Africa and the Poverty in Knowledge Production

Abstract

The 20th century was one of the bloodiest periods in recent history. As the world moved on into the 21st century, violence continues to preoccupy the best of minds alongside its twin, an increasing poverty on a global scale. Violence and poverty have come to define how the world relates to Africa. There is a reason for the focus on violence when one takes into consideration the reality on the continent. Africa has experienced 80 successful coups d’état, 108 failed coup attempts, and 139 reported coup plots between 1956 and 2001 as noted by McGowan.

According to the 2011 Global Peace Index (GPI), published by The Institute for Economics and Peace, Sub-Saharan Africa remains the region least at peace and 40 per cent of the world’s least peaceful countries are in Africa. In 2011 the world witnessed a contested election that ended in a military intervention to oust President Laurent Gbagbo in Côte d'Ivoire. North Africa went through what was called ‘The Arab Spring’ that toppled dictators in Tunisia, Egypt and lastly US/NATO intervention to overthrow Libya’s Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. In July of this same year, Africa’s largest country split into two (Republic of Sudan and Republic of South Sudan), effectively ending Africa’s longest civil war. This essay sets to argue that despite the urgency to end violence and reduce poverty; a different kind of poverty holds the key to both the problem of violence, poverty, and the many other problems that the continent is facing today. The common denominator for Africa’s failing in the global system is its intellectual poverty. I will illustrate this by looking at a study published by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).

Keywords: colonialism, state formation, Africa, research, development, academic, theory, African Renaissance, Intellectual Poverty, Knowledge Production, Pambazuka News