Reading Class Struggle in Africa - 2677 Words

Reading Class Struggle in Africa Kwame Nkrumah’s writing reads like a text book designed to inform any learner of African studies. Whether the learners are the African workers and peasants to whom the book is dedicated, African pupils or international scholars such as Spelman ADW undergraduates they gain a clear understanding of class struggle in Africa relevant to the time period when the book was published as well as the contemporary context. Much in keeping with the concept of fact making discussed last semester in ADW 111, given the myths and fabrication designed by so-called scholars who embrace a Eurocentric point of view Nkrumah the Ghanaian griot sets out to â€Å"write a tale of hunting that glorify not the hunter but the lions and†¦show more content†¦Africa has in fact in its midst a hard core of bourgeoisie who are analogous to colonists and settlers in that they live in positions of privilege-a small, selfish, money-minded reactionary minority among vast masses of exploited and oppresse d people. . . Their survival depends on foreign support (Class 12) The following chart obtains from what precedes [Slides 4-6]. Now we will turn our attention to the most salient postulations in Nkrumah’s book which are the 1) the origins of class in Africa; 2) class concept; 3) class concept and ideologies; 4) class and race; 5) elitism; 6) intelligentsia and intellectuals; 7) bourgeoisie and 8) proletariat. To help the reader better apprehend the African reality as it pertains to class Nkrumah provides us with some eye-opening geopolitical data. They relate to the actual size of the continent and its value in terms of natural resources. [Slide 7] If that information was not astounding enough, Nkrumah tackles one of the most persisting falsehoods relating to Africa. He boldly asserts that African history predates colonialism. Better yet, the writer claims that the continent was socially, politically and economically structured prior to the advent of the Europeans. For examp le communalism was a system of choice that prevailed in the land. Under the said traditional arrangement all land and means of production belonged to the community. There was people’sShow MoreRelatedLiterature As A Form Of Human Expression1359 Words   |  6 Pagesmore difficult to understand. Without literacy, our world would struggle and crumble to the very dust from which it rose. 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