By
\nFamous S. Eseduwo, PhD
\nPolitical Science Department
\nFederal University, Otuoke, Bayelsa State \u2013 Nigeria<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Is African development question still a function of western colonialism and imperialism in Africa? If not, what then accounts for the unpleasant tale of Africa\u2019s underdevelopment after five decades of political independence in most African countries \u2013 Cameroun (1960), Chad (1960), Cote d\u2019 Ivoire (1960), Ghana (1957), Madagascar (1960), Malawi (1964), Mali (1960), Mauritania (1960), Niger (1960), Nigeria (1960), Rwanda (1962), and so on? Why Africa still constitutes the \u2018Third World\u2019 i.e. a sub-region of less-developed nation-states? Espousing answers to the foregoing questions is quite an uphill task as Africa remains an arena of two contending cultural trappings. On one hand, Africa is ostensibly struggling to graduate from its primordial cells (traditional society) to a more refracted form (developed) society and on the other hand, Africa is still largely haunted by its own traditional ways. This underscores Africa\u2019s age-old catch-22 development quagmire as encapsulated in its prismatic status. Two contending and deferring cultural values, therefore, appear discernible in the development literature of Africa viz: the downgraded aboriginal African cultural values and the prevailing
\nadopted modern-technology-induced Western cultural values. This is prevalent in almost all African countries due to their colonial past and the attendant struggle apparently to achieve sustainable development amidst the two opposing cultural blocs. The forces behind the dwindling fortunes of Africans\u2019 original cultural values may alter reality. It is instructive from the analytical tools of classical Marxism that, in order to understand and explain a cultural text or practice, we must locate it in its moment of production, analyzing the historical conditions which produced it (Storey, 1994: 194). The survival and functioning of mankind towards continuous existence interact glibly with physiological and cultural values. This accentuates the interrelatedness of man\u2019s cultural values and
\nhis means for survival. An abrupt change, hence, on the means of a people\u2019s survival is likely to alter their existing cultural values and subject them to some unfamiliar cultural values with attendant new tools of labour. Predicated upon man\u2019s propensity for doubting new ways of life and problems of adaptability, the resultant effect of such alterations and subjection to more complex cultural orientations as well as labour sophistications as emerging preconditions for survival arguably constitute a lucid antithesis to sustainable development in Africa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":133,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"product_brand":[22],"product_cat":[21],"product_tag":[],"class_list":["post-130","product","type-product","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","product_brand-digital-books","product_cat-book-store","first","instock","sale","taxable","shipping-taxable","purchasable","product-type-simple"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madeeasyconsult.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madeeasyconsult.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madeeasyconsult.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/product"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madeeasyconsult.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madeeasyconsult.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madeeasyconsult.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"product_brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madeeasyconsult.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_brand?post=130"},{"taxonomy":"product_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madeeasyconsult.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_cat?post=130"},{"taxonomy":"product_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madeeasyconsult.com\/store\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_tag?post=130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}