Bly, Walter Rodney and Africa

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Walter Rodney and Africa

Viola Mattavous Bly

Journal of Black Studies, Vol. 16, No. 2. (Dec., 1985), pp. 115-130.

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WALTER RODNEY A N D AFRICA

VIOLA MATTAVO US BLY

rook lyn College

In the course of the world s grea test ideological an d military

confrontation, Walter Rodney was born in Guyana in 1942.Following W orld W ar I1 a series of events se t the stage fo r his

future role as a Black scholar and political activist. Among

these, the Fifth Pan-A frican Conference of 1945 feature dprominently in charting his course to Africa. A t this conferenceover 200 Black delegates, the m ajority fro m African colonies,

formulated a resolution demanding an end to European

colon ial rule in Africa. This action heralded changing times fo r

Blacks thro ug ho ut th e world. A decade later, Africa becameinvolved in a nationalist struggle that culminated in inde-

pendence fo r the ma jor por tion of the continen t. Yet, despitepolitical freedom , Africa remained economically dep end ent.

Because African na tionalism was fundam entally a n imple-mentation of Pan-African objectives, it quickened Black

Am erican interest in Africans an d their problems. Ro dney w as

thu s inspired t o devo te his life to the stud y of African history.Accordingly, this article, which is divided in to five them es, is

intended to give som e insight into his career as an Africanist.The first theme describes events that led him to specialize in

African history. T hen , to recreate the env ironm ent in which he

produced his major work, How Europe Underdeveloped

JOURN AL OF BLACK STUDIES Vol. 16 No. 2, December 1985 115-130

1985 Sage Pu blication s, Inc.



6 JOURN AL O F BLACK STUD I ES DECEMBER 1985

frica the second them e focuses briefly on Tanzania's politicaldevelopment in the 1960s. Th e third them e is devoted to a review

of the major arguments projected by Rodney to support his

theory on Africa's underd eve lopm ent. This is followed by hissuggested so lutions, which are based mainly o n the problem of

disengagem ent. The final section exam ines the imp act of hiswork o n a n African leader and on the stud y of African history;

it concludes with his legacy to the Pan-A frican struggle.

SPECI LIZ TION IN FRIC N HISTORY

Rodney was first exposed to political issues in Guyanawhere his parents were members of an anticolonial organi-zation know n as the People's Progressive Pa rty. Th e BritishGovernment labeled this a Marxist movement and attempted

to invalidate it by suspending a constitution that allowed

limited self-rule in G uy an a (Cam pbell, 198 1 49). Subsequently,

the P P P split into two factions a nd , in the process, lost sight of

its original mission to end colonial rule. These events imbuedyoung Ro dney with a keen sensitivity to his social environm ent

and motivated his inquiry into the basic causes of social and

political conflict. He soon realized that an understanding ofsuch fundamental problems could only be gained by asystem atic stud y of the p ast. T hu s he chose history as afield of

specialization when he entered the University of the West

Indies in 1959.

History was a n exciting challenge th at linked the present to

the p ast. I n the 1960s Black h istory mad e dee p impressions in

the s an ds of time. This period bro ug ht A fricans an d peoples ofAfrican descent closer together than they had been at any

previous time. Nationalist demands for self-rule escalated

thro ug ho ut the African continent soo n after G han a achieved

independence f ro m B ritainin 1957. Between 1957 and 1963,25

new African nations emerged (Cowan, 1968: 84-91). Thedemand for self-rule spread quickly to Britain's Caribbean



ly WALTER RODNEY AND AFRICA 7

colonies. Ja m aic a and Trinidad gained independence in 1962;Guyana achieved self-rule in 1961 and com plete independence

in 1966. Co ncu rrently, Blacks in the United States protestedagainst racial discrimination by staging freedom rides and

sit-ins. A dra m atic m arch on W ashington in 1963 resulted in

the enac tment of the Civil Righ ts Bill of 1964, which outlaweddisc rim ina tion in public facilities Qu arles, 1964: 268). Rodney

was keenly attuned to the rising tide of Black awareness

reflected in these events that also strengthened Pan-African

bonds. Sensing the urgency of the historical currents, hebrough t his academic skills to bear in formu lating a practical

analysis of the prob lems faced by the Black world.

He first studied C aribbean history tha t, by po pu lar dem and ,

soon preempted European history in the University curric-

ulum. T he A tlantic Slave Trade was unquestionably the m ajor

theme in Caribbean Studies. Efforts to broaden his under-

stand ing of C aribb ean slave origins gradua lly involved R od -ney in a serious probe of the African past Black Scholar,

1974:38). In 1963 he entered the S choo l of Orien tal and A frican

Studies at London University as a doctoral candidate in

African history. U po n com pletion of his dissertation , History

of the Upper Guinea Coast, 1545-1800 he was awarded theDoctor of Philosophy Degree in 1966. The dissertation,

painstaking ly researched in the archives of Eng land , Por tug al,an d W est Africa, was revised an d published in 1970. I n it, heargued that African-European relations in the Atlantic Slave

Trad e exacerb ated differences in the two cultures and caused

grav e da m ag e to A frican society Rodn ey, 1970: vii). Six-

teenth-century Portuguese traders fo und two classes of people

on the up per G uinea coast-a small ruling class an d the mass

of com m oners. Econo mic deterioration comm enced when theruling class joined the P ortuguese in exploiting the m asses.

Eventually, the authority of the ruling oligarchy was also

und erm ined by the Portug uese Ro dne y, 1966: 434). Such wasthe impact of external forces on Africa that depressive

economic cond itions c ontinue to plague the continent to this



118 JOU RN AL O F BLACK STUD I ES DECEMBER 1985

day . In a later work , Rod ney (1972) would expand this them eto reveal a consistent pattern of European exploitation in

Africa fro m the sixteenth to the twentieth century.

His do cto ra l degree fro m one of E ngland s prestigious

institutions could have gained Rodney entrance to the elitistcircles of western acad em ia. How ever, as a Black sch olar, hechose to com m it himself to the cause of peop le of his race wh o,

for four centuries, have remained poor and oppressed in themidst of capitalist affluence. In investigating this imbalance, he

boldly challenged established western concepts and assump-tions a bou t Africa s lack of developm ent. A pplying the skills of

historical research, he documented and analyzed the manyissues involved and projected guidelines for their solution

(Rodney, 972: vii). For Rodney, history had an explicitrevo lutiona ry function to reform present conditions in light ofpast experiences. T hu s he com m itted his life t o m aking African

history function for his people. It was this commitment that

distinguished him as an Africanist.

T NZ NI S PRIM RY SOURCE

Like many Blacks in the diaspora, Rodney was deeply

impressed with G hana s independence. W ith great expe cta-

tions he looked to the leadership of its president, Kwame

N kru m ah , fo r the l iberation of all African people. W hen the

overthro w of Nkrum ah s governm ent in 1966 dashed these

hopes, the E ast African R epu blic of Ta nz an ia quickly filled the

vacuum Black Scholar, 1974: 38). Shortly after the Ghanaco up , Rod ne y visited Ta nz an ia, the first independ ent A frican

nation t o a t temp t a governm ent that deviated f rom the inher-ited colonial political system. This visit opened new channels to

source material on which to document evidence and to

form ulate solutions to A frica s problem of underdev elopm ent.

Favorably impressed by Tanzania s political climate, he would

return to w ork there three years later.



ly WALTER RODNEY AND AFRICA 119

While teaching at the University of the West Indies inJamaica, Rodney identified with Black Power and labor

movements and often lectured to militant student organiza-tions. Th e Jam aica n governm ent soo n labeled him a radicaland an undersirable alien and banned him fro m Jam aica in

1969 (Campbell, 1981: 55). At this point he returned toTanzania where he knew that his ideas were in keeping with

government ideology. There he spent five very productive

years. He taught at University College of Dar-es-Salaam, a

modern institution that had been formally opened in 1962(M acD on ald, 1966: 176). His most significant co ntribu tion to

the University's offerings was the introduction of a course

entitled The History of Blacks in Am erica. It enabled African

students to connect their struggle against colonialism and

neocolonialism with the Black struggle against racism in

Am erica (Cam pbell, 1981 56-57). Despite a busy schedule a t the

University, Ro dney fo un d time to abs orb Tanzania's politicalenv ironm ent, organize and exp and his ideas, a nd , finally, writehis major work. This book, How Europe Underdeveloped

Africa was first published in England in 1972.

A brief review of Tanzania's political development in the

1960s will serve to reconstruct the setting in which Rodney

became immersed and that definitely influenced his work.

Tan ganyika, fo rmerly a G erm an colony, was administered as aBritish Protectorate under a League of Nations mandatebetween 1918 an d 1946. British protection continued under aUnited Nations Trusteeship until independence was achieved

in 1961. Dr. Julius Nyerere, a popular socialist leader of the

Tanganyika African National Union (TANU), was named

prim e minister of the new na tion . When it became a republic in

1962, Nyerere was elected president. Zanziba r, an islandtwenty miles off the T ang any ika coast, gained its independence

from Britain in 1963. A comm unist-inspired revolt overthrewthe new Zanzibar government and instituted the People's

Republic of Zanzibar in Ja nu ary 1964. Simultaneously, T A N U

steadily moved Tanganyika toward a socialist form of gov-



120 JOU RN AL O F BLACK STUDIES DECEM BER 1985

ernm ent. Focusing on a com m on ideology, the two republics-

Tan gan yika and Zanzibar-united in April 1964 to form the

United R epub lic of Tanza nia. It emerged as a one-p arty statewith T A N U as its official organ.

Presiden t Nyerere's A rus ha D eclaration in 1967 launche d

the socialist program and placed the major means of pro-duction under control of the farmer and worker (Keesing's

Research R ep ort, 1972: 119-125). This prog ram called for thecoop era tion of village com munities, called ujamaa , in building

na tional self-reliance. I t also rejected the dependency ethic,which co nditioned Africans to loo k to capitalist coun tries to

provide foreign aid (Rodney, 1968: 82). Prior to the Decla-ra tion , the Five Year Developm ent P lan of 1964 placed apriority on education as the essential factor in Tanzania'ssocial revolution. Th e basic fun ction of educ ation w as to meetthe hu m an resource needs of the people. W ith specific reference

to the University's function, N yerere (1968: 183) stated t hat auniversity in ade veloping society mu st pu t the em phasis of its

wo rk on subjects of imm ediate mo m ent to the nation in which

it exists, and m ust be com m itted to the people of th at n ationand their hum anistic goals. Every effort was m ade to imple-

ment this program, which necessitated the training of 1500graduate teachers by 1969. Qualified people were sought to

teach a t the college level an d the year 1969 was declared AdultEdu ca tion Year (Tanza nia News Review, 1969: 3). Rodney's

arrival w as, therefore, well-timed.

R od ne y kept attuned to the m any political issues an d events

taking place aro un d him. Th e major issue was, of co urse , the

implementation of the Arusha Declaration. He familiarized

himself with every aspect of this national task by first-hand

observations and personal contacts. Informal discussions on

cam pus with studen t mem bers of the Tan zan ia Youth League

(Rodney, 1973: 352), an auxiliary of TANU, provided avaluable source of information and many insights into the

problems of establishing a socialist society.Tanzania's foreign policy also exerted a great influence o n

Ro dney . His stay there coincided with the nationalist struggle



Biy WALTER RODNEY A N D AFRICA 2

against Portugu ese colonial rule in Angola, M ozam bique, an dPortugu ese G uinea (Guinea-Bissau). Po rtuga l, the last of the

colonial rulers in Africa, was waging a desperate ba ttle aga instthe inevitable spread of A frican nationalism. As a ges ture of

solidarity, Ta nza nia offered asylum t o M ozambique s insur-

gents. In 1962, their leaders met in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania scapital , and founded the F ro nt fo r the Liberation of M ozam-

bique (FRELIMO). Tanzania immediately recognized thisorganization as the M ozam bique gov ernm ent in exile. Un der

the leadership of E du ardo M ondlane, F R E L IM O guerrillaslaunched attacks across the borde r against Portuguese troo ps

in northern M ozambique. In 1969, the year R odn ey arrived,

Portugu ese agents assassinated M ondlane with a parcel bo m bsent to him in ~ a r - e s - ~ a l a a m . ~otw ithstand ing the loss of an

able leader, FRELIMO troops continued their thrust unti l

they occupied m ore th an half of M ozambique. Po rtugal s

military setbacks in A frica between 1973 an d 1974 led t o theoverthrow of P rem ier Salazar s gov ernm ent in April 1974. Th e

new regime in Lisbon quickly granted independence to its

form er A frican colonies (C arte r, 1979: 59-61).

Local newspapers and radio broadcasts kept Rodney in-

formed o n Tanzania s assistance to the F R E L IM O freedomfighters (Tanzania News Review, 1972: 10). These primary

sources sharpen ed his focus o n w hat he considered the gravestinjustice ever perpetrated by colonial rule, namely, Africanunderdevelopment (Rodney, 1972: 236).

N LYSIS OF UNDERDEVELO PMENT

In the challenging environment described above, Rodneyproduced his major work, How Europe UnderdevelopedAfrica. Of this achievem ent R od ney (1972: vii) no ted ,

It is no accident that the text as a whole has been written withinTanzania, where expressions of concern for development have



122 J O U R N A L O F B LA CK S T U D I ES DEC EMB ER 1985

been accompanied by considerably more positive action than inseveral parts of the continent.

The book, a systematic analysis of the African problem,projects the theory th at Eu rope an capital ism was the primary

age nt in Africa s underdevelopment. In evolving this argum entRo dney treats the co ntinent as one geographic unit. H e moves

easily in time a nd space from one cultural region to an oth er ashe skillfully places African history in the context of world

history. A com m on and recurrent theme throu gho ut this workemphasizes class differences as the basis of all social problem s

an d identifies the w orking class as the world s largest and m ost

oppressed social group .Applying the Marxist theory of development to Africa,

Rodney 1972: 48) argues that Africans were in a trans itionalstage at the start of Eu rop ean contact. They were moving from

com m unalism , characterized by collective ownership of land,to a feudal stage in which land was controlled by a few, an d a

sharp distinction was made between landlord and landless

pea san t. However, only a few societies, such as Egypt, E thio-

pia, an d som e states in the N ahgreb , reached this feudal stageby the fifteenth century. Europe, in contrast, had already

passed thro ug h the stages of com m unalism an d feudalism an d,

by extending its commercial interests overseas, had movedtow ard capitalism. T he A frican ruling class, anx ious to acquire

luxury and prestigious goods, welcomed European trade.

Initially, the incidence of slavery in African societies was

minimal. B ut with the intro du ction of sugar cultivation in the

New W orld, African slaves became the ma jor item of exchange

for E urop ean lu xury goods. T he A tlantic Slave Trade, thus,

contributed to the advancement of European capitalism. Bydeterm ining what goo ds w ere m arketable an d setting prices,

Europe quickly assumed dominance in African-European

trade relations. T he choice of tra de go ods was based no t o n

African needs but o n the pattern of Euro pean produ ction and

consumption.Th e slave trade provided huge profi ts fo r Euro pe a nd paved

the way for further exploitation of the continent. Afterabolition, the elimination of slave trading became a major



Bly W LTER RODNEY ND FRIC 23

excuse for military pen etration of the African interior and fo rdeposition of African rulers. European capitalists then used

African manpower, procured at the lowest possible wage, toextrac t Africa's na tural resources. Europ ea n colonial rule wasestablished to provide the most conducive conditions for

m axim um econom ic exp loitation of the continent's resources.

In the process, Afric alo st all power to defend its own interests.

Th e 70 years of E uro pe an colonial rule in Africa were the

most crucial years in world development; this is Rodney's

(1972: 224) most valid observation. C hanges in oth er par ts ofthe world during this period were greater than ever before.

Capitalist nation s were revolutionizing technology and enter-

ing the nuclear age. Socialism was raising sem ifeudal Ru ssia t o

levels of ec ono mic grow th th at eventually surpassed those of

many capital ist countries. Ch ina and N orth Ko rea were also

undergoing rapid social transformation. In light of these

dra m atic changes thro ug ho ut the world, the arrest of Africa'sinitiative under colonial rule was tantamount to movingbackw ard as the world m oved forw ard (R odney , 1972: 224).

Given the main objective of colonial rule to expand the

interests of Europ ea n cap ital, Ro dney uses the term s colo-

nialism an d capitalism interchangeably throu gh ou t hisbook . T he last ch ap ter is, in fact, a blunt attack on the alleged

benefits and explication of the negative effects of co lonialismon A frican c ulture and development. H e charges tha t colonialrule failed to produce a skilled working class because theinternation al division of labo r called fo r a skilled lab or force in

Europ e and a cheap unskilled force in the African dependency.Those few Africans who were given technological training were

relegated t o the lowest and most uncreative levels of the money

econom y (Ro dney , 1972: 222). Consequently, Europe's failureto tran sfo rm th e technology in African agricu lture is one of hisgreatest indictments against colonialism. When colonial rule

ended, African farmers were still using the traditional hoe.Moreover, the imposition of a monoculture discouraged

diversification and made Africans entirely dependent on

Eu rope an tra de (R odn ey, 1972: 235). Tod ay, African depen-

dency is perpetuated in neocolonialism, an advanced stage ofimperialism.



124 JOU RN AL O F BLACK STU DIES DECEMBER 1985

Finally, Ro dney exam ines the role of western education in

the development of African dependency. He contends that

missionary education was a form of cultural imperialism(R od ne y, 1972: 256), consciously planned to co ntro l the m indsan d destiny of millions of A fricans. It debased African pride in

the traditional culture and fostered a sense of deference toEu rop ean culture. In the process, social solidarity was destroyed

an d the indiv idua l was alienated f ro m his or her responsibility

to the tra dition al com m unity. D espite these negative aspects,

many positive results were produced once Africans realized thepolitical significance of a western edu cation an d began t o takean active role in its promotion. Very little of the colonial

revenue was allotted for the ed uc ation of African children, bu tby self-denial an d the poo ling of hard-earned savings, Africanspaid fo r their children s edu cation . Mo reov er, they continuallypressured the colonial administration for more and better

schoo ls. In m any cases, village com m unities to ok the initiativeand used a communal labor force to construct schools

(Rod ney, 1972: 265).Ro dne y also observed th at a large port ion of the Europ ean

ca pita l invested in legitimate cash c rop trad e in the nineteenthcen tury was derived f rom earlier profits fr om the slave trade .Th us the cap ital produ ced by indigenous labo r and resources

financed furth er exp loitation in Africa. By refusing to g ran t

them loans, European banking institutions systematically

excluded Africans from opportunit ies to accumulate any

significant amount of capital. Although a small number of

successful African entrepreneurs emerged from the colonial

system, they c an no t be considered capitalists in the true sense

because they never accumulated enough capital to own themeans of production. Consequently, they remain dependent

on Eu ropean -ow ned capital. Unde r the colonial regime, Afri-

ca s na tura l resources were expo rted in raw form to be

processed in the industrial centers of Europe. Without in-dustries, Africans h ad no incentive to experim ent an d discover

new scientific techniques (R od ney, 1972: 218). Thu s Rodney sdetailed analysis depicts the African problem as an econom icone stemming from the continuing growth of Europeancapitalism.



Bly WALTER RODNEY AND AFRICA 125

SUGGESTE SOLUTIONS

Despite the present dominance of capitalism, Rodneypredicts that it is doomed to extinction and will be replaced by

socialism, the next stage in people s social development. His

conviction is founded on several manifestations of weakness in

the capitalist system. These include underutilization of pro-

ductive capacity, persistence of a permanent unemployed

sector, periodic economic crises related to the market concept,

and incredible poverty in the midst of wealth (Rodney, 1972:10 . These conditions, which prevail throughout the capitalist

world, are now forcing workers, the victims of the system, to

take charge of their own destinies. Such action, Rodney

maintains, will turn the goals of production away from the

international money market and toward the satisfaction of

human needs. Socialism will, thus, follow capitalism in a

logical sequence.Great strides have, in fact, been made in this transformation

in the last 50years. To substantiate this argument, two societies

at different stages of development are cited. As they come into

prolonged contact with each other, the weaker can only survive

if it moves to a higher level of development than the stronger.

When China and Korea, both at the feudal stage, came into

contact with capitalist Europe, they underwent a socialrevolution that weakened the power of European capitalism in

their respective economies (Rodney, 1972: 11).

Undoubtedly, first-hand observation of the social revolution

in progress in Tanzania added conviction to Rodney s con-

tention that Africa could overcome its dependent role in the

capitalist system by adopting socialism. In an interview with

reporters fromlack Scholar

(1974: 42), he stated,

If the African people are to liberate themselves then thisliberation must take into account that our enslavement and ourcolonization were within the orbit of the capitalist system. Wehave existed within the framework of imperialism and liber-ation means more than just a nationalist struggle-it means a

deepening of social struggle and the bringing about of a socialrevolution.



26 J O U R N A L O BLACK STU DIES DECEM BER 1985

U nde r the colonial rule African econom ies were com pletely

integrated into the metropole economies. At independence

capitalist n ations conceded political pow er in their colonies b ut

con tinued com mercial ties. African independ ence is, therefore,merely a flag independence (R od ne y, 1972: 279). Tod ay , theform er colonies find it almo st impossible to disengage them -

selves econom ically. How ever, the withdrawal of the militaryan d juridical ap pa ra tus of colonial adm inistration is a first step

in gaining full freed om . Carefully avoiding the fo rm ulation of

specific guidelines fo r the achievement of this freedom , Ro dne y

argues th at ind epen dent Africa is free to explore an d cho ose

new alternatives to the capitalist system. However, his argu-

ments strongly suggest socialism as the logical choice anddisengagement as an important factor in the ideologicaltransformation.

Under colonial rule Africans lost the power to make

independent choices and to play a consciously active role in

world affairs. This led anthropologists to classify them as a

primitive society (Rodn ey, 1972: 225). T o extrica te them-

selves fro m this category, Ro dney urges them to a ction. Th eremoval of foreign rule clears the way for a systematic

evaluation of capitalist exploitation a nd f or a com m itted effort

to find solutions to the problem of underdevelopment. Inselecting socialism, Africans would again become active in

determ ining their own futu re an d thus in the m aking of h istory.

T he m ain o bstacle in realizing social change w as th at of the

disengagem ent of African intellectuals fro m w estern imperial-

ist thinking. I t was clear to Ro dney th at 400 years of e xpos ure

to the capitalist mod e had changed the culture and aspirations

of many Africans. A lthough the desire fo r self-rule motivated a

nation alist struggle fo r independence, the attr ac tion s of a classsystem based o n material wealth remained deep -rooted in the

m odern African. Seeing this as the basic prob lem in Tanzania's

efforts to transform its economy, Rodney (1973: 350-353)

addressed the issue as follows:

The slow rate of disengagement of the Tanzanian economy ispartly due to internal blockages o a politico-ideologicalnature-apart from whatever manipulations the imperialists are



Bly / WALTER RODNEY A N D AFRI CA 27

up to. [However] we can no t expect a Socialist Revo lut ion tocut the links between the petty bo urgeoisie [intellectuals] a ndintern ation al capitalism all in one go. the very cuttin g of thelinks over a long period of time constitutes a face of theRevolution.

The problem could be resolved, he felt, if the intellectuals

identified with the peasa nts an d w orkers. There had to be a nexchan ge of skills whereby the educated tau gh t the w orkers the

relevance of social ideology to daily life an d, in turn , learned

from them the skills of production. Such cooperative inter-action between the two social gro up s would create a situation

of disengagement and initiate a successful social revolution

(Rodney, 1973: 353).

But Rodney's p rogn osis fo r social change by disengagem ent

falls short of the mark when measured in terms of Africa's

economic development more than a decade after indepen-

dence. Tanzania, Guinea, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe areexamples of socialist-oriented African nations that have beenunable to sever their ties completely to western capitalism.

To day , these nations a re inviting m ore an d m ore investment

from capitalist nations.

THE LEGACY

Rodney's cha llenging analysis of African underdevelopm ent

evoked a n enthusiastic response fro m his Ta nza nian hosts. D r.A. M. Babu, former Minister of Economic Affairs and

Development Plan ning in President Nyerere's cabinet, added

the following postcript to Rodney's (1972: 284) book :

H ad we asked the fundam ental quest ions which D r. Ro dneyraises in this bo ok , we would n ot have exposed ou r economiesto the ruthless plund er brou ght ab o ut by foreign investments

it is clear, foreign investme nt is the cause, an d n ot a so lutionto our economic backwardness.

This statem ent is a significant indication th at A fricans werenot aware of the historical dimensions of the international



28 JOUR NAL O F BLACK STU DIES DECEMBER 1985

capitalist ne twork th at systematically relegated the m to the level

of dependency. Kw ame Nk rum ah (1965) was the first African

to d o a study on the African ope rations of twen tieth-centurym ultinational corp orations a nd cartels. How ever, Ro dney was

the first (of A frican descen t) to disclose a n ongoing process ofcapitalist exploitation d ating f ro m th e earliest African-Euro-pean contact in the fifteenth century. Thu s D r. B abu expressedgratefulness for Rodney s enlightening presentation an d h eart-

ily agreed that social revolution was the only solution to

Africa s econom ic plight. This response was a fitting tribu te toone who w as deeply comm itted t o African peo ple.

Th is tribute also acknow ledged Rodney s legacy to A frica.

To African leaders his work indicated a new approach thattoo k historical perspectives into accou nt. It encouraged themto analyze their development problems in terms of theirhistorical linkage to international capitalism. Above all , i t

focused on the imp ortance of ideas and ideological confronta -tion in the struggle against neocolonialism and indicated the

role tha t progressive intellectuals must play in this phase of the

struggle. His academ ic contributions-articles, books, lec-

tures, an d organiza tional leadership-served to illustrate the

channels throu gh w hich the educated elite could com m it itselfto the ta sk of social change .

His w ork also bro ug ht new insights to the study of A fricanhistory. The growth of African nationalism in the 1950s

expanded the field of research for European historians.

Numerous studies, appearing in the 1960s, basically docu-

mented political change in Africa. Noted am on g these are the

works of David Kimble (1963), I William Zartman (1963),R ob ert R otb erg (1965), an d Aristide Z olberg (1965). By the

next decade, there was a noted shift in the focus of Africanresearch fro m political t o econo m ic issues. See, for exam ple,

studies do ne by A. G. H op kin s (1973), Philip D C ur tin (1975),

Colin Leys (1975), and John P Renninger (1979). Rodney s

(1972) study of African underdevelopment, to some degreeinfluenced by Nk rum ah s (1965) work on neocolonialism,belongs to this economic grouping. Yet it posed a radicalchallenge t o econom ic historians by placing responsibility f o rAfrican underdevelopment on E urope an capitalism.



Bly WALTER RODNEY AN D AFR ICA 129

Rodney's legacy to the study of African history is best

descr ibed by Dr. Richard Gray (1980) , his mentor at the

School of Oriental an d A fr ican Studies in L on do n:

Rodney's research raised a whole set of fresh questionsconcerning the nature of African social institutions on theUpper G uinea coast in the sixteenth century and of the impactof the A tlantic slave trade. In doing so, he helped to open up anew dimension. Almost immediately, he stimulated muchfurther writing and research on W est Africa, and he initiated a

debate which still continues and now extends across the wholerange of African history.

Rod ney left Tan zan ia in 1974 with a f i rm convict ion th at

Africa's success in liberating itself fro m cap italism w ould have

a decisive imp act o n the Black struggle in Am erica. H ow eve r,

he had no i l lus ions about the nature of the relat ionship

between Afr ica and i ts diaspora. Thus, he urged BlackAm ericans to ma ke distinctions between Africa's m any social

classes a nd t o align themselves only with th e m ost progressive.

In sh ort , he was convinced th at Pa n-Afr ican l inks would be

m ost effective when based o n anticapitalist a nd anti- imperialist

selection Black Scholar, 1974: 39-40).

NOTES

1. In Kiswahili, uj m is defined as familyhood ; this implies a cooperative

effort amon g family mem bers, each member w orking for the good of all.

2. A similar fate awaited Walter R odney in Gu yana . A bom b placed in his car

killed him ins tantly on Ju ne 13, 1980.

REFEREN ES

Black Scho lar (1974) The Black Scho lar interviews W alter Rodney. 6: 38-47.

CA M PB EL L, T. A. (1981) The making of an organic intellectual: W alter Rodney

(1942-1980). La tin Am er. Perspectives 8, 1: 49-63.

C A R TE R, G. (1979) Souther n Africa, the Continuing Crisis. Bloomington: India na

Univ. Press.

CO W AN , L. G. (1968) The D ilemma s of African Independence. New Yo rk: Walker.



130 JOU RN AL O F BLACK STU DIES DECEM BER 1985

CURTIN, P. D. (1975) Economic Change in Precolonial Africa. Wisconsin Univ.

Press.

GR AY , R . (1980) O bituary-Walter Ro dney. African Research Do cum entation 24,1: 1.

H O PK IN S, A. G . (1973) An Econom ic History of West Africa. New York: Colum bia

Univ. Press.

Keesing's Research Report (1972) Africa Independent. New York: Scribner.

KIM BLE , D. (1963) A Political History of G hana . Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.

LEYS, C. (1975) Underdevelopment in Kenya: the Political Economy of Neo-

Co lonialism . Berkeley: Univ. of California Press.

M acD ON AL D, A. (1966) Tanzania: Young Nation in a Hurry. New York: Haw thorn .

NKRUMAH, K. (1965) Neo-Colonialism, the Last Stage of Imperialism. London:Thom as N elson.

NYERERE, J. (1968) Freedom and Socialism. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.

Q U A R LE S, B. (1964) The Negro in the M aking of America. New Y ork: Macm illan.

RENNINGER, J. P. (1979) Multinational Cooperation for Development in West

Africa. New York: Pergamon.

RODNEY, W (1973) Some imp lications of the question of disengagement fromimperialism, in L Cliffe and J Saul (eds.) Socialism in Tan zania. Nairobi: E ast

African Publishing House.

(1972) How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. Dar-es-Salaam.(1970) History of the Upper Guinea Coast, 1545-1800. Oxford: Oxford

University.(1968) Edu cation a nd Ta nza nia socialism, in I. N. Resnick (ed.) Tanz ania:

Revolution by E ducation. Tanzania: Longmans.(1966) African slavery and o ther forms of social oppression on the Upper

Guinea C oast in the contex t of the Atlantic slave trade. J . of African History 7,3 :

43 1-443.

RO TB ER G, R . (1965) A Political History of Tropical Africa. New York, Ha rcourt.

Tanzania News Review (1972) April: 10.(1969) December: 3.

ZA R TM A N , I. W. (1963) Governm ent and Politics in Northern Africa. New Y ork:

Praeger.

ZOLBERG, A. (1965) Creating Political Order: the Political States of West Africa.

Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.

Vio la Matta vou s Bly is an Assistant Professor in the Africana StudiesDepartment of Brooklyn College. She holds an M . A . degree in African History

from Colum bia University a Ph.D . degree in History from New York

University and a Certificate in African Studies from Legon University in

Ghana. Her unpublished doctora l dissertation is entitled: The B ritish Presence

and Its Influence on Indigenous Gold Coast Economies, 1865-1902. She

specializes in the teaching of nineteenth- and twen tieth-centruy African h isto ry.

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Bly, Walter Rodney and Africa