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Just as in the case of any other continent, the history of Africa is not only one of the great and colorful kingdoms. It is not only a history of the wealthy or, for the majority of the world, of the colonizers. It is a history that unites the majority of humanity, a history of suffering.
It is a history of struggle against the harshness of nature and against the cruelty of other men. There is something oddly beautiful about this struggle, though probably not for everybody. It is also very likely that this struggle, and with it poverty, will stay with us for a long time. Despite that, there is hardly anybody arguing that it should not be exterminated. Poverty needs to be both understood and if possible eliminated.
This chapter presents a historic and anthropological account of poverty in Africa. It is an attempt to understand the specific nature of African poverty, one necessary to give an answer to the questions posed in the introduction of this thesis as well as a possible enhancement of the economic knowledge of poverty. It identifies long-term economic, social and political processes that have influenced and which characterize poverty in Africa. The following part contains a general overview of the chapter, followed by a description of poverty in pre-colonial, colonial, and independent African societies. Changes within those societies will be related to issues of economization, modernization and globalization.
Writing a history of poverty in Africa is not without any obstructions. There are three major ones to be mentioned (based on Iliffe, 1987). The first impediment is to find a usable definition of poverty. A correct historical and conceptual account or definition of poverty, to be valid forever, is not possible. Poverty has many facets and many Africans have their own varying notions of it. There are various qualities or indicators of poverty that it’s based on. In line with the preliminary definition that has been given in the introduction of this thesis, in this chapter I will base my account on physical want as the major indicator of poverty, again in line with Iliffe (1987). As ‘the poor,’ will be defined as those who struggle continuously to preserve themselves and others from physical want. As the ‘very poor’ or ‘destitute,’ will be defined those who have permanently or temporarily failed in this struggle and have fallen into physical need.
The main focus of the chapter will be on the latter. They are much fewer in number, while the first category considers the majority of Africans throughout time. Distinction between both groups is the most relevant, as it exists in most African languages.
The second obstacle to writing a history of the poor in Africa is related to the inadequacy of the sources. People who write such a history complain about the quality of the written sources. They are small in number, when compared to Europe; and the poor leave a sporadic trace in them. Those accounts are also misleading.
The opinions of travelers and of anthropologists are subject to using a categorization of poverty foreign to the African people. The other major indigenous information sources and oral traditions form a problem as well. They pay much more attention to the history of the wealthy and they are often colored by ethnic and social stereotypes and by the social conditions existing at the time of their recording.
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Writer Profile
Simon
Simon Ezu is a social commentator, advocate for world peace, climate change and social reforms to make the world a better place.
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Comments
Amazing. Chloe | Jan 21st, 2005
I hope that you will write more to come. Have you read Shackled Continent?
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