The Challenge for Africa
Ron Wildman
History of Africa 161
April 24th, 2013
Professor Jack Mioff
History of Africa Final Essay
In 1993 Paul Johnson wrote an article titled “Colonialism’s Back-and Not a Moment too Soon.” In this article, he argued that colonialism was a good thing for Africa. He believed Africa was in need of foreign powers to intervene and govern the land. He said that the governments of different African nations were crumbling and the people were uncivilized. However, Johnson failed to recognize the historical legacy of colonialism in Africa, and all that was negatively affected by it such as the people, traditions, and the land. His biased argument drove his focus to overlook the greater violence and seemed to put a positive light on colonialism. Africa suffered, and still does today due to the nature of violent and exploitative colonialism. There were political, economical, environmental implications that affect areas of Africa still today. It is of much importance to talk about the significance of colonialism of Africa and how it has been negatively affected by it.
Looking back to the beginning of the semester with little knowledge on the subject, students were assigned to read this article and respond to it. After taking this course, and getting materials from class, movies, discussions, the textbook, and historical novels it is now apparent that colonization had many more negatives than positives when it came to Africa. At first this may have seemed like a good idea, but it became quickly apparent that this would ultimately prove to have many negative effects on African countries. The colonies that invaded Africa showed to be only interested in money, with the exception of settler colonies that wished to live there and govern. . Many problems arose of this such as environmental effects, identity crises, and much violence brought upon Africa.
Colonialism had detrimental effects on the diverse African Environments. Africa was that it had environmental
History of Africa 161
April 24th, 2013
Professor Jack Mioff
History of Africa Final Essay
In 1993 Paul Johnson wrote an article titled “Colonialism’s Back-and Not a Moment too Soon.” In this article, he argued that colonialism was a good thing for Africa. He believed Africa was in need of foreign powers to intervene and govern the land. He said that the governments of different African nations were crumbling and the people were uncivilized. However, Johnson failed to recognize the historical legacy of colonialism in Africa, and all that was negatively affected by it such as the people, traditions, and the land. His biased argument drove his focus to overlook the greater violence and seemed to put a positive light on colonialism. Africa suffered, and still does today due to the nature of violent and exploitative colonialism. There were political, economical, environmental implications that affect areas of Africa still today. It is of much importance to talk about the significance of colonialism of Africa and how it has been negatively affected by it.
Looking back to the beginning of the semester with little knowledge on the subject, students were assigned to read this article and respond to it. After taking this course, and getting materials from class, movies, discussions, the textbook, and historical novels it is now apparent that colonization had many more negatives than positives when it came to Africa. At first this may have seemed like a good idea, but it became quickly apparent that this would ultimately prove to have many negative effects on African countries. The colonies that invaded Africa showed to be only interested in money, with the exception of settler colonies that wished to live there and govern. . Many problems arose of this such as environmental effects, identity crises, and much violence brought upon Africa.
Colonialism had detrimental effects on the diverse African Environments. Africa was that it had environmental
Cited: Maathai, Wangari. The Challenge for Africa. New York: Pantheon, 2009. Print Africa: A Voyage of Discovery With Basil Davidson. Dir. John Percival. Perf. Basil Davidson. PBS, 1984. Class Video Condé, Maryse. Segu: A Novel. New York: Viking, 1987. Print Sembène, Ousmane, and Francis Price. God 's Bits of Wood. Oxford: Heinemann, 1995. Print.