| dc.description.abstract | I wrote this book to try to resolve some of the contradictions I
have experienced as a student, a practitioner and also a subject of
economic informality, urbanisation and development. As a student
of development in the 1980s and 1990s, I was exposed to Karl
Polanyi’s idea that development involves a ‘great transformation’ of
social, cultural and economic ways of life, and that this is brought
about through the establishment of self-regulating markets, the
entrenchment of a money culture and the adoption of a new
religion and formal education. Apparently, in Africa, the first steps
towards this transformation were taken during the colonial period
and further progress is being made by postcolonial states via the
neoliberal policies they have since adopted.
I also learned that African culture presents certain obstacles
to this transformation process. Punitive attitudes towards gender
apparently prevent women from participating fully in economic
activities while the fact that individualism and competition are
generally discouraged supposedly suppresses entrepreneurship and
innovation. So, to benefit from the great transformation, Africans
are often advised to adopt the individualist mindset that will allow
them to embrace economic competition, self-regulating markets, as
well as new farming methods. | |
