Jephias Matunhu's Theory Of Modernization

In his article, “A critique of modernization and dependency theories in Africa: Critical assessment”, author Jephias Matunhu presents three different theories of development that have been present within Africa’s history. Matunhu proposes that two of the major forms of development that have taken place across the African continent, modernization and dependency, have been extremely detrimental to the development of Africa. These theories of development, both based in Africa’s legacy of development at the hands of colonialism have attempted to force progress and growth through western perspectives, as opposed to an afro-centric view. As a counterargument, Matunhu offers the African renaissance theory. He suggests that this form of development,

Modernization is directly correlated to the historical colonial identity established in Africa throughout its history. From this perspective, the western perception of development was pushed on African civilizations that were ineffective and often discriminatory. From the perspective of colonialism, it may seem as though pushing different methods of development, such as more sophisticated technology or more efficient practices for daily activities was effective, but in the context of different African societies, it often was not. Matunhu uses the example of modernized agriculture in Africa to demonstrate this idea. He notes that the introduction of western farming tools, such as artificial fertilizer, GMOs, and green technology have not aided in development as modernization theorists expected (Matunhu 2011, 65). Before the impact of western influences, African nations across the continent had different methods of growing, cultivating, and storing crops that were effective without outside influences. These new technologies made Africa susceptible to new issues such as injury and disease at the hands of colonial forces. Matunhu suggests that modernization has been at the expense of Africans, enabling developed nations to benefit from the plethora of resources available in Africa. The author further discusses this point, along with the historical oppressions of blacks as a result, by declaring; “The metropolis… explicitly implied that sub-Saharan Africa’s development was lagging far behind… because of the obvious ‘innate’ inferiority of black people to master the socio-economic and technological environment in order to improve their social and economic conditions” (Mathunhu 2011, 66). He blames developed nations for employing stereotypes of Africans as the inferior people in order to push the modernization theory