Walter Rodney Chapter Summary

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Walter Rodney begins by first defining and clarifying what he considers development and underdevelopment. He distinguishes between economic development, which he defines as a human's “capacity to win a living from nature”, and the use of the term developing country rather than underdeveloped country as the latter carries a negative connotation (Rodney 4). Chapter one also provides a clear definition for underdevelopment; underdevelopment is not the lack of development, but rather, the difference in development when compared to the rest of the countries in the world. Furthermore, Rodney provides a very brief outline of how the concept of development has evolved through the time of cavemen, capitalism, and the agricultural and industrial revolutions. …show more content…

Moreover, aside from the typical exploitation argument seen throughout history, chapter one also provides an example of a religious argument for why this inequality in countries exists; that is to say, those that are unequally better off believe that they are superior. Since Africa has been unable to develop properly they rely on foreign forces for most of their needs and as such this keeps funneling money out the continent and into foreign countries. This cycle leads to “ownership of production in one country by the citizens of another” (Rodney 22). Rodney explains that exploitation has always existed in humans, ranging from exploitation of the environment to exploitation of man, however, the greatest misfortune is the exploitation of nations by other nations. He ends the chapter by discussing the issues that have befallen Africa due to its underdevelopment including coups resulting from political instability. The people of Africa need to learn and understand the political system in order to work towards an overthrow explains …show more content…

Furthermore, the chapter revolves around production and how the development or underdevelopment of production techniques has impacted the continent. It explains that culture and religion also have their part in development and underdevelopment. Rodney explains that the “technology of earning a living changes very slowly” which is then accompanied by religious beliefs that also goes unchanged and it provides the perfect opportunity for exploitation by outsiders. Rodney uses examples of Marxism to show how Asia developed in such a way that European values couldn’t simply be implemented and as such exploitation became a much better alternative. Distinctions are made between communism to feudalism and eventually capitalism a process which took centuries in most of Europe. In Africa, however, the lack of labor organization and of new production techniques drastically increased the gap between these progressive eras causing Africa, which was agriculturally based before Europe arrived, to fall far behind the rest of the world. Rodney further explains that Africa’s land was communally owned which meant everyone was guaranteed enough land to be self-sufficient; moreover, this guarantee meant that the people of the area had no necessity to increase their production or land ownership. The chapter also goes into greater depths on how the

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