human factor competency (HFC) the most effective way of equipping Africans to create a development break through. When this is achieved, the global community will respect Africa and Africans, and change the image of Africa.

RE-IMAGING AFRICA

• The Rebranding Strategies include:– 1. Afro-optimists recommend educating the

rest of the world to become aware of the positive identity (Africans’ own self-image) of Africa

– 2. The “objective or scientific” perspective recommends the balancing of Afro-pessimism with Afro-optimism in the western media and academy.

IDENTITY OF AFRICA:IDENTITY OF AFRICA:AFRO-OPTIMISM:AFRO-OPTIMISM: ESSENTIAL LINKS TO AFRICA’S HOPE ESSENTIAL LINKS TO AFRICA’S HOPE

AFRO-OPTIMISM

Awareness of Human Agency

Vibrant InformalEconomic Sector

Indigenous SocialSupport Systems

Indigenous Knowledges and

Education

Emergent HumanFactor Competency

Education

Re-emerging of Democracy and Reconciliation

African Diaspora, Transnationalism,

and Allies

Resilience ofAfricans

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REBRANDING AFRICAREBRANDING AFRICA

• Objectivity/Scientific: Africans want to see an image of Africa that is scientific, that is, a true or complete reflection of the realities of Africa– Balance Afro-pessimism with Afro-optimism

• Balance: Because of self-fulfilling prophesy involved in labeling, rebranding Africa to reflect the true/complete realities of Africa is more critical than many of what the millennium development goals have constructed as priorities for African countries.

• http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/bkgd.shtml

REBRANDING AFRICA: Toward “Science”REBRANDING AFRICA: Toward “Science”Balancing Afro-pessimism with Afro-optimism Balancing Afro-pessimism with Afro-optimism

AFRO-PESSIMISM

AFRO-OPTIMISM

Famine AgriculturalSuccessStories

De-forestation

Re-forestation

EthnicConflict

Multi-EthnicCooperation Oppression

of Females FemalePower

PoliticalInstability

Transition toDemocracy

Civil Wars

ConflictResolution

Poverty

Enterprise of the Poor

ResourceCurse

ResourceBlessings

HIV/AIDSPandemic

Reducing andLiving PositivelyWith HIV/AIDS

BALANCING AFRO-PESSIMISM WITH AFRO-OPTIMISM

• For every famine there exists an agricultural “success story” such as Botswana, where forward-thinking leadership has made that country a net exporter of foodstuffs. For every military coup d’etat there exists a transition to civilian rule, such as Benin, where 19 years of military dictatorship (1972-91) was replaced by democracy (1991- present). For every civil war there exists a case of conflict resolution, as in Mozambique, where a peace accord signed in 1992 ended nearly 30 years of guerrilla warfare. For every ethnic conflict there exists a well-meaning attempt to create multi-ethnic cooperation, such as South Africa’s democratization under the leadership of President Nelson Mandela (1994-99) and his successor, President Thabo Mbeki (Schraeder 2004, p. 14).

BALANCING AFRO-PESSIMISM WITH AFRO-OPTIMISM

• For the upwardly mobile cosmopolitan Africans…Africa is no longer the poverty-stricken panderer of yesteryears, and a hopeful phase of dramatic economic growth signals a new dawn. Articles from renowned publications and projections from the IMF validate the so called “rise.” In addition to the growth of the telecommunication industry, an expanding consumer class, new natural resource reserves, and a surge in foreign direct investment, the new emerging African economy is a triumphant story that many in the Diaspora promulgate and celebrate. Unsurprisingly, participants at conferences and galas at Harvard and Columbia this year are invited to embrace the momentum, realize that Africa is on the move, and celebrate Africa’s successes. In doing so however, they are discounting the overwhelming realities of millions of Africans whose livelihood has stagnated or deteriorated in this period of great growth (. http://www.compareafrique.com/africa-is-rising-most-africans-are-not/).

• RECONSTRUCTING AFRICA:– The Perspectives of Sociological and

Development Paradigms/Theories – The Indigenous African Perspective– The Perspective of the Human Factor Theory

THE SOCIOLOGICAL PARADIGMTHE SOCIOLOGICAL PARADIGM

S(p)Personal, particular, place, political, passion are a function of Social Forces

Auguste Comte, the Father of Sociology

DEVELOPMENT THEORIES

Immanuel Wallerstein:World Systems Theory

Andre Gunder Frank:Dependency Theory

W.W. Rostow:Modernization Theory

Senyo AdjibolosooHuman Factor Theory

DEVELOPMENT THEORIESDEVELOPMENT THEORIES

• The Western Strategy to Africa’s Reconstruction• DEVELOPMENT THEORIES• Modernization Theory: Marketization Approach and Civil

Society Approach: Adopt western culture and technology – Flows from Functionalist Sociological Paradigm

• Dependency Theory: The State Approach: Break from the western capitalist political economy – Flows from Social Conflict Sociological paradigm

• World System Theory: Socialism/Communism– Flows from Social Conflict Sociological Paradigm

WESTERN STRATEGYWESTERN STRATEGY

• Top-Down and externally initiated:– The Market Approach (Marketization)– The State Approach (Politicization)– The Civil Society Approach

(Humanitarianization)

INDIGENOUS AFRICAN PERSPECTIVE & INDIGENOUS AFRICAN PERSPECTIVE & STRATEGYSTRATEGY

• Perspective: African solutions to Africa’s problems

• Strategy: Civil Society Approach: Bottom-up, locally initiated and people-focused:

– The community approach

• African Hearts

– Lutaaya Abdul

• Women First

– Agnes Twoli

• Uganda Rural Fund

– Fr. John Mary Lugemwa

Mr. L. Abdul, Executive Director, Senge Junior school, presenting to Francis & Camosun field school students in Uganda, May 2013

THE HUMAN FACTOR PERSPECTIVE & STRATEGY

•Human Factor Theory: – Intersects with the Interactionist Sociological

Paradigm.

Strategy: The human factor competency education

• Human Factor Leadership Academy

• THE HOPE OF AFRICA

THE HOPE OF AFRICA

• The hope of Africa lies in the development of human factor competency and the elimination of human factor decay, instead of rebranding of Africa or the cheetah generation.

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THE HOPE OF AFRICA: THE HOPE OF AFRICA: “Cheetah Generation”?“Cheetah Generation”?

• http://www.ted.com/talks/george_ayittey_on_cheetahs_vs_hippos.html

• “This grab-you-by-the-throat speech by Ghanaian economist George Ayittey unleashes an almost breathtaking torrent of controlled anger toward corrupt leaders and the complacency that allows them to thrive. These 'Hippos' (lazy, slow, ornery) have ruined postcolonial Africa, he says. Why, then, does he remain optimistic? Because of the young, agile 'Cheetah Generation,' a 'new breed of Africans' taking their futures into their own hands.”

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THE HOPE OF AFRICA: THE HOPE OF AFRICA: “Human Factor Competency”“Human Factor Competency”

• The “Cheetah Generation” of Africans need to acquire and apply Human Factor Competency (HFC) that flows from the UBUNTU philosophy in order to accomplish the laudable feat of taking Africa from the quagmire of underdevelopment to the desired levels of sustainable development (Senyo Adjibolosoo 1995; Francis Adu-Febiri 2001 and 2003).

• Without the implementation of the human factor education model in Africa, the “cheetah generation” is likely to metamorphosize into a “hippo generation”

THE HOPE OF AFRICA: THE HOPE OF AFRICA: “Human Factor Competency”“Human Factor Competency”

• Human Factor Competency (HFC) constitutes peoples’ thinking and humanitarian abilities that inspire and facilitate their acquisition and application of appropriate resources to connect with our common humanity and the environment emotionally, morally and spiritually to make a sustainable difference in society (Adu-Febiri 2014)

HUMAN FACTOR LEADERSHIP ACADEMY (HFLA):HUMAN FACTOR LEADERSHIP ACADEMY (HFLA):Producing a generation with Human Factor CompetencyProducing a generation with Human Factor Competency

• Hence the establishment of the Human Factor Leadership Academy (HFLA) in Akatse, Ghana

• www.iihfd.net

Prof. Adjibolosoo, Founder & CEO of HFLA

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HUMAN FACTOR LEADERSHIP ACADEMY (HFLA):HUMAN FACTOR LEADERSHIP ACADEMY (HFLA):Producing a generation with Human Factor Producing a generation with Human Factor

CompetencyCompetency

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THE HOPE OF AFRICA: THE HOPE OF AFRICA: Producing a “cheetah generation” with Producing a “cheetah generation” with

Human Factor Competency at HFLAHuman Factor Competency at HFLA

THE HOPE OF AFRICA:The Revival of UBUNTU

• Human Factor Competency education would play a major role in reviving and applying the African philosophy of UBUNTU to create sustainable development in Africa.

• Revival is built into Indigenous African societies. Therefore, Africa does not need to look elsewhere for inspiration to revive ubuntu.

THE HOPE OF AFRICA: REVIVAL OF UBUNTU

• REVIVAL = Sankofa: • “The Sankofa Bird looks

backward with the egg of the future in her beak, constantly checking [with the past] as she moves into the future”. (http://www.sankofa.com/videobookscafe/).

Indigenous Akan (Ghana) metaphor or symbol of inspiration for revival.

THE HOPE OF AFRICA:The Revival of UBUNTU

• …It [ubuntu] is the essence of being human. It speaks of the fact that my humanity is caught up and is inextricably bound up in yours. I am human because I belong. It speaks about wholeness, it speaks about compassion. A person with ubuntu is welcoming, hospitable, warm and generous, willing to share. Such people are open and available to others, willing to be vulnerable, affirming of others, do not feel threatened that others are able and good, for they have a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that they belong in a greater whole. They know that they are diminished when others are humiliated, diminished when others are oppressed, diminished when others are treated as if they were less than who they are. The quality of ubuntu gives people resilience, enabling them to survive and emerge still human despite all efforts to dehumanise them (Tutu 2004).

CONCLUSIONCONCLUSION

• To understand and “develop” Africa, we need

– 1) a real and complete scientific image of Africa.

– 2) an authentic indigenous African development vision (ubuntu), methodology (sankofa), theoretical perspective (HF theory), and processes/practices (HFC education) instead of Africa mimicking Western development agenda and focusing on rebranding.

– 3) the revival (sankofa) of the UBUNTU philosophy through the development and application of human factor competency (HFC) of Africans and their allies would engage and uplift Africa to create its own capacity to initiate and do its own development. This is how the image of Africa would transform; not through rebranding and the cheetah generation that lacks HFC.

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CONCLUSIONCONCLUSION

• It is through Human Factor Competency Education that Africa and Africans will experience sustainable development.

My visit to the HFLA Elementary School New Campus in May 2014

REFERENCES• Adjibolosoo, Senyo B-S. K. 1995. The Human Factor in Developing Africa, Westport, • Conn.: Praeger. • Adu-Febiri, Francis. 2014. “Educated for a World that Does not Exist: Issues in

Africa’s Education and Training Programs” Forthcoming. Review of Human Factor Studies.

• Adu-Febiri, Francis. 2013. “Intercultural Diversities, Common Humanity”. LOTUS Presentation on Intercultural Diversity and Restructuring Post-Secondary Education, organized by LOTUS, the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.

• Adu-Febiri, Francis. 2004. “Re-defining the Human Factor: An Explorative exercise”. Review of Human Factor Studies, Volume 10, No. 1, Special Issue, pp. 121-128.

• Adu-Febiri, Francis. 2003/2004. “Facilitating cultural Diversity in a Monolithic Global Economy: The Role of Human Factor Education.” International Journal of the Humanities, Volume 1, pp. 885-908.

• Adu-Febiri, Francis. 2003: “Putting the Human Factor to Work in African Tourism: A Human Factor Competency Model.” In Victor N. Muzvidziwa and Paul Gundani (eds.). Management and the Human Factor: Lessons for Africa. Harare: University of Zimbabwe Publications.

REFERENCES

• Adu-Febiri, Francis. 2001: “Human Factor Competence and the Performance Effectiveness of Hospitality Professionals.” Senyo Adjibolosoo, ed., Portraits of Human Behavior and Performance: The Human Factor in Action, Lanham: University Press of America.

• Adu-Febiri, Francis. 2000. “Putting the Human Factor to Work in African Tourism: A Human Factor Competency Model”. Paper presented at the 4th Bi-annial conference of the IIHFD, July 17-18, 2000. Harare: University of Zimbabwe.

• Ayittey, George. 1999. Africa is Chaos: A Comparative History. London: Palgrave Macmillan

• Chavis, Rod. 1998. “Africa in the Western Media.” A Paper presented at the Sixth Annual African Studies Consortium Workshop, October 02, 1998). UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA - AFRICAN STUDIES CENTER.

• Finch, Charles S. 1989. “Meeting the Pharaoh: Conversations with Cheikh Anta Diop”. In Great African Thinkers. Third Edition. Ivan Van Sertima (ed.).New Brunswick, NJ.: Transaction Books, Rutgers.

• Hancock, 1989………………………..

REFERENCES

• Mengara, Daniel (ed.). 2001. Images of Africa: Stereotypes and Realities. London: Africa World Press

• Moseley, William G. 2009. Taking Sides: Clashing Views on African Issues, Third Edition. Boston: McGraw Hill Higher Education.

• Schraeder, Peter J. 2004. African Politics and Society: A Mosaic in Transformation. Second Edition. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth

• Tutu, Desmond. 2004. God Has A Dream: London: Doubleday. • Wangoola, Paulo. 2013. Mpambo Afrikan Multiversity: A

Transformative Knowledge Chain in Higher Learning. Jinja, Uganda: Mpambo Afrikan Multiversity.

• Wangoola, Paulo. 2012. People-to-People Mini Summit of The Afrikan Black Nation (The First nation) and The First Nations of the Turtle Island (Canada) on Mulembr Mutinzi. Jinja, Uganda: Mpambo Afrikan Multiversity.

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