Hans E. Panofsky

The African Social Situation: Crucial Issues Facing Contemporary Africa. London: Hans Zell, 1990. 221 p. ISBN 0-905450-78-7. $60.00. Also published by the African Centre for Applied Research and Training in Social Development (ACARTSOD), POB 80606, Tripoli, Libya (ACARTSOD Monograph series, African social changes, no. 2).

This slim volume does not begin to do justice to such a vast subject as the crucial factors for social development and transformation in Africa. Apart from the fact that such a task would require a major team effort to coherently and systematically collect and analyze huge amounts of data and evidence from the whole continent, there still would remain the question as to what would be the epistemological framework, what the definition of the approach and of the actual use of empirical data. Taken singly, this collection of poorly–related essays does nothing of the above. However, one should point out that this is just one of a series of monographs concentrating on a number of African challenges such as food production, social transformations, labor, and strategies for development. The advisory board for this monograph series is composed mainly of African scholars deeply engaged in the best research efforts to provide planners with informed options and guidance. Such a task deserves support and attention all the more as it is part of a larger effort to establish a Centre for Applied Research and Training in Social Development (ACARTSOD) generated by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the Organization of African Unity (OAU). Such ambitious projects generate a need for the ready exchange of information and the processing and retrieval of accumulated data. Given the present scarcity of books and library service in most African countries, one wonders why the subject of library development and availability of library service is nowhere mentioned as crucial.

The institutional framework of the volume is appropriately described in the introduction by Adebajo Adedeji, who, however, provides references that do not go beyond the developmental guidelines of ECA and the World Bank. Room will have to be found for much deeper grassroots organizations than these from–the–top down bureaucracies.

Even Eric Kibuka’s attempt to deal with the elements of the social situation treads on well–worn ground and underplays the economic inequities afflicting the larger strata of the populations. The boldest references provided by Kibuka are J. K. Nyerere's essay on Ujamaa, published in 1968, and a set of unpublished papers. The rest are mostly studies generated in Europe and the United States.

Austin Isaman wrote the third essay, “Approaches to Social Development,” in which he examines the concepts of modernization and African socialism taking into account the obstacles which have beleaguered all development schemes, not just those which tried to implement equitable distribution of resources.

Ali A. Mazrui’s essay on social participation and culture production delves eloquently into the legacies of the past and the still foggy conditions that might lead to new configurations in the future. In spite of his admirable insights, Mazrui leaves us with barely a sense of fatalistically determined faith in the everlasting flow of African vitality. Curiously enough, he sees a sign of hope in the then Somali army’s recruitment of women. If this is a beginning, we had better start counting the millennia.

Barbara E. Harrel–Bond contributed an essay followed by an appendix on the plight of displaced people and refugees in Africa. Appropriately, it is the longest and most painstakingly researched piece of research. The conclusion that we must draw from it is the enormity and intractability of this ever–increasing human dislocation which is moving beyond all capabilities of relief. Unless this social catastrophy is brought under control, no other progress is possible.

Filomina Chioma Steady observes the gender factor across the continent. The scope is too sweeping and is marred by excessive reliance on academic generalities and a distanced approach. The conclusion that “Solutions have to come from within Africa” is a truism which increases the sense of bewilderment one feels when one contemplates such calamities measured against a wall of institutional impotence.

The last essay is a brief outline by Seyoum G. Selassie on the relationship between demographic, labor and employment factors and the rate of population growth. He concludes that the reduction of the growth rate is a policy within reach of all African governments. It is a relief to close with the only piece of practical advice in this otherwise depressing review of powerlessness.

About the Author

Hans Panofsky is Curator Emeritus, African Library, Northwestern University. For biographical information see TWL 1–1.

© 1993 Rosary College

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