From: "Salil Tripathi" <salil61-AT-hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: need help
Date: Thu, 15 Nov 2001 08:22:09 +0000


Jim

For a lyrical, impressionistic account of post-colonial Africa, do take a 
look at Ryszard Kapuscinski's "Shadows of the Sun", published earlier this 
year. It is broadly sympathetic to the people, highly critical of the 
colonial powers, but also brutally frank and angry with the venal leaders 
that ruled Africa subsequently. It isn't exhaustive; it is a personalized 
account, and shows African society for what it is: its humanity, its 
follies, its brutality, its corruption, its endurance. It has a fascinating 
account of the Hutu-Tutsi rivalry, as well as a detailed history of the rise 
of Idi Amin.

It won't necessarily offer "counter-arguments", but it will reveal the 
complexities of Africa; coming from a Polish journalist who has reported out 
of Africa for 40 years, the book is a gem.

Incidentally, as regards the ruin of Africa's economies since the colonial 
powers left, you will find some material in historical statistics of the 
World Bank. The problem lies with how you analyze the lack of growth and the 
rise of poverty. Kicking out foreigners and nationalizing economies is one 
way of looking at it; debt burden is another; corruption is indeed a major 
factor; and violence -- between nations and within nations -- is fourth -- 
and the long-term decline in commodity prices is the fifth. And there are 
many more....

Salil


_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp



     --- from list postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---