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The Palgrave Handbook
of Africa and the
Changing Global Order
Edited by
Samuel Ojo Oloruntoba · Toyin Falola
The Palgrave Handbook of Africa
and the Changing Global Order
Samuel Ojo Oloruntoba · Toyin Falola
Editors

The Palgrave
Handbook of Africa
and the Changing
Global Order
Editors
Samuel Ojo Oloruntoba Toyin Falola
Institute of African Studies Department of History
Carleton University University of Texas at Austin
Ottawa, ON, Canada Austin, TX, USA
Thabo Mbeki School of Public and
International Affairs
University of South Africa
Pretoria, South Africa

ISBN 978-3-030-77480-6 ISBN 978-3-030-77481-3 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-77481-3

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature
Switzerland AG 2022
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher,
whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation,
reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any
other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation,
computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are
exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in
this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher
nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material
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neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Africa Monument on Africa Street, Khartoum, Northern Sudan, Africa Contributor: MJ

Photography/Alamy Stock Photo

This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature
Switzerland AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
 Contents

1 Africa in the Changing Global Order: The Past,

the Present, and the Future 1
Samuel Ojo Oloruntoba and Toyin Falola

Part I Historical Foundations of Africa and the World

2 Africa’s Contributions to World Civilization 25
George M. Bob-Milliar
3 Africa and the World Before the Second World War 43
Toyin Falola
4 Africa and the World After the Second World War 59
Toyin Falola
5 Colonialism, Coloniality, and Colonial Rule in Africa 75
Bukola A. Oyeniyi
6 Africa and the Diaspora 103
Toyin Falola
7 The African Diaspora in the United States 117
Bessie House-Soremekun

Part II Africa and Global Knowledge Production

8 African Indigenous Knowledge Systems and the World 155
Amidu Owolabi Ayeni and Adeshina Gbenga Aborisade
9 Coloniality of Being, Imperial Reason, and the Myth
of African Futures 175
Tendayi Sithole

v
vi CONTENTS

10 African Voices and Black Spaces : Confronting Knowledge

in White Man’s IR 195
Cliff (Ubba) Kodero
11 Epistemologies of the South and Africa’s Marginalization
in the Media 213
Zvenyika Eckson Mugari
12 The Influence of Globalization in Positioning African
Indigenous Knowledge and Learning System 239
Andrew Enaifoghe
13 Ubuntu: The Political Paradigm Africa Should Endorse
to Impact the Global Community 257
Peter Genger
14 Ancient Knowledge and the Right to Development 279
Mofihli Teleki and Serges Djoyou Kamga

Part III Africa in the Global Economy

15 The New Scramble for Africa 309
Jobson Ewalefoh
16 Shifting Centers of Coloniality of Power: The Scramble
for African Mines and Minerals 323
Robert Maseko
17 It is Still Extractive Imperialism in Africa: Ghana’s Oil
Rush, Extractivist Exploitation, and the Unpromising
Prospects of Resources-Led Industrialization 345
Jasper Abembia Ayelazuno and Emmanuel Graham
18 Sub-Saharan Africa in the International Trading System:
Understanding the Recent Trends 367
Tola Amusan
19 Africa in Global Trade 393
Yiagadeesen Samy
20 Africa in Global Trade: Tracking Performance
and Mapping Future Pathways 409
Theresa Moyo
21 Global Governance of Finance and African Relations
with the World 441
Tinuade Adekunbi Ojo and Samuel Ojo Oloruntoba
22 Aid-Dependence and the Emancipation of Africa 465
Victor Fakoya, Bolaji Omitola, and Dayo Akintayo
 CONTENTS vii

23 Between Heterochthonous Laissez-Faireism

and Autochthonous Organic Farming: Africa’s
Lazarus Global Food Security Challenges 489
Lere Amusan
24 Global Public Policy Paradigms and the Socio-Economic
Transformation Trajectories of Africa 515
Michael Kpessa-Whyte and Kafui Tsekpo

Part IV Africa in International Relations

25 The African Union’s Pursuit of Pax Africana: From
Continental Cadet to Globally Revered Generalissimo? 543
Marcel Nagar
26 Seeking African Agency in Global Clubs 567
Arina Muresan
27 The Monologue on Liberal Democracy: Africa
in a Neocolonialized World 583
Siphamandla Zondi
28 Environmental Diplomacy and the Fallacy of Climate
Bandwagoning in Africa 601
Bamidele Olajide
29 The European Union’s Emergency Trust Fund for Africa
and Challenges of Addressing Irregular Migration
in the Global South: The Nigerian Example 619
Paul-Sewa Thovoethin
30 Europe After Brexit and Possible Implications for African
Region 635
Dickson Ajisafe and Seun Bamidele
31 Sino-African Relations and Trends for the Post-Covid-19
Global Order 649
N. Oluwafemi ‘Femi’ Mimiko
32 “Look East” and Look Back: Lessons for Africa
in the Changing Global Order 673
Malami Buba
33 Changing Narratives of Human Rights 689
Eteete Michael Adam

Part V Africa in Global Security Conflict and Peacebuilding

34 Africa and the Restructuring of the United Nations
Security Council 705
Tim Murithi
viii CONTENTS

35 Africa in Peacekeeping Operations in a Changing Global

Order 723
Damilola Agbalajobi
36 The War on Terror and Securitization of Africa 745
Vincent Eseoghene Efebeh
37 Africa’s Search for Sustainable Security in an Emergent
Global Order 759
G. S. Mmaduabuchi Okeke
38 The European Union and the African Regional Security
Outlook in the Twenty-First Century: Gains, Challenges,
and Future Prospects 783
Mumo Nzau
39 Piercing the Veil of Non-Interference Doctrine: China’s
Expanding Military Footprint in Africa 805
Gorden Moyo
40 Africa’s Transitionssal Justice System in a Changing
Global Order: The “Allure” of Rwanda’s Gacaca
Transitional Justice System 825
Tola Odubajo
41 Reconstructing Global Security and Peacebuilding
in Somalia’s Changing Context 839
John Mary Kanyamurwa and Betty Nangira
42 Unipolarity, Emerging Powers, African Security
and the Place of Africa in the International System
1993–2017 857
Kadishi Ndudi Oliseh

Part VI Africa and Global Religions and Creativity

43 Beyond the Assemblage of Rhythms and Tunes:
Post-colonial African Music and the Struggle
for Liberation 875
Taiwo Oladeji Adefisoye and Tolu Elizabeth Ifedayo
44 Beyond Riots: Africa’s Fela Kuti and His One Man
Political Protest in the Changing Global Order 891
Olukayode Segun Eesuola
45 African Pentecostalism in a Changing Economic
and Democratic Global Order 911
James Kwateng-Yeboah
 CONTENTS ix

46 Pentecostalism and the African Diaspora: A Case Study

of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG)
in North America 931
Rotimi Williams Omotoye
47 “Return My Power, or You Die!” Charismatic Church
and Political Leaders Hankering for What in Africa? 945
Leon Mwamba Tshimpaka
and Christopher Changwe Nshimbi
48 Reimaging Women Ritual Space: Gender and Power
Dynamics in African Religion 969
Abosede Omowumi Babatunde
49 Spatial Navigation as a Hermeneutic Paradigm Ifa,
Heidegger and Calvino 987
Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju
50 Opium or Elixir? How Adherence to Major World
Religions Influence Africans’ Health-Related Behavior
During a Pandemic: A Case Study of Nigeria 1025
Onah P. Thompson, Lilian O. Ademu,
and Lawrence A. Ademu

Part VII Africa and Global Leadership

51 Diplomacy and Politics 1049
Toyin Falola
52 The World of Literary Writers 1065
Toyin Falola
53 African Academic Leaders and Public Intellectuals 1083
Toyin Falola
54 Global African Business Leaders 1099
Toyin Falola

Index 1117
 Notes on Contributors

Mr. Adeshina Gbenga Aborisade is a Ph.D. student at the Department of

Geography University of Lagos, Nigeria. His work experience in the last thir-
teen years has been in the Geo-spatial, banking and the telecommunications
industries.
Eteete Michael Adam is Associate Professor of Law, Babcock University,
Ilishan, Ogin State, Nigeria.
Dr. Taiwo Oladeji Adefisoye holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the
Department of Political Science, Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti, Nigeria. He
was a member of the academic staff of the same Department between March
2016 and December 2019. Dr. Adefisoye is currently with the Department of
History and International Relations of Elizade University, Ilara Mokin, Ondo
State, Nigeria. His research interests are in Political/Public Policy Analysis,
Emergency/Disaster Management and Geo-Politics, in which he has mostly
published.
Dr. Lawrence A. Ademu is a Senior Lecturer with a specialization in Aminal
Physiology, Federal University of Wukari, Taraba State, Nigeria.
Lilian O. Ademu is a Ph.D. Student, Public Policy Program, University of
North Carolina at Charlotte, United States of America.
Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju is an Independent Researcher based in Lagos
Nigeria.
Dr. Damilola Agbalajobi is an Associate Professor, Department of Political
Science, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria.
Dickson Ajisafe is a Doctoral Student in the Department of Political Science,
University of Pretoria, South Africa. He is an Alumnus of Konstanz Univer-
sity, Germany through the Erasmus+ International scholarship of the European

xi
xii NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS

Union. Dickson serves as an executive member of the European Studies Asso-

ciation of Sub-Saharan Africa (ESA-SSA) and an Advisory Board member of
DIMES project (on Diversity, Inclusion and Multi-disciplinarity of European
Studies) funded by the Jean Monnet Erasmus+ Programme of the European
Union.
Dayo Akintayo is of the Department of Political Science, Osun State Univer-
sity, Okuku, Osun State, Nigeria.
Lere Amusan is a Professor of International Relations at North-West Univer-
sity, Mahikeng, South Africa.
Tola Amusan is a Doctoral Student, Department of Politics, University of
Otago, New Zealand.
Jasper Abembia Ayelazuno obtained Ph.D. in Politics from York University,
Toronto, Canada. He works with the Department of Communication, Inno-
vation and Technology, University of Development Studies, Ghana. Jasper
does research in political Economy, Comparative Politics and Comparative
Democratization.
Dr. Amidu Owolabi Ayeni is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Geog-
raphy, University of Lagos, Nigeria. He obtained Ph.D. Degree in the same
University in 2010 and proceeded to the Council for Scientific and Indus-
trial Research (CSIR), Pretoria, South Africa for his postdoctoral fellowship
research in 2011/2012. His research focus is on Environment & Resource
Analysis, Climate Change Adaptation, and Geo-information Sciences.
Abosede Omowumi Babatunde holds a Ph.D. in Peace and Conflict Studies
from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria and currently lectures at the Centre
for Peace and Strategic Studies at the University of Ilorin, Nigeria. She is
a member of the Society for Peace Studies and Practice, the International
Peace Research Association (IPRA), the Council for the Development of Social
Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA), and she was a Senior Research
Fellow at the French Institute for Research in Africa (IFRA). She has also
been awarded several academic fellowships and grants, including a 2016 Indi-
vidual Research Grant from the African Peacebuilding Network of the Social
Science Research Council (APN/SSRC). Most recently, she was awarded a
2017 fellowship at the Brown International Advanced Research Institutes
(BIARI) of Brown University, the United States of America.
Seun Bamidele is a Doctoral Student in the Department of Political Science,
University of Pretoria, University of Pretoria, South Africa.
Dr. George M. Bob-Milliar is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of
History and Political Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and
Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, one of the most prestigious public universi-
ties in Ghana. He joined the faculty of KNUST in August 2013, and has been
involved in research, teaching and mentoring of students, at all levels. He was
 NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS xiii

head of his Department for three terms. He is currently, the Director of the
Centre for Cultural and African Studies (CeCASt) based in the same university.
In 2012, he received his Ph.D. from the Institute of African Studies based at
the University of Ghana; the oldest and one of the most prestigious centers of
African Studies on the continent. He was trained as an interdisciplinary scholar,
consequently, his research lies at the intersection of three disciplines—political
science, historical & development studies.
Malami Buba is a Professor Malami Buba. Division of African Studies.
HUFS, Korea.
Dr. Olukayode Segun Eesuola is Senior Lecturer, Department of Political
Science, Department of Political Science, University of Lagos, Nigeria.
Vincent Eseoghene Efebeh, Ph.D. is a Senior Lecturer, Department of
Political Science, Delta State University, Abraka, Delta State, Nigeria.
Andrew Enaifoghe is a Researcher in Public Administration and Governance
at University of Zululand, South Africa.
Dr. Jobson Ewalefoh holds a Ph.D. from the College of Graduate Studies,
University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa. He is at the Directorate
level at the Presidency, Federal Republic of Nigeria. His research interests are
in refugee and internally displaced people, conflict and civil society.
Dr. Victor Fakoya is an Instructor of Political Science at University of
Nevada Las Vegas, USA. Dr. Fakoya was formerly Assistant Lecturer and previ-
ously taught Political Science courses at Olabisi Onabanjo University (formerly
Ogun State University), Ago-Iwoye, Nigeria from 1999–2004. Dr. Fakoya’s
areas of research interest include African Politics, International Relations,
American Politics and Comparative Politics.
Toyin Falola is a Professor in the Department of History at the University of
Texas at Austin, USA.
Dr. Peter Genger is the Founder/Director Center for Research on African
Indigenous Knowledge and Peacemaking Approaches CRAIKPA, University
of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada. His research areas include Social Theory.
Indigenous research, peacebuilding theories and peacemaking practice.
Emmanuel Graham is a Natural Resource Governance Consultant. He is
currently a Ph.D. student at York University Department of Politics in
Toronto, Ontario Canada. He was a graduate student of Political Science and a
Graduate Assistant at the Political Science Department University of Windsor
in Canada. He was the Extractive Governance Policy Advisor consultant at the
Africa Centre for Energy Policy (ACEP). He holds a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.)
and Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.) in Political Science from the University of
Ghana.
xiv NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS

Dr. Bessie House-Soremekun is a Professor of Political Science at Jackson

State University. She was previously, the Director of the Africana Studies
Program at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis. Her research
interests include Gender and Development, African Politics, Globalization and
Sustainable Development, African and African American Entrepreneurship.
Dr. Tolu Elizabeth Ifedayo holds a Ph.D. in Peace and Strategic Studies
from the Institute of Peace and Strategic Studies, University of Ibadan, Ibadan,
Oyo State, Nigeria. She was a member of the academic staff at Afe Babalola
University, Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State from 2010 to 2014. She joined the Depart-
ment of History and International Relations of Elizade University during
the 2014/2015 Academic Session, where she is the current Acting Head of
Department. Her research interests are in the areas of Conflict Management,
Foreign Policy, Politics and Diplomacy.
Serges Djoyou Kamga is a Professor at the Thabo Mbeki School of Public
and International Affairs. He is the author of The Right to Development in
African Human Rights System, London: Routledge. His research areas include
Right to Development, Human Rights and Natural Resource Governance.
John Mary Kanyamurwa is a Senior Lecturer in the Political Science and
Public Administration Department Kyambogo University, Kampala, Uganda.
Dr. Cliff (Ubba) Kodero is a Ph.D. student in International Relations and
M.A. candidate in Africa and African Diaspora Studies Teaching Assistant for
School of International and Public Policy at Florida International University.
Dr. Michael Kpessa-Whyte is a Research Fellow with the History and Poli-
tics Section at the Institute of African Studies (IAS), University of Ghana,
Legon. He is a Political Scientist in the tradition of Comparative Public Policy
and Political Institutions. He joined IAS in 2011 from Jonson-Shoyama Grad-
uate School of Public Policy, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon where he
was a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC)
Post-Doctoral Fellow.
James Kwateng-Yeboah is a Doctoral Candidate, School of Religion,
Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, Canada.
Dr. Robert Maseko Post-Doctoral Fellow Department of Development
Studies, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa.
Gorden Moyo is a former Minister of State Enterprises and Parastals in
Zimbabwe. He is currently a policy advisor to the public policy and research
institute of Zimbabwe. He holds a Ph.D. in African Leadership Development
from the National University of Science and Technology (Zimbabwe) and a
Master of Arts degree in Peace Studies from the University of Bradford (UK).
Theresa Moyo is a Professor in the Master of Development Planning and
Management Programme at the Teraflop graduate school of leadership
 NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS xv

(TGSL) appointed in 2004, Professor Moyo is one of the longest serving

members of the school.
Zvenyika Eckson Mugari is a Lecturer at the Midlands State University in
Gweru, Zimbabwe.
Arina Muresan is a Researcher at Institute for Global Dialogue, University
of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa.
Tim Murithi is a Professor and Head of Peace Building Interventions,
University of Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa.
Marcel Nagar holds D.phil. in Politics from the Department of Politics,
University of Johannesburg. Her research interest is in Developmental States
and development in Africa.
Betty Nangira is Assistant Lecturer, Department of Political Science, Kyam-
bogo University, Uganda.
Christopher Changwe Nshimbi is a Senior Lecturer, Department of Polit-
ical Science, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.
Mumo Nzau is a Fulbright Scholar holding an M.A. and Ph.D. in polit-
ical science from the state, University of New York at Buffalo, USA. He
is a Lecturer at the Institute of Diplomacy and International Studies at the
University of Nairobi.
Dr. Tola Odubajo is a Senior Lecturer, Department of Political Science,
University of Lagos, Nigeria. He was previously a Postdoctoral Research
Fellow at the South African Research Chair Initiative (SARChI) on African
Diplomacy and Foreign-Policy at the Faculty of Humanities, University of
Johannesburg, South Africa. Dr. Odubajo is a member of the Editorial Board
of the UniLag Journal of Politics.
Dr. Tinuade Adekunbi Ojo is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of
Politics, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa. She holds a
Ph.D. from the Department of Politics, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South
Africa.
Dr. G. S. Mmaduabuchi Okeke is a Senior Lecturer, Department of Polit-
ical Science, Department of Political Science, University of Lagos, Nigeria.
Bamidele Olajide is a Doctoral Student at the North-West University,
Mafikeng, South Africa and Lecturer, Department of Political Science, Univer-
sity of Lagos, Nigeria.
Dr. Kadishi Ndudi Oliseh is of the Department of History, University of
Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria.
Samuel Ojo Oloruntoba is an Adjunct Research Professor, Institute of
African Studies, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada and Honorary
xvi NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS

Professor, Thabo Mbeki School of Public and International Affairs, University

of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa.
N. Oluwafemi ‘Femi’ Mimiko is a Professor of International Relations and
comparative political Economy at Obafemi Awolowo, Ile Ife, Nigeria. He was
formerly the Vice Chancellor of Adekinle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko,
Ondo State, Nigeria. He taught for the Spring Semester of 2004, at the
Department of Social Sciences, United States Military Academy, West Point,
NY, USA, as a Fulbright Scholar.
Bolaji Omitola is a Professor of Political Science, and former Dean, Faculty
of Social Science, Osun State University, Okuku, Osun State, Nigeria.
Rotimi Williams Omotoye is a Professor of Religious Studies, University of
Ilorin, Nigeria.
Dr. Bukola A. Oyeniyi teaches African history at the Missouri State Univer-
sity, Springfield, Missouri, USA. He is a specialist in Africa’s social and cultural
history in the early nineteenth to the twentieth centuries. His current research
focuses on the place of Africa’s expressive culture, especially dress, in the
construction of individual and group identity. His works include Dress in
the Making of African Identity: A Social and Cultural History of the Yoruba
People (New York, USA: Cambria Press, 2015), The History of Libya, (Santa
Barbra, USA: Greenwood, 2019); Nigeria: Africa In Focus, (Co-authored with
Toyin Falola) (Santa Barbra, USA: ABC-CLIO, February 2015).
Yiagadeesen Samy is a Professor of Economics and Director, The Norman
Paterson School of International Affairs (NPSIA), Carleton University. His
research interests include State Fragility, Debt and Economic Development.
Tendayi Sithole is a Professor at the Department of Political Science, Univer-
sity of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa. He is the author of Steve Biko: A
Decolonial Meditations of Black Consciousness, Lexington Books, 2018.
Mofihli Teleki is a Ph.D. Candidate, School of Public Leadership, Stellen-
bosch University, Cape Town, South Africa, His research areas include, Rights
to Development, Cultural Relativism and Public Leadership.
Onah P. Thompson is Doctoral Candidate in Public Policy at the University
of North Carolina, Charlotte. His specializations include international security,
climate security and migration.
Dr. Paul-Sewa Thovoethin is a Senior Lecturer, Department of Political
Science, Lagos State Nigeria.
Kafui Tsekpo is of the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana,
Legon, Ghana.
Leon Mwamba Tshimpaka is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of
Political Science, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.
 NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS xvii

Siphamandla Zondi is a Professor in the Department of Political Science,

University of Johannesburg, South Africa. He holds a Doctorate Degree in
History from Cambridge University. He is also an Associate Lecturer at the
Thabo Mbeki School of Public and International Affairs, University of South
Africa.
 List of Figures

Fig. 17.1 Map showing the major oil fields of Ghana and exploratory
activities (Source Ghana Petroleum Commission: https://
www.petrocom.gov.gh/maps/) 352
Fig. 18.1 Trade as a share of SSA countries GDP (Source World Bank
[2020]) 370
Fig. 18.2 Share of world trade (2000–2018) (Source WorldBank
[2020]) 372
Fig. 18.3 SSA exports, imports, and trade balance (Source World Bank
[2020]) 372
Fig. 18.4 SSA share of international GDP and trade trends (Source
World Bank [2020]) 373
Fig. 18.5 SSA aggregate import structure (2000–2018) (Source World
Integrated Trade Solution [2020]) 374
Fig. 18.6 SSA aggregate export structure (2000–2018) (Source World
Integrated Trade solution [2020]) 375
Fig. 18.7 Intra-SSA trade (2000–2018) (Source UNCTAD [2020]) 379
Fig. 18.8 Intra-SSA exports (2000–2018) (Source UNCTAD [2020]) 380
Fig. 19.1 Evolution of Merchandise Exports and Imports, 1995–2019
(Source Constructed using UNCTAD statistics) 397
Fig. 19.2 China–Africa Trade, 1995–2018 (Source Constructed using
data from SAIS-CARI) 403
Fig. 20.1 Africa and global export trade 2013–2018 (billions of US$)
(Source Author-based on data from United Nations) 419
Fig. 20.2 Annual export growth by region 2018 (per cent) (Source
Author based on data from United Nations) 420
Fig. 20.3 Africa in global import trade 2013–2018 (billions US$)
(Source United Nations) 420
Fig. 20.4 Africa in global import trade 2013–2018 (growth in per cent)
(Source United Nations) 421
Fig. 20.5 Distribution of commodity and non-commodity dependent
countries within each geographic region 2013–2017 (Source
Author based on data from UNCTAD) 422

xix
xx LIST OF FIGURES

Fig. 20.6 Commodity export concentration for selected African

countries: Herfindal-Hirschmann Index for selected African
Countries 1995–2017 (Source Author, based on UNCTAD) 423
Fig. 20.7 Africa in global services trade: exports (billions of US$)
2013–2018 (Source Author calculation based on data
from the United Nations) 424
Fig. 20.8 Africa in global services export trade (share in world trade
and annual growth in per cent) (Source Author calculation
based on data from the United Nations) 425
Fig. 20.9 Africa’s leading exporters in services trade (shares in world
trade and annual growth rates) (Source Author calculation
based on data from the United Nations) 426
Fig. 20.10 Africa’s services imports -share of total services imports
(Source Author calculation based on data from the United
Nations) 427
Fig. 20.11 Africa: share in world services imports and annual growth
(per cent) (Source Based on data from the United Nations) 427
Fig. 20.12 Africa and Foreign Direct Investment Inflows (billions
of US$) 2013–2018 (Source Based on data from the United
Nations) 428
Fig. 20.13 Africa: Ratio of FDI inflows to GDP (per cent) 2013–2018
(Source Based on data from the United Nations) 428
Fig. 20.14 Africa and Foreign Direct Investment Outflows (billions
of US$) 2013–2018 (Source Author based on United Nations) 429
Fig. 20.15 Developing economies: Annual growth in real GDP and real
GDP per capita 2017–2018 (Source Author calculations
based on data from United Nations) 430
Fig. 21.1 2017 Government debt as a percent of the GDP in African
Economies (Source IMF 2018. Regional Economic Outlook) 450
Fig. 22.1 African GDP growth annual percentage (1990–2018) 475
Fig. 22.2 African GDP per capita growth annual percentage
(1990–2018) 476
Fig. 22.3 African States debt stocks percentage of Gross National
Income (1990–2018) 478
Fig. 22.4 African debt service on external debt total (1990–2018) 479
Fig. 22.5 Total unemployment percentage of total labor force
(1990–2018) 480
Fig. 22.6 Personal remittances received percentage of GDP
(1990–2018) 481
Fig. 50.1 Graphs of response to health information by ethnicity 1039
Fig. 50.2 Average marginal effects of the source of health advisory 1040
Fig. 50.3 Confidence levels in various institutions/system 1040

Photo 7.1 Sections of a Slave Ship (Courtesy Schomburg Center

for Research in Black Culture) 126
Photo 7.2 View of Chained African Slaves in cargo hold of slave ship,
measuring 3 feet by 3 inches high (Courtesy Schomburg
Center for Research in Black Culture) 127
 LIST OF FIGURES xxi

Photo 7.3 Picking cotton on a southern plantation (Source Schomburg

Center for Research in Black Culture) 130
Photo 7.4 Slavery in America: Women and children from Africa
in the Southern States (Courtesy Schomburg Center
for Research in Black Culture) 130
Photo 7.5 Leap of a Fugitive Slave (Courtesy Schomburg Center
for Research in Black Culture) 131
Photo 7.6 Photo of the Honorable President Barack Obama 141
Photo 7.7 The Great Freedom March Rally Cobo Hall, June 1963
(Note Left to Right: Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Mrs. Rosa
Parks, and Mr. David Boston. Courtesy Schomburg Center
for Research in Black Culture) 144
 List of Tables

Table 17.1 Inequality of ownership of three oil fields 353

Table 17.2 Summary of oil production and revenues accrued
from Ghana’s oil sector from 2011 to 2018 354
Table 17.3 A summary of taxation of some Petroleum Agreement (PA)
from Ghana’s oil fields 356
Table 18.1 Relative weight of exports and imports to SSA GDP 371
Table 20.1 Africa’s share in global export trade (2013–2018) 420
Table 20.2 Africa and Foreign Direct Investment Inflows (2013–2018) 428
Table 23.1 Indigenous Forest Turned to Games Reserve in Selected
Countries in Central Africa 497
Table 23.2 Hungry for land: Global distribution of agricultural land 497
Table 50.1 Summary statistics 1037
Table 50.2 Health Advisory Source 1037
Table 50.3 Regression results 1038

xxiii
 CHAPTER 1

Africa in the Changing Global Order: The Past,

the Present, and the Future

Samuel Ojo Oloruntoba and Toyin Falola

Africa’s relations with other parts of the world date to the very beginning
of time. Anthropological and historical studies have shown that Africa is the
cradle of human civilization.1 There are various dimensions to the encoun-
ters between Africa and the rest of the world. The change in the pattern of
relations from mutual trade and diplomatic exchanges to violent encounters
permanently transformed Africa’s position in the world.2 In particular, the
trans-Saharan and trans-Atlantic slave trade, as well as colonialism, reproduced
long-lasting socio-economic and political changes from which Africa is yet to
recover.3 The end of this series of violent encounters has done significantly
altered the subservient pattern of relations that continue to define Africa’s
relations with other parts of the world in our contemporary times.4 Decolo-
nial scholars argue that the continuity of structure of neocolonial control in the
areas of knowledge, power and reinforce the marginal position that the conti-
nent continues to occupy in the current global order.5 This chapter sets out
the focus and theoretical underpinnings of this handbook. In what follows,

S. O. Oloruntoba (B)
Institute of African Studies, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada
Thabo Mbeki School of Public and International Affairs, University of South Africa,
Pretoria, South Africa
T. Falola
Department of History, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
e-mail: [email protected]

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 1

Switzerland AG 2022
S. O. Oloruntoba and T. Falola (eds.), The Palgrave Handbook
of Africa and the Changing Global Order,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-77481-3_1
2 S. O. OLORUNTOBA AND T. FALOLA

we analyze Africa’s position in global affairs in key areas such as knowledge

production, economy, diplomacy, science and technology, performance arts
and diaspora engagements. It also analyzes African agency in its relationship
with other regions of the world and the ongoing advocacy for transforming
the global order from its current hierarchical and unequal form to a more just,
balanced, and equal one.

Knowledge Production
One of the side effects of the violent encounters that Africa had with other
regions of the world is the erasure of the continent’s knowledge. This erasure
cuts across several disciplines. Whereas precolonial African societies developed
and applied indigenous pieces of knowledge through which they built empires,
ensured food sufficiency, addressed the medical needs of their populace, and
maintained their environments, there were racist Anthropologist and historians
who argued that Africa had no history beyond the history written by the Euro-
peans.6 Several African scholars have responded to this deliberate erasure by
highlighting the connection between Africa’s knowledges and the renaissance
in Europe.7 In the years after gaining political independence, few universities
were established, which served as sites of resistance to the dominant Euro-
centric ideas that formed the bedrock of colonial knowledge about Africa. In
this connection, the Ibadan School of History, University of Ibadan, Nigeria,
University of Dares Salam, Tanzania, Makerere University, Uganda paraded
scholars that produced knowledge that contended, falsified, and negated the
ahistorical narratives about African forms of knowledge. For instance, the
scholars like Kenneth Dike, Ade Ajayi and Obaro Ikime underscored the
essence of orality as a source of knowledge, thus negating the false idea that
Africa had no history before the colonial intrusion to the continent.8 Scholars
like Walter Rodney, Claude Ake, Dani Nabudere, Issa Shivji and a host of
other Marxist-oriented scholars also argued against the idea that capitalism
can lead to structural transformation of the newly independent countries.9
From the 1980s, these intellectual sites of resistance fell under the weight of
internal and external contradictions of the ruling elites who are became scared
of radical ideas as well as the onslaught of neoliberal structural adjustment
programs.10 In what Mamdani refers to as scholars in the market place in a
book of the same title, the incipient neoliberal regimes of the 1980s and 1990s
led to mass defunding of the university system, which faculty members either
living in droves for the profitable non-governmental organization sector or
being forced to do side business to survive.11 Although scholars of African
origin continue to make their marks in different fields of human endeavor,
including winning Nobel Prize in Literature and contributing to innovation
in science and technology, the state neglect of education in general and higher
education in particular has resulted in a situation in which Africa’s research
output remains the lowest in the world.12 The challenges of knowledge
production remain even more poignant when one considers what decolonial
 1 AFRICA IN THE CHANGING GLOBAL ORDER … 3

scholars call coloniality of knowledge, that is the continuity of Eurocen-

tric epistemology in areas of curriculum design, theories, and methods of
enquiry.13 The recent Rhodes Must Fall protests in South Africa were part of
the symbolic resistance against the continuity of Eurocentric forms of knowl-
edge in African universities. The knowledge produced under these forms of
education continues to define the thought patterns of many Africans in terms
of confidence in themselves, trust in their capacity and consumption, as well as
application of knowledge produced in Africa. It is also ironic while curriculum
has been changed in European countries to reflect the changes in the global
economy. Many institutions in Africa are stuck with the old curricula, which
are not reflective of modernity challenges. These contradictions continue to
define Africa’s relations with other parts of the world.

Economy
The colonial economic structure continues apace in postcolonial Africa. This
has affected Africa’s relations with other parts of the world. Scholars of African
political economy like Claude Ake, Sarmin Amin, and Walter Rodney14 have
argued that extraction of minerals and metals and exports of raw materials
were the main logic of colonization. In terms of the structure of trade and
the composition of the economy, African countries remain a site of extrac-
tion and accumulation by the agents of the transnational capitalist class.15
The early industrialization efforts in the first decade of independence were
stymied and frustrated due to the contradictions of domestic and external
factors. Compared to other regions of the world, intra-African trade remains
the lowest at about 14%.16
The recent narrative of Africa Rising, which was largely predicated on the
growth in Gross Domestic Product, was largely fueled by exports of raw mate-
rials to China and other emerging economies. Although services contributed
to this growth trajectory, it was not borne out of structural transformation17 ;
rather, what Africa had was jobless growth.18 The vast mineral deposit of Africa
has made the continent a site of competition to old and new trading part-
ners like member countries of the European Union, Britain, United States of
America, China as well as other emerging economies such as India, Brazil,
Turkey, and Russia. Although the diversification of partnership could pose
some possibilities for growth and development, the nature of this relationship
demonstrates what Taylor19 refers to as diversification of dependency. Rather
than engaging with these countries in ways that will lead to a fundamental
change in the structure of trade and investment, African leaders continue to
relish receiving technical and non-technical aid that would rather reinforce
further dependency.
In a bid to foster structural transformation, the African Union established
the African Continental Free Trade Agreement in 2018. The agreement was
in furtherance of the Abuja Treaty, which was aimed at establishing the African
Economic Community. AfCTA took off on January 1, 2021, with 54 of the
4 S. O. OLORUNTOBA AND T. FALOLA

55 members of the African Union being members. In an era when multi-

lateralism is under threat, and the World Trade Organization is faltering on
managing the conclusion of the Doha Development Rounds of trade negotia-
tion, the African Continental Free Trade Agreement could be Africa’s greatest
contribution to the global economy. The success of this continental agreement
will depend on several factors, not least institutions of governance, supply-side
capacity constraints, manpower for implementation, harmonization of macroe-
conomic policies among African countries and mediating agreements with
third countries.20

Politics and Diplomacy

Africa’s involvement in global politics and diplomacy are at different levels.
Under the defunct Organization of African Unity (now African Union), the
continent has actively joined the train of decolonization after the Second
World War. With roots in the Pan-Africanist movement that started in the
United States of America in the early twentieth century, the call for decolo-
nization became louder through the activities of soldiers who returned from
fighting in the Second World War, educated Africans who returned from
studying abroad, as well as progressive and international human rights orga-
nizations in the West.21 It is to the credit of the Organization for African
Unity that official colonialism ended with the end of apartheid in South
Africa in 1994. In the context of the Cold War, African countries joined
the Non-Aligned Movement involving countries in Asia, the Caribbean, and
Latin America. Notwithstanding, many countries on the continent were used
as sites of competition and rivalry between the two superpowers, namely the
United States of America and the defunct Union of Soviet Socialist Republic
(USSR). The large membership of African countries in the United Nations
is another channel of its relations with the world. Two Africans have served
as the Secretary-General of the United Nations, namely, Boutros Boutros-
Ghali (1992–1996) and Kofi Annan (1997–2006). African countries have
been at the forefront of championing the reform of the United Nations Secu-
rity Council. Regional hegemons like Nigeria, South Africa, and Egypt have
expressed interest in becoming members of permanent members of the Secu-
rity Council. African countries have also contributed to various peacekeeping
operations in different parts of the world.
Peace and Security constitute another critical area in relations with Africa in
the changing global order. Africa remains a site of various conflicts, terrorist
attacks, and insurgencies. From Nigeria to Somalia through Mozambique
to Burkina Faso, Africa continues to be ravaged by the internecine conflict.
Although the African Union has a Peace and Security Architecture,22 it
has not been able to address these challenges. Ironically, Africa is currently
highly securitized through the various security bases established by countries
like the United States of America, 29 bases,23 France, six bases, China 1,
Germany 4, and Britain 1. Other regional powers like India and Japan are
 1 AFRICA IN THE CHANGING GLOBAL ORDER … 5

also establishing military bases. According to Neethling,24 apart from the fight
against terrorism, there are other motivations to establish military bases in
Africa. These include protection of commercial interests, aligning with friendly
regimes, and expressing dominance on a continent that is the focus of rising
global competition. The increasing proliferation of military bases in Africa
further demonstrates the weaknesses of the African Union Peace and Secu-
rity Council to manage the multiple security challenges facing the continent.
The weakness of this arm of the African Union and the institutional paralysis
of this continental organization was partly responsible for the ease with which
the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members were able to topple
Muammar Ghaddafi and the resultant ensuring crisis in that country.
Despite the challenges that have defined Africa’s relations with the changing
global order, there have been times when the agency of the continent was
significantly projected in global affairs. According to Lala,25 The birth of
the AU, NEPAD, and a few other successful African initiatives represent the
pinnacle of this victorious decade for African diplomacy. While both were artic-
ulating a continental outlook, most importantly, there was a demand for an
equal partnership with world powers; the strong leadership of former Pres-
idents Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria and Thabo Mbeki of South Africa.
Working with other leaders on the continent, they foregrounded Africa’s solu-
tion to Africa’s problems. They also worked assiduously to transform the
Organization for African Unity to African Union with more emphasis on
accountable governance and protection of human rights. Lala also argued
that ‘the AU has emerged as Africa’s preeminent platform to participate
internationally, promoting unity among African nations in global negotia-
tions. As the continent’s foremost multilateral institution, the AU is the
main organizer, promoter, protector, and defender of the continent’s polit-
ical, socio-economic, and environmental interests’.26 The high South-South
Cooperation that started during the period 1998–2008 has been sustained to
a reasonable degree. Although the change in government in Brazil affected
that country’s relations with Africa, Cuba, China, India, and other countries
are increasing collaboration with African countries on various issues. Although
South Africa is the only country in Africa that belongs to the BRICS group of
countries, there is a sense in which other African countries can benefit from the
New Development Bank that BRICS countries have established. The impor-
tance attached to Africa countries in their relations with other regions and the
wealth of their voices will be a function of economic prosperity, technolog-
ical advancement, political stability, as well as the strategic alliances that the
continent is able to forge with other countries.

Performance Arts, Religion,

and Diaspora Engagements
Africa’s relations with the world are being shaped by the arts and performance
sector, especially the film industry. The Nigerian Nollywood has been rated as
the second-largest film industry in the world, ranked only behind Hollywood
6 S. O. OLORUNTOBA AND T. FALOLA

in the United States of America. According to Price Water House Coopers,27

‘the Industry is a significant part of the Arts, Entertainment and Recreation
Sector which contributed 2.3% (NGN239biliion) to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic
Product (GDP) in 2016’. Kenya, Ghana and South Africa also produce films
that are watched in different parts of the world, especially the Caribbean
Islands and South America, where there is a significant population of people of
African descent. Countries such as Nigeria and Ghana have also been playing
active roles in exporting African brands of Pentecostal and other forms of
Christianity to different parts of the world. Although these churches are mainly
attended by people of African descent, they are also making in-roads with
non-Africans through their involvement in charity and evangelization.
In the wake of the socio-economic and political crises facing Africa, there
has been a wide dispersal of Africans to different continents. The dias-
pora population has been growing over the past four decades.28 According
to Falola,29 the diaspora population is made up of different generations,
including those who were taken away from Africa during the trans-Atlantic
slave trade and the post-independent diaspora population made up of students
who went from Africa to study in the West but never returned, skilled profes-
sionals and increasingly those who are engaged in irregular migration. These
populations are shaping the ways Africa is perceived by non-Africans. Africans
are also involved in various sports activities. Apart from the participation of
African countries in various sports competitions such as the Olympic games,
international soccer competitions, there are young Africans who play for clubs
in Europe, Asia, and other parts of the world. These athletes and sportsmen
and women serve as unofficial ambassadors whose display of talents helps to
project Africa’s image in the world. The above indicate Africa’s agency and
engagement in different spheres and phases with other regions of the world.
Chapters in this handbook analyze different phases of Africa’s engagement
with the world from the precolonial through the colonial to the contem-
porary times. The handbook contains seven sections, namely the historical
foundation of Africa and the world, Africa and global knowledge produc-
tion, Africa in the global economy, Africa in international relations, Africa in
Global Security Conflict and Peacebuilding, Africa and Global Religions and
Creativity, and Africa and Global Leadership. In Chapter 2 on Africa’s Contri-
butions to World Civilization, George Bob-Milliar foregrounds the debates
on world civilization and the contributions of Africans South of the Sahara to
this. While acknowledging the deliberate falsehood of philosophers like Hegel
and historians like Trevor Ruper, who had argued that Africa had no history,
Milliar provides other historical accounts which showed that the first Euro-
peans who came to Africa in the sixteenth century met well-developed cities
in different parts of sub-Saharan Africa. He negates the western epistemic
erasure of African knowledges and contributions to human civilization by
centering the discourse around the historical evidence of great kingdoms and
empires that existed on the continent before the violent European intrusions
 1 AFRICA IN THE CHANGING GLOBAL ORDER … 7

through slavery, imperialism, colonialism, and neo-colonialism. The destruc-

tion of Carthage was a deliberate act of aggression by the Europeans against
Africa. Rebuilding Carthage and restoring Africa’s pride is the fight of the
present and succeeding generations. Falola’s contribution to Africa before the
Second World War chronicles the series of Africa’s encounters with the rest
of the world through various encounters such as the Arab and trans-Saharan
slave trades and colonialism. The scramble for and the partition of Africa
carried out by powerful European countries was a very definitive moment in
African history. The effects of the partition continue to be felt in contempo-
rary Africa as many of the states remain poor and dependent on the former
colonial masters.
In the fourth chapter, Falola explicates on the various dimensions of Africa’s
relations with the world after the Second World War. In this regard, Falola
identifies five areas through which Africa was affected by post-Second World
War. The first was the increased demand for decolonization and the end of
colonialism on the continent. Apart from this, Africa’s economy was also
altered fundamentally to contribute toward the rebuilding of European coun-
tries. He argues that the colonial powers became so virulent in ensuring
massive exports of primary products from Africa to Europe. Typical of colo-
nial economic policies, the products were sold at cheap prices, processed and
exported to different parts of the world at higher prices. Despite the demand
for structural economic transformation, the colonialists did little or nothing
to promote industrialization. Falola also identified the military impacts of the
Second World War on Africa, noting that a large number of African soldiers
were drafted to fight in the war. On their return to Africa, they joined the
campaign for decolonization. The Cold War between the East and the West
did not spare African countries as the two world powers sent weapons to their
satellite states to fight proxy wars. Falola also notes that Africa’s engagement
with the world after the Second World War includes political realignments and
a drive toward continental unity and integration through the formation of the
Organization of African Unity (OAU). This period also saw African countries
joining several international organizations. The conflict in different parts of the
world and in Africa in particular also defined Africa’s relations with the world
during this time. Lastly, Falola identifies Africa’s relations with the world in
terms of culture. Despite the influence of colonial cultures on Africans, they
have continued to project their own cultures in different parts of the world
through music, art, and religion.
In Chapter 5, Bukola A. Oyeniyi analyzes the relationship between colo-
nialism, coloniality, and colonial rule in Africa. After providing a densely rich
historical narrative of the genesis of colonialism, Oyeniyi foregrounds the
economic interests of the colonialists as the main reason for Scramble for
Africa. Besides, he argues that another rationale was the need to stop the
spread of Islam in Africa; echoing emergent decolonial scholars like Mignolo,
Groesfuel, and Ndlovu-Gatsheni.30 Oyeniyi concludes that colonial struc-
tures of power, being, and knowledge continue in Africa in contemporary
8 S. O. OLORUNTOBA AND T. FALOLA

times because African leaders have yielded the policy space to former colonial
powers. Coloniality manifests in the uncritical adoption of liberal democracy,
marketization of economic activities, state repression, and divide and rule
tactics of postcolonial leaders. The continuity of these structures of power
and economic relations continues to shape Africa’s relations with the world.
In Chapter 6, Falola establishes a link between the current challenges in Africa
and the forces that promoted massive dispersal of the population to the Amer-
icas, Europe, and the Caribbean. His focus in this chapter was an analysis of the
roots of the African diaspora population from the fourteen to sixteen centuries.
The Trans-Atlantic slave trade created socio-economic and political disrup-
tions that negatively affected the progressive evolution and transformation of
African societies. At the political level, Falola argues that the Atlantic trade
created a semi-feudal class in Africa that worked hand in hand with the Euro-
peans to deepen the oppression of Africans. He also argues that overall, the
slave economy greatly contributed to the growth and expansion of the British
empire. Despite attempts at revisionist narratives of the impacts of slave on
Africa, the loss of an estimated 12 million Africans to other parts of the world
affected not only the population growth but created conditions that led to the
current exodus of a new population of Africans who are running away from
poverty, conflict, and wars. In the last chapter in this section, Bessie House-
Soremekun examines the historical trajectories that resulted in the emergence
of a large African diaspora population in the United States of America. She
connects this diaspora population to the centuries of Trans-Atlantic slave trade
in which millions of Africans were carted away by European slave traders to
work in cotton plantations in the America. In this chapter, Soremekun also
focuses on the continuity of culture and religion of the Yoruba diaspora popu-
lation in the United States of America. She concludes the chapter by linking
the past to the current struggle for justice and equality by African Americans.
The second part of the handbook contains papers that examined Africa and
global knowledge production. Knowledge production is a very political issue
that is largely determined by power asymmetry. Although indigenous knowl-
edge systems contributed to the achievement of socio-economic development
and the building of empires in precolonial Africa, these have been denied and
subjugated by the many years of colonial rule on the continent. The current
turn in decolonization discourses has ignited new interests in centering African
knowledges. African knowledges have contributed to human civilization and
advancement, not only in Africa but in the diaspora, where many Africans have
been dispersed over the past five hundred years. Ayeni Amidu and Aborisade
Adebayo foreground this in their contribution to this volume. They argue
that Africa, like the rest of the world, has its own knowledge system, which
sustained its people for centuries prior to colonialization. They also note that
the indigenous knowledge system in Africa is enshrined in the boundaries
of the culture of the people and exercised with dexterity, wisdom, conser-
vation, and preservation, as well as sustainability and environmental harmony
as its hallmark. While refuting the previous negation of African knowledges
 1 AFRICA IN THE CHANGING GLOBAL ORDER … 9

by non-African scholars, they conclude by re-emphasizing the deployment of

indigenous knowledge to addressing the myriads of challenges facing African
countries.
Tendai Sithole’s paper follows by employing a decolonial approach to
analyzing Africa’s position in global knowledge production. He argues that a
decolonial interpretation of Africa’s condition in relations with other parts of
the world is underpinned by coloniality. He concludes that the future of Africa
and its relevance in the global order will be a function of how African knowl-
edge production is owned by Africans, in other words, the imperial reason that
has underpinned the interpretation of African knowledges from the colonial to
the present time needs to be replaced with an indigenous African knowledge
system that foreground the agency of Africans. Cliff Kodero’s contribution
continues in this line of thought by pointing out the neglect of African voices
in international relations. He argues that African and Afro-oriented scholars
mushroomed during the decolonization and the postcolonial period. Yet,
African people’s contribution to international relations (IR) has been under-
stated, amplifying the continent’s ‘insignificance’ in international politics and
IR. Part of the explanation for the marginalization of African voices in IR is
racism. This manifests in the difficult access to publish in leading journals in
the field as well as the likelihood of rejection of theories and perspectives that
are considered inferior to western theories.
The silencing of African voices is not limited to the field of international
relations. As Zvenyika Eckson Mugari notes in his contribution to Epistemolo-
gies of the South and Africa’s Marginalization in the Media, the mainstream
media in the west has contributed significantly to the erasure of positive news
coming out of Africa. He argues that western news media played no small
role in the colonial project of inventing Africa and all that passes as ‘African
tradition’. Mugari’s argument remains pertinent in the way in which Africa
is depicted in contemporary times. It can also be argued that the negative
projection of Africa shapes the perception of the western public, including
scholars, about Africa. The intrusive influence of foreign media on indigenous
knowledge systems is reinforced by globalization, especially the revolution in
information technology. How globalization affects learning and indigenous
knowledge system is the focus of Osehi Andrew Enaifoghe’s paper. He argues
that while internationalization as a critical part of globalization has become
a vital part of higher education in Africa, there is the tendency that this can
intensify the extraversion of knowledge production. Enaifoghe concludes that
the recognition and promotion of indigenous knowledge systems can add to
epistemic pluralism. The practical application of indigenous knowledge systems
is the focus of the last two chapters in this section.
Peter Genger explicates the importance of Ubuntu as an ideological and
philosophical force for good that Africa can adopt to foster socio-economic
and political development as well as to adapt while relating with other parts
of the world. Rooted in what he calls nostalgia about precolonial African soci-
eties, Genger argues that Ubuntu is practiced in different parts of Africa. He
10 S. O. OLORUNTOBA AND T. FALOLA

notes that the adoption of Ubuntu will bring about the required liberatory and
agential change to the continent and to Africans. While a practical application
of Ubuntu can indeed foster a more harmonious relationship among Africans
and facilitate development, its application in relations with other parts of the
world must be put in the context of the rationale and philosophical under-
pinning of the global capitalist order. In his book, The Decolonial Mandela:
Peace, Justice, and the Politics of Life, Ndlovu-Gatsheni31 identifies what he
refers to as paradigm of peace and paradigm of war. While Africa has been
relating with the rest of the world on account of a paradigm of peace, the
West had through various encounters with Africa related with the continent
on the basis of paradigm of war. Thus, there is a need for a careful balancing
of Ubuntu and protection of the interests of Africans when relating with other
parts of the world, whose motif force relating with Africa is the consideration
for the power, domination, and exploitation of the resources that are avail-
able on the continent. The pitfall of Africa’s relations with other regions of
the world is the inability to craft a strategy that protects Africa’s interests and
aspirations. The micro nature of the state in Africa and its week capacity have
contributed to this problem.
Mofihli Teleki and Serges Djoyou Kamga relate Africa’s indigenous knowl-
edge system to human rights in precolonial times. They argue that the
knowledge systems of Southern Africans have always held specific ideals of
the right to development. Nor were the ideas of equality and fairness limited
to Southern Africa. Throughout the continent, different societies had norms
and values that protect the right to development. Although there were cases of
abuse by traditional rulers, there were also checks and balances that prevented
such abuse. In other words, the existence of equality, human rights, and
fairness in the process of development was all part of African systems long
before the adoption of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights
and the United Nations Declaration on the Right to Development. Given
the salience and usefulness of the right to development in ancient Africa, the
authors conclude that the thought process that informed this idea should
be incorporated into international conventions and treaties on the right to
development.
Chapters in the third section examine Africa in the global economy. Africa’s
integration into the global economy has gone through different phases. The
first phase was the pre-slavery era, where coastal communities on the continent
interacted with early European explorers and traders. As Nkrumah32 argues in
his book on Neocolonialism, the last stage of imperialism, Africans projected
their hospitable nature and welcomed these Europeans with open arms. The
same quality was also projected to Arabs who traded with Africans in the
Northern part of the continent. The hospitality of Africans to these strangers
was not reciprocated with kindness. Rather, trades in goods and ivory were
replaced with goods in human skin. As Falola notes in one of his contribu-
tions to this volume, the growth of capitalist economies in Europe and similar
expansions in the Arab world led to intense hunting for the black skin from
 1 AFRICA IN THE CHANGING GLOBAL ORDER … 11

Africa. Thus, both the Trans-Saharan Slave Trade and Trans-Atlantic Slave
Trade constitute another era in the integration of Africans into the global trade
networks. Trade-in human body was preceded by trade-in ivories, gold, spices,
and other products found in different parts of Africa.
The third phase was the period of imperialism and later colonialism. These
periods led to the scramble for and partition of Africa. The current phase of
integration started with the globalization era that followed the end of the
Second World. This has been accentuated by the revolution in information
technology and the hegemony of liberal economic ideas of the late 1970s and
early 1980s. Although key institutions of neoliberal economic globalization
such as the IMF and the World Bank would claim that Africa is not well inte-
grated into the global economy, Rugumanu33 has argued that Africa is indeed
over-integrated into the global system. This is because of the extraversion of
trade in which more than 70% of Africa’s trade is with other regions of the
world.
The new era of globalization has brought a new turn in a rush for land
and commodities in Africa. From China to Arab countries and western-based
institutions such as universities and corporations, there is new a new scramble
going on in Africa in contemporary times. How this new mode of accu-
mulation by dispossession is taking place on the continent is the focus of
Jobson Ewalefoh’s argument in this volume. He notes, rather poignantly,
that the present scramble for Africa extends beyond the European powers;
the emerging economies such as India, South Korea, Brazil, Malaysia, India
and China are involved in this competition. Although Africa’s relations with
these countries have fostered some economic growth on the continent, there
are concerns that these growths have not led to inclusive development.34
Taylor went further to argue that new relations with countries such as China,
Russia, Brazil, India, and South Africa (BRICS) are leading to the diversi-
fication of dependency.35 With a focus on China and the United States of
America, Ewalefoh argues that the new scramble for Africa is more indirect
and subtle. It utilizes soft power tactics like humanitarian aids, investments
in infrastructure, and provision of benevolent economic and preferential trade
agreements. Africa has therefore become a site of contestation for the revival
of imperial powers like the US and now China. Although the latter has always
claimed to be a developing partner without any imperial intent, the manner
of debt deals that the country is having with many African countries under-
scores the possibility of a subtle attempt at future control of the receiving
countries. Ewalefoh concludes that Pan-Africanism should be foregrounded as
the underlying ideology in which African countries will craft a joint strategy
to engage with China, the US, and other countries in ways that can best serve
the interests of Africans.
Robert Maseko takes Ewalefoh’s argument further by focusing his analysis
on how the scramble for Africa’s minerals is playing out in the mineral and
mines sectors. Using a decolonial logic of inquiry, Maseko argues that there
is continuity of the colonial structure of power and domination, which gives
12 S. O. OLORUNTOBA AND T. FALOLA

the superpowers of the world a unique opportunity to continue to control the

resources on the continent. Examples of the political economy of the mining
sector in South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe that Maseko uses in his analysis
are symptomatic of what obtains in other African countries. Both old and new
neo-imperial forces continue to work with local elites to expropriate Africa’s
resources for accumulation by corporate power and elites. Although Maseko
ends his analysis on the tone of pessimism, the solution does not lie in apathy
or mute indifference. Despite the challenges that civil society organizations
are faced with, they continue to call attention to the large exploitation that is
going on in the mining sector in Africa.
Jasper Abembia Ayelazuno and Emmanuel Graham take Robert Maseko’s
argument further by highlighting how neo-imperial forces continue to plunder
Africa’s economies without any genuine attention toward structural trans-
formation. In this connection, they argue that in the twenty-first-century
neoliberal world order, it is still the thirst for natural resources that is the
major driving force of the new scramble for Africa. In other words, the conti-
nent still serves as a quarry for drawing raw materials to feed industries in
the advanced industrialized and newly industrializing countries such as China
and India. Ayelazuno and Graham contend against the neoliberal idea that
the new scramble for Africa’s resources holds any potential for transformation.
Using Ghana as a case study, they conclude that despite the generous incen-
tives provided by the state in Africa to foreign-based multinational companies,
extraction of oil and other minerals in Africa only serve the interests of the
members of the transnational capitalist class, represented by the ruling elites
in Africa and the foreign-based companies. This, according to Ayelazuno and
Graham, reinforce the unequal international division of labor that underpinned
the first and the current scramble for Africa.
The next three contributions by Yiagadeesen Samy, Omotola Amusan, and
Theresa Moyo examine Africa’s position and performances in international
trade. Samy examined the various dimensions of the growth trajectories that
have taken place in African economies after independence. He notes the domi-
nance of exports of primary commodities and how this has led to limited
space for structural transformation and diversification of the economies. While
underscoring the imperative of production and manufacturing, as well as
regional trade, he highlights the prospects and challenges of the newly signed
African Continental Free Trade Agreement in fostering economic develop-
ment on the continent. Omotola Amusan adopted Emmanuel Wallerstein’s
World System Theory to explain the marginal position that Africa has occu-
pied in the international economy. Rather than seeing this as a natural
phenomenon, Omotola traces the current subordinated position of Africa
in the global economy to the past systems of exploitation such as the
Trans-Atlantic slave trade, colonialism, neocolonialism, and the forces of glob-
alization. While highlighting the importance of international trade in achieving
economic development in Africa, Omotola emphasizes the need for more
 1 AFRICA IN THE CHANGING GLOBAL ORDER … 13

intra-African trade. The recently signed African Continental Free Trade Agree-
ment represents Africa’s best intention at using trade to foster socio-economic
development. Theresa Moyo follows in Omotola’s line of argument on why
Africa has been marginalized in international trade. Following the arguments
of Marxist scholars like Sarmin Amin, she argued that the unequal power rela-
tions in the conduct of international trade had affected the performance of
African countries in the global economy. Moyo concludes that the new turn
in the promotion of regional integration, especially with the signing of the
African Continental Free Trade Agreement, can lead to an increase in the
volumes of trade and the overall contribution of Africa to the global economy.
Apart from global trade, Africa’s economy has also been affected by the
global governance of finance. Tinuade Adekunbi Ojo and Samuel Ojo Olorun-
toba examine how the global governance of finance has affected economic
development in Africa. They argue that serial economic crises that African
countries have experienced led to dependence on international financial insti-
tutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund for
loans. The interventions of these institutions have led to the loss of policy
space, the shrinking role of the state, and dwindling economic fortunes. They
conclude that though the African economy needs reforms, these should be
carried out in ways that are consistent with the specific economic conditions
of the countries involved. Victor Fakoya, Bolaji Omitola, and Akintayo Dayo
argue in their paper that aid dependence has worsened the socio-economic
conditions of African economies. This is because of the nature of the aid, the
existing domestic conditions as well as weak institutions. They conclude that
findings that aid cannot facilitate development where the political-institutional
substructures are grossly deficient. Lere Amusan’s contribution focuses on the
challenges of food security, mining, and land grab in Africa. He analyzes the
domestic and external conditions that have led to the commodification of land
and water in Africa. The involvement of large multinational corporations in
this new wave of marketization is as worrisome as concerning. Despite the
challenges of food security in different parts of the continent, the large compa-
nies from the West and other parts of the world produce food crops that are
largely exported to developed countries rather than meeting domestic needs.
Amusan also notes the promotion of inorganic food as against natural food.
He notes that inorganic foods have implications for the health of Africans who
consume them. He concludes that to ensure food sovereignty, and there is a
need for women’s empowerment in farming, as well as small-scale farming that
is anchored on not only food security but food safety.
Michael Kpessa-Whyte and Kafuj Tsekpo examine Global Public Policy
Paradigms and the Socio-Economic Transformation Trajectories of Africa.
They provide an analytical discussion of Africa’s development trajectories in
the postcolonial era in the context of major ideational paradigms. It shows
that Africa’s place in the changing global order is partly manifested in how
its socio-economic transformation processes have been shaped by an interface
of ideas inspired by Keynesian modernization ideas in the early postcolonial
14 S. O. OLORUNTOBA AND T. FALOLA

era (the 1950s–1970s), and later by an ideational paradigm based on neolib-

eral ethos since the 1980s. These two ideational orientations have affected
Africa’s development trajectories since independence. Whereas the Keynesian
ideas ascribe more power to the state in terms of formulation and implemen-
tation of policies, the neoliberal economic ideas have limited the power of
the state. The role of the international financial institutions such as the World
Bank and the International Monetary Fund was clearly highlighted. They also
pointed out the multiplication of policy think tanks and consultants who have
been spreading neoliberal ideas on the continent.
Part four of the book contains papers that examine the location and agency
of Africa in international relations. From the time of gaining political indepen-
dence in the late 1950s, African countries have been active in the international
environment either singly in collaboration with other African countries or
other countries in the Global South. For instance, in the context of the
Cold War, African countries joined with Asian countries to form the Non-
Aligned Movement, with a commitment to maintaining a neutral position in
the context of the Cold War between the United States of America and the
defunct Union of Soviet Social Republic (USSR). African countries were also
actively involved in the decolonization movements that flourished after the
Second World War. The formation of the Organization of African Unity and
its successor, the African Union, represented the most significant continental
attempt at having African countries speak with one voice at the international
level. To a significant extent, the continental organization has also served as
the platform for international engagement. It was in the context of the role of
the African Union in designing a Pan-African identity for Africa. Tracing the
call for Pa-x Africana to the work of Ali Marui, Marcel Nagar argues that this
ideology has informed the changes that have taken place on the continent,
especially in security. She notes that the establishment of the African Peace
and Security Architecture (APSA) in 2002 was a milestone in the desire of
African countries to take charge of their own destiny. This consciousness and
the deliberate plans to solve Africa’s problem through Africa’s led solution
were informed by the changes in the global system, the lethargy of the United
Nations in meaningfully intervening in crisis spots such as Rwanda during
the genocide. She concludes that despite the huge need for this approach in
handling the multiple challenges in Africa, it has not been fully operationalized
successfully. Naggar also underscores the imperative of political unity among
Africans both home and abroad to ensuring the success of Pax-Africana.
Arina Muresan’s contribution follows Naggar’s line of argument in her
paper on Seeking Africa’s agency in global clubs. Using South Africa as the
entry point of analysis, Muresan identifies various international organizations,
especially from the Global South, where African countries are playing one
role or the other to shape global politics. These include the BRICS coun-
tries made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, and the G20,
among others. She argues that the clubs in international relations are elitist
in nature and determined by the level of development that a country has
 1 AFRICA IN THE CHANGING GLOBAL ORDER … 15

achieved. Despite the calls for Africa to exercise its agency in global affairs and
the increasing attempts at doing so, there is a sense in which the continent
has been marginalized in global affairs. Given the limitations of clubs to help
African countries project their interests in international affairs, she concludes
that there is a need for more engagement with civil society organizations as
well as party to party engagements. One of the fallouts of the end of the Cold
War is the promotion of liberal democracy as the most ideal form of govern-
ment. Led by the United States of America, the western dominated world has
presented adherence to democratic values as a necessary condition for securing
development aid by African countries. In his contribution to this volume,
Siphamandla Zondi argues that the imposition of liberal democracy is a sheer
expression of coloniality of power through which African agency in designing
an appropriate political system is subjugated. He contends that liberal democ-
racy replaced various discourses that pre-occupied critical African voices and
activists in the 1990s when North Americans announced what they termed
a wave of democratization that was consistent with trends in the rest of the
global south. The core of Zondi’s argument is the hegemonic tendencies of
western scholars of democracy to universalize the idea as if democracy is orig-
inal or limited to the west. Democracy varies across societies across regions.
Thus, Africa needs negation of the epistemic monologue on democracy to
ensure that discourses on democracy reflect its local peculiarities and practice
in Africa.
Climate change has remained a very thorny issue in the global system
in our contemporary times. Countries in developed and developing coun-
tries are working on various pacts and agreements to mitigate the effects
of climate change. Bamidele Olajide’s contribution to Environmental Diplo-
macy and the Fallacy of Climate Bandwagoning in Africa makes the important
point that African countries need to build capacity for negotiations. The
need to build such capacity is fundamental to securing better deals from
negotiations on climate change and its management. Whereas the developed
countries achieved development through industrialization and the resultant
carbon emissions, African countries are in the process of building capacity
toward achieving industrial development. In this respect, Olajide notes that
climate bandwagoning is a two-way street; that is, it is not just only desirable
to link development imperatives to environmental diplomacy but that the latter
also has important lessons and offerings that must be inculcated and tailored
to their reality by African states. To do climate bandwagoning in a one-way
fashion only amounts to a fallacy of climate bandwagoning. He concludes
that Africa must embrace full environmental governance offerings in impor-
tant areas such as financing, participation, accountability, and the political will
to see environmental diplomacy in the right perspective.
Another important area of Africa’s engagement with the world is Migra-
tion. Regular and irregular migration to Europe from Africa has become
an issue of international concern and policy. Paul-Sewa Thovoethin’s paper
16 S. O. OLORUNTOBA AND T. FALOLA

focuses on how the European Union has been addressing irregular migra-
tion from Africa. Using Nigeria as a case study, he argues that the European
Union Emergency Trust Fund for Africa was aimed at strengthening the
capacities of the national and local authorities in respect of migration manage-
ment, assisting the voluntary return of migrants on the migration route,
and promoting awareness-raising activities on the risks of irregular migration.
Despite this program, irregular migration to Europe continues in Nigeria. The
author concludes that it is important to address the supply-side factors that
contribute to irregular migration. Issues such as poverty, conflict, and other
social deprivation require a multi-stakeholder approach.
Many countries in Africa were colonized by Britain. Expectedly, the
withdrawal of British membership from the European Union would have
implications for relations with African countries. Dickson Ajisafe and Seun
Bamidele examine Brexit and the Implications for Euro-African Relations.
They argue that given the long durée of relationship that African countries
have with both Britain and European Union states, Brexit posits a unique
opportunity for diversification of partners. The abundant natural resources
that are available in Africa and the large market potential inherent in its over a
billion population make this argument pertinent. However, taking advantage
of opportunities in engagements with post-Brexit Britain and European Union
would require crafting appropriate strategies that mainstream Africa’s interests
and development aspirations.
China has become an increasingly important player in various sectors in
Africa. From economy to education, military, and cultural exchanges, the
return of China to Africa over the past three decades has diverse ramifi-
cations for the continent. N. Oluwafemi ‘Femi’ Mimiko contributions on
Critical Currents in Sino-African Relations focuses on this dynamic relation-
ship. After a dense explication of the changing nature of the global system,
Mimiko analyzes the various dimensions of Sino-African relations. He also
places Africa’s relations with China and other parts of the world in the context
of the evolving COVID-19 pandemic. He argues that despite the concerns
over the Chinese neocolonial agenda and operations through the exploitation
of the abundant natural resources, the country presents a credible alterna-
tive to the Western countries that have been exploiting Africa for centuries.
Mimiko concludes that the important role of China in Africa provides a unique
opportunity to the continent to derive more benefits from China and other
parts of the world.
Malami Buba echoes Mimiko’s argument for Africa to develop more collab-
oration with the countries in the East. This reference to Asia is rooted in the
great achievements of Southeast Asian countries such as South Korea, Hong
Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore over the past half of a century. Malami uses
South Korea to illustrate how a country without natural resources such as
oil has used learning to achieve great socio-economic development. Malami
identifies several issues from which African countries can learn. These include
 1 AFRICA IN THE CHANGING GLOBAL ORDER … 17

technology, learning, trust and character, culture, identity profiling, adapta-

tion, and innovation. He concludes that different aspects of these practices
were present in precolonial African societies and should be reignited in
contemporary times to achieve socio-economic and political development.
This section concludes with a paper on the changing narratives of human rights
in the world and how this affects African countries. Eteete Michael Adam
traces the discourses on human rights in Europe to the Enlightenment. Thus,
the history of human rights in the world has often taken the shape of a Western
narrative, and this has often led to the assumption that the formal discussion
of human rights was alien to the African epistemological system. However,
in postcolonial times, African countries have developed both national and
regional frameworks for the protection of human rights on the continent.
Despite the existence of these frameworks, instances of human rights abuses
remain in different parts of Africa. It is thus incumbent on African citizens
to demand the protection of their rights through the use of the Internet and
physical protests as allowed within the law.
Part five of the handbook is focused on Africa in Global Security Conflict
and Peacebuilding. From the United Nations to the African Union, papers
in this section examine the past and present trajectories of African countries
in global and continental security architectures. Tim Murithi’s contribution
examines the need for a fundamental restructuring of the United Nations
Security Council. This position is premised on geopolitical consideration, fair-
ness, and justice. Given the undue influence of the Permanent Members of
the UN Security Council and the roles they have continued to play in desta-
bilizing regions of the world such as Syria and Libya, Murithi argues that the
Council should be dismantled. A reconfigured Security Council should not
only reflect the geopolitical changes and alignment in the world but give a
more prominent position for Africa. The large membership of Africa in the
United Nations and the high level of insecurity on the continent make this
argument more compelling. Damilola Agbalajobi’s contribution to Africa in
Peacekeeping operation in a changing global order takes Murithi’s argument
forward. She traces the history of challenges with security in Africa to the
genocide in Rwanda and how the lackluster attitude of western powers forced
a rethink on handling security among African leaders. The lack of commit-
ment to maintaining peace and security when it mattered most in Africa led
to the formation of the African Peace Security Architecture under the auspices
of the African Union. APSA roadmap is built around five thematic priorities
covering the conflict prevention, management, and resolution cycle, which are:
conflict prevention; crisis/conflict management; post-conflict reconstruction
and peacebuilding; strategic security issues and coordination and partnership.
Although the African Union is faced with challenges of funding the peace
architecture, there is a sense of ownership of the initiative geared toward
ensuring peace and security on the continent. Agbalajobi concludes that it
is imperative to address the political and other challenges affecting peace
and security in Africa. Also, other challenges such as the sexuality of female
18 S. O. OLORUNTOBA AND T. FALOLA

troops should be addressed while ensuring African leaders continue to fund

the African Peace and Security Architecture.
The War on Terror and Securitization of Africa is the focus of the contri-
bution of Vincent Eseoghene Efebeh. He provides a historical analysis of
the war on terror and how this has led to the securitization of Africa. He
narrates the efforts by African nations and their foreign allies to rid the conti-
nent of terrorist groups and how such collaborative efforts have led to the
securitization of Africa. Effebeh argues that an increase in security spending
has impacted the development of other areas of life and, indeed, the entire
economy of the continent. He concludes that there is a need for more collab-
orative efforts and the deployment of the latest technology in warfare to put
ting an end to the terrorists’ attacks and the fight against terrorism on the
continent. Godwin Okeke’s paper explicates the liberal international order that
came into force after the Cold War and how Africa’s security architecture has
been designed to fit into the norms of peace predicated on this principle. He
argues that despite various efforts at promoting peace and security based on
this principle, conflict is still prevalent in Africa. African leaders have made
efforts to address security through the adoption of the concept of African
solution to an African problem. Okeke also establishes a nexus between devel-
opment and security. Hence, he concludes that African leaders should make
efforts to ensure the success of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement
as a way of fostering socio-economic development on the continent.
The next two chapters by Mumo Nzau and Gorden Moyo examine the role
of two powerful global actors in managing security in Africa. In this regard,
Mumo Nzau explicates how the Euro-Africa relations have emerged in the
light of the new dynamics of violent extremism and general insecurity in Africa.
After a brief analysis of the history of the relations between the two conti-
nents, Nzau concludes that emergent patterns of reconfiguration of power in
the EU, such as Brexit and the rise of nationalism, could have implications for
the management of security between Europe and Africa. Gorden Moyo exam-
ines the role of China in the emergent configuration of security architecture in
Africa. With China building a military base in Djibouti and ongoing engage-
ment in the training of African security personnel, the argument that China
is not interring in the internal affairs of African countries is skeptical. Behind
the increased securitization programs of China in Africa is the need to protect
Chinese investment and citizens. It is also informed by geostrategic interests
and increased assertion of Chinese power as against other powers such as the
United States of America, Europe, and Russia. Kadishi Ndudi Oliseh’s contri-
bution to Unipolarity. Emerging Powers, Africa’s Security and the Place of
African in the International System: 1993–2017 examines the engagement of
powerful and emerging countries in Africa. The analysis shows that both old
powers, such as the United States of America and Russia, as well as emerging
powers such as China, are contributing to the securitization of Africa. The
intervention of these countries in the security sector in Africa is geared toward
achieving their strategic interests. It is therefore imperative for Africa to design
 1 AFRICA IN THE CHANGING GLOBAL ORDER … 19

a security strategy that can advance its interest in the international system.
The last paper in this section by Tola Odubajo examines Africa’s Transitional
Justice System in a Changing Global Order: Rwanda’s Gacaca Transitional
Justice System. He argues that contrary to the conventional justice system,
which is focused on the punishment of offenders, Rwanda’s Gacaca Transi-
tional Justice System, which is like the Truth and Reconciliation Commission
in South Africa, focuses on reconciliation and healing. This approach to justice
is recommended for fostering peace in post-conflict societies in Africa. Given
its rootedness in Africa, it is an example that other countries outside the
continent can adapt to resolving conflict situations.
The next section focuses on Africa’s contribution to global religions and
creativity. Taiwo Oladeji Adefisoye and Tolu Elizabeth Oladayo’s contribution
examines the role of music in Africa’s liberation. Drawing from historical and
contemporary experiences, they argue that music has been used as a means
of agitating for freedom in Africa. Using the case of Fela Anikulapo Kuti as a
point of departure, Kayode Olusegun Eesuola emphasizes the importance of
music as a means of pointing out the ills of society. Despite the repression from
the successive military government in Nigeria, Fela Kuti uses his Afrobeat to
protest maladministration, corruption, and misgovernance.
Religion is one of the most important areas in which Africa has made an
important contribution to the world in contemporary times. Religion not only
shapes politics, but it has also become an item of exports for many denom-
inations that started in Africa. In his contribution, James Kwateng-Yeboah
examines African Pentecostalism: Multiple Modernities and the Changing
Global Order. He argues that the Pentecostal brand of Christianity has so
much defining influence in African countries. Pastors and Prophets make
prophesies and predictions on election outcomes. Because of the large follow-
ership that many Pastors command, they have also become the dialing of
politicians who count their blessings and members, especially during elections.
He sees religion as a source of transformation and adaption to the changing
global order. He concludes that in terms of structural transformation, African
Pentecostalism apparently offers learning avenues for African governments on
how best to mobilize funds from their own populations through taxes using
the principles of reciprocity, accountability, and a sense of belonging. Rotimi
Omotoye builds on this line of argument. He uses the Redeemed Chris-
tian Church of God, which was founded in Nigeria, as a classic example of
how Africa is contributing to global revival. Christopher Changwe Nshimbi
and Leon Mwamba Tshimpaka examine the increasing influence of Pente-
costal pastors in politics in Africa. They argue that many pentecostal pastors
in Africa have moved beyond their original call to preach to being active in
politics through engagement with politicians. In her contribution, Abosede
Omowumi Babatunde argues that women have occupied spiritual spaces in
Africa, especially in precolonial times. Despite the prevalence of patriarchy
in African societies, women have demonstrated spiritual powers and, through
this, wielded much influence. Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju’s contribution on
20 S. O. OLORUNTOBA AND T. FALOLA

Spatial Navigation as a Hermeneutic Paradigm: Ifa, Heidegger, and Calvino

explicates Ifa as a form of knowledge that originated in Yoruba in South-
west Nigeria but is now practiced in different parts of the world. The last
paper in this section by Thompson and Lilian O. Ademu examines how Islam
and Christianity, which originated from the Middle East, shape the belief and
perception of Africans on the management of their health. They argue that
adherence to any of the two main religions, namely Islam and Christianity,
affects the ways in which people respond to orthodox medicine.
The last section of the handbook is on Africa and Global leadership. Chap-
ters in this section provide insights into how Africans have contributed to
various aspects of global leaders such as diplomacy and politics, literary works,
academics and public intellectualism, as well as business leadership. In each
of these thematic issues, Toyin Falola presents the creativity, resilience, and
versatility of Africans in shaping global affairs. Apart from the role of various
African countries at the United Nations through contribution to peacekeeping
operations, African citizens like Wole Soyinka and Chinua Achebe of Nigeria,
Ngugi wa Thiong’o of Kenya, among others, have made global impacts in
literature, with Wole Soyinka being the first Black African Nobel Prize Winner
in Literature. Africa has also produced intellectual giants that made a signifi-
cant contribution to knowledge in various fields of human endeavors. Among
the people in this category are Ali Mazrui, Kenneth Dike, Cheik Anta Diop,
Ade Ajayi, Paul Zeleza, Archie Majefe, Ado Boahen, Mahmood Mamdani,
and so on. While some of the leading African intellectuals performed the role
of organic intellectuals who speak truth to power, others were content to
work with the political establishments in their countries to further the agenda
of the ruling elites. The achievements of Africans in business were also put
into analytical perspectives. Contrary to the Eurocentric idea that capitalism
is alien to Africa, Falola shows that both in the past and in contemporary
times, Africans have engaged in businesses that generate capital and employ
millions of Africans. In the category of leading African business owners in
the twenty-first century are Patrice Mosepo, Aliko Dangote, Mo Ibrahim, and
James Mwangi, among others.
As Africa forges into the future, its relevance in the changing global order
will be determined by a lot of factors. These include building capacity for
political stability and nation-building, putting an end to the various conflicts,
building nuclear power, enhancing structural transformation of the economy,
creating jobs, building skills and technology, and promoting a higher level of
integration. The achievement of socio-economic transformation will provide
Africa with a stronger voice in international affairs. Lastly, Africa will need to
develop a coherent strategy of engagement with other countries in different
parts of the world in ways that trade, investment, and political relations serve
the aspirations and development agenda of the continent. For too long, Africa
has related with the other parts of the world in a subordinated position. As a
continent with over a 1.3billion people, which is projected to be well above
2billion by 2050, the human and natural resources of the continent predispose
 1 AFRICA IN THE CHANGING GLOBAL ORDER … 21

it to set the tone and tenor of engagement with other countries. In doing this,
the continent will need to maximize its interests and those of its peoples. The
natural endowment of Africa also predisposed it to play a more important role
in global affairs; in the changing global order.

Notes
1. Cheik Anta Diop, The African Origin of Civilization: Myth or Reality
(Toronto: Lawrence Hills Book: Lawrence Hill Book).
2. Walter Rodney, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (London: Verso, 1981).
3. Rodney Walter, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (London: Verso, 1981).
4. Walter Rodney, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (London: Verso, 1981).
5. Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni, Epistemic Freedom in Africa: Deprovincializa-
tion and Decolonization (London and New York: Routledge, 2018, Sabelo
J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni, ‘Genealogies of Coloniality and Implications for Africa’s
Development.’ (Africa Development, XL (3), 2015, pp. 13–40), Cheikh
Anta Diop’s book Towards the African Renaissance: Essays in Culture and
Development, 1946–1960 (New Jersey: Red Sea Press, 2000).
6. Fredrik Hegel, Philosophy of History, Trans J. Sibree, with Precfaces Charkas
Hegel (Ontario: Batoche Books, 2001).
7. Bernard Magubane, ‘The African Renaissance in Historical Perspective,’ in
W. Makgoba (ed.), African Renaissance (Sandton and Cape Town: Mafebe
and Tafelberg Publishing. 1999, 10–36) Samuel Oloruntoba, ‘Pan-Africanism,
Knowledge Production and the Third Liberation of Africa.’ (International
Journal of African Renaissance Studies, 10 (1), 2015, pp. 7–24).
8. Samuel Oloruntoba, ‘Social Sciences as Dependency: State apathy and the Crisis
of knowledge Production in Nigerian universities.’ (Social Dynamics, 40 (2),
2014, pp. 338–352).
9. Walter Rodney, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, Claude Ade, The Political
Economy of Africa (Dakar: CODESRIA, 2000).
10. Thandika Mkandawire, African Intellectuals Rethinking Politics, Language,
Gender and Development (Dakar: CODESRIA, 2005).
11. Mahmood Mamdani, The Dilemmas of Neo-Liberal Reform at Makerere
University, 1989–2005 (Dakar: CODESRIA, 2006).
12. Swapar Kumar Patra and Mammo Muche, ‘Science and Technological Building
in the Global South: India and South Africa in Comparative Perspectives,’
in Samuel Oloruntoba and Mammo Muchie (eds) Innovation, Regional
Integration and Development in Africa (Cham: Springer, 2019, pp. 303–336).
13. Ake 1979. Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni, ‘Global Coloniality and the Challenges
of Creating African Futures,’ in (Strategic Review for Southern Africa, 36 (2),
2014, pp. 181–202, Claude Ake, Social Science as Imperialism: The Theory of
Political Development, Ibadan: Ibadan University Press, 1979).
14. Ake Claude, The Political Economy of Africa (London: Longman, 1981).
15. Robinson, William, The Theory of Global Capitalism, Production, Class, and
State in a Transnational World (Baltmore and London. The Johns Hopkins
University Press, 2010).
16. United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, Assessing Regional Integra-
tion in Africa VIII , Addis Ababa: United Nations Economic Commission
for Africa (Addis Ababa: United Nations Economic Commission for Africa,
22 S. O. OLORUNTOBA AND T. FALOLA

2017). Robert Gibb, ‘Regional Integration and Development Trajectory: Meta-

theories, Expectations and Reality.’ (Third World Quarterly, 30 (4) (21), 2009,
pp. 701–721).
17. Ian Taylor, African Diversifying Dependence (London: James Curey, 2014).
18. Okonjo-Iweala, Reforming the Unreformable: Lessons from Nigeria (Cambridge,
MA: MIT Press, 2012).
19. Ian Taylor, Africa Rising? BRICS - Diversifying Dependency (London: James
Curey, 2014).
20. Oloruntoba, Samuel Ojo & Tsowou Komi, Afro-continental Free Trade Areas
and Industrialisation in Africa: Exploring Afro-Canadian Partnership for
Economic Development (Canadian Foreign Policy Journal, 25 (3), 2019,
pp. 237–240).
21. Toyin Falola, Nationalism and the African Intellectuals (Rochester: Rochester
University Press, 2004).
22. African Union.
23. Turse Nick, Pentagon Own Map of US Bases in Africa Contradicts Its Claim of
‘Light’ Footprint„ The Intercept, February 27. Available at: https://theinterc
ept.com/2020/02/27/africa-us-military-bases-africom/, accessed January 28,
2021.
24. Neethling Theo, September 15, 2020. Why Foreign Countries Are Scrambling
to Set Up Bases in Africa, The Conversation, available at: https://thecon
versation.com/why-foreign-countries-are-scrambling-to-set-up-bases-in-africa-
146032#:~:text=But%20there%20are%20other%20motivations,focus%20of%20r
ising%20global%20competition, accessed January 28, 2021.
25. Lala, p. 2.
26. Lala, p. 3.
27. PricewaterHouseCoopers n.d. Spotlight: The Nigerian Film Industry, avail-
able at: https://www.pwc.com/ng/en/publications/spotlight-the-nigerian-
film-industry.html, accessed January 29, 2021.
28. Zeleza, Paul Tiyambe. ‘African Diasporas: Toward a Global History.’ (African
Studies Review, 53 (1), 2010, pp. 1–19). Accessed March 26, 2021. http://
doi.org/10.2307/40863100., Oloruntoba, Samuel 2017.
29. Falola Toyin, The African Diaspora: Slavery, Modernity, and Globalization
(Boydell & Brewer, 2013).
30. Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni, ‘The Entrapment of Africa within Global Colo-
nial Matrices of Power: Eurocentrism, Coloniality and Deimperialization in
the Twenty-First Century.’ (Journal of Developing Societies, 29 (4), 2013,
pp. 331–353).
31. Sabelo Ndlobu-Gasheni, The Decolonial Mandela: Peace, Justice and the Politics
of Life (London: Benghan Books, 2016).
32. Nkrumah Kwame, Neocolonialism: The Lat stage of Imperialism (London:
Humanities Press Intl Inc, 1965).
33. Rugumanu Severine Globalisation and Development in Africa (Harare: African
Political Science Association Working Paper Series, 1999).
34. Okonjo-Iweala, Ngozi Reforming the Unreformable: Lessons from Nigeria
(Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2012).
35. Ian Taylor, Africa Rising? BRICS—Diversifying Dependency (London: James
Currey, 2014).
 Part I

Historical Foundations of Africa and the World

 CHAPTER 2

Africa’s Contributions to World Civilization

George M. Bob-Milliar

Introduction
In everyday discourses, the word ‘civilization’ is invoked to measure a
community’s level of scientific and technological innovations and inventions.
Nevertheless, a Euro-American conceptualization of civilization has come
to dominate the world. In its contemporary version, world civilization is
presented as being created and sustained by a particular superior human race.
All through human history, political, economic, technological and the scientific
superiority of communities has allowed them to claim a superior civilization.
This is problematic because there is no one world civilization, but the amal-
gamation of several civilizations that have emerged and declined in the course
of human evolution.
As a concept, civilization has been a subject of different definitions and
interpretations. Robert Cox traced the etymology of civilization to eighteenth-
century France. The concept of civilization emerged “as a process generating
the civilité associated initially with the status norms of the noblesse de robe in
the court of the monarchy; and later that particular development in French
society was expanded into a universalistic concept by the Revolution.”1 In the
French society a higher behavioural character different from the general popu-
lation was a character trait of the nobility. According to Alfred Kroeber and

G. M. Bob-Milliar (B)
Department of History and Political Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science
and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana
e-mail: [email protected]

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 25

Switzerland AG 2022
S. O. Oloruntoba and T. Falola (eds.), The Palgrave Handbook
of Africa and the Changing Global Order,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-77481-3_2
26 G. M. BOB-MILLIAR

Clyde Kluckhohn, the “word ‘civilization’ is derived from the Roman word for
‘city’, which implies a society involving cities, and cities involve people living
and acting together, jointly, cooperatively, interactively.”2 The authors, there-
fore, went further to define civilization as the “state of condition of persons
living and functioning together, jointly, cooperatively so that they produce and
experience the benefits of so living and functioning jointly and cooperatively.”3
Ruan Wei noted that in its organic sense, a “civilization is a way of thinking,
a set of beliefs, or a way of life.”4 The author sees “it is a spatio-temporal
continuum and a long-term dynamic structure.”5 Civilization “is the product
of the evolutionary process of humanity or a new phase in human evolution, in
which cities emerge, and urban ways of life begin to prevail.”6 An important
marker of a civilization in its early stage is the presence of a large popu-
lation and substantial land territory.7 In its growth trajectory, a civilization
will capture territories with significant populations and different socio-cultural
habits.8 Writing about the Shang civilization, Kwang-chih Chang stated that
a “civilization possesses a particular set of values” and “usually commands a
developed economy and fairly advanced sciences and technologies.”9
The concept of civilization in every sense denotes an advanced state in the
development of human society. Contributions to world civilization, therefore,
connote the efforts put up by the different human races towards making the
world moving from a primitive society to a more advanced human commu-
nity. Therefore, the natural progression of society suggests that every human
race on planet earth has at one point developed a sophisticated civilization
of its own which has contributed to world civilization. Nevertheless, black
Africans contributions to world civilization have been underplayed, ignored
and even denied by some western scholars because of the lack of inventiveness
of its communities.10 Yet, the accounts of early Europeans in Africa attested
to the existence of great civilizations. In 1502, the Portuguese traveler, Vasco
de Gama described a Swahili community as follows: “the city is large and is
of good buildings of stones and mortar with terraces…”11 In 1507, Duarte
Pacheco Pereira, the Portuguese Governor of São Jorge da Mina, described
the Yoruba kingdom of Ijebu as “a very large city.”12 The several accounts
of black African cities with innovations and inventions would change radically
in the course of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. European achieve-
ments in the emerging fields of science and technology became a yardstick to
measure civilization.
European writers such as the German philosopher, G. W. F. Hegel and the
British historian, Hugh Trevor-Roper, claimed that Africans had no history
before the advent of Europeans on the continent in the fifteenth century. They
referred to the land of the blacks as the “dark continent.” Hegel, for instance
in developing the philosophy of history contended that “the history of the
world only travels from East to West with Asia being the beginning of history
and Europe being the end of history,” and “that Africa is no historical part of
the world because it has no movement or development to exhibit.”13
Other documents randomly have
different content
 INTRODUCTION
Just when the art of weaving originated is an uncertainty, but there
seems to be a consensus of opinion among archæologists in general
that it was in existence earlier than the 24th century before Christ.
The first people which we have been able with certainty to associate
with this art were the ancient Egyptians. Monuments of ancient
Egypt and of Mesopotamia bear witness that the products of the
hand loom date a considerable time prior to 2400 B.C., and on the
tombs of Beni-Hassan are depicted women weaving rugs on looms
very much like those of the Orient at the present time. From ancient
literature we learn that the palaces of the Pharaohs were
ornamented with rugs; that the tomb of Cyrus, founder of the
ancient Persian monarchy, was covered with a Babylonian carpet and
that Cleopatra was carried into the presence of Cæsar wrapped in a
rug of the finest texture. Ovid vividly described the weaver's loom.
In Homer's Iliad we find these words: "Thus as he spoke he led
them in and placed on couches spread with purple carpets o'er." The
woman in the Proverbs of Solomon said, "I have woven my bed with
cords, I have covered it with painted tapestry from Egypt." Job said:
"My days are swifter than the weaver's shuttle and are spent without
hope." Other places in the Bible where reference is made to the art
of weaving are, Ex. 33, 35, Sam. 17, 7, and Isa. 38, 12. Besides
Biblical writers, Plautus, Scipio, Horace, Pliny and Josephus all speak
of rugs.
The Egyptian carpets were not made of the same material and
weave as are the so-called Oriental rugs of to-day. The pile surface
was not made by tying small tufts of wool upon the warp thread.
The Chinese seem to have been the first to have made rugs in this
way. Persia acquired the art from Babylon many centuries before
Christ, since which time she has held the foremost place as a rug
weaving nation.
There is no more fascinating study than that of Oriental rugs and
there are few hobbies that claim so absorbing a devotion. To the
connoisseur it proves a veritable enchantment: to the busy man a
mental salvation. He reads from his rugs the life history of both a
bygone and a living people. A fine rug ranks second to no other
creation as a work of art and although many of them are made by
semi-barbaric people, they possess rare artistic beauty of design and
execution to which the master hand of Time puts the finishing
touches. Each masterpiece has its individuality, no two being alike,
although each may be true in general to the family patterns, and
therein consists their enchantment. The longer you study them the
more they fascinate. Is it strange then that this wonderful
reproduction of colors appeals to connoisseurs and art lovers of
every country?
Were some of the antique or even the modern pieces endowed with
the gift of speech what wonderfully interesting stories they could tell
and yet to the connoisseur the history, so to speak, of many of these
gems of the Eastern loom is plainly legible in their weave, designs
and colors. The family or tribal legends worked out in the patterns,
the religious or ethical meaning of the blended colors, the death of a
weaver before the completion of his work, which is afterwards taken
up by another, the toil and privation of which every rug is witness,
are all matters of interest only to the student.
Americans have been far behind Europeans in recognizing the
artistic worth and the many other advantages of the Oriental rug
over any other kind. Twenty-five years ago few American homes
possessed even one. Since then a marked change in public taste has
taken place. All classes have become interested and, according to
their resources, have purchased them in a manner characteristic of
the American people, so that now some of the choicest gems in
existence have found a home in the United States. To what extent
this is true may be shown by the custom house statistics, which
prove that, even under a tariff of nearly 50 per cent., the annual
importation exceeds over five million dollars and New York City with
the possible exception of London has become the largest rug market
of the world. This importation will continue on even a larger scale
until the Orient is robbed of all its fabrics and the Persian rug will
have become a thing of the past.
Already the western demand has been so great that the dyes,
materials and quality of workmanship have greatly deteriorated and
the Orientals are even importing machine made rugs from Europe
for their own use. It therefore behooves us to cherish the Oriental
rugs now in our possession.
Both Europe and the United States are manufacturing artistic carpets
of a high degree of excellence, but they never have and never will
be able to produce any that will compare with those made in the
East. They may copy the designs and match the shades, to a certain
extent, but they lack the inspiration and the knack of blending, both
of which are combined in the Oriental product.
Only in a land where time is of little value and is not considered as
an equivalent to money, can such artistic perfection be brought
about.
PART I
 MESHED PRAYER RUG
Size 4' × 3'
FROM THE COLLECTION OF THE AUTHOR

Prayer rugs of this class are exceedingly rare. This is the only one the author has
ever seen. It is extremely fine in texture, having twenty-eight Senna knots to the
inch vertically and sixteen horizontally, making four hundred and forty-eight knots
to the square inch, tied so closely that it is quite difficult to separate the pile
sufficiently to see the wool or warp threads. The central field consists of the tree
of life in dark blue with red, blue and pink flowers upon a background of rich red.

The main border stripe carries the Herati design in dark blue and dark red upon a
pale blue ground on each side of which are narrow strips of pink carrying alternate
dots of red and blue.

(See page 209)

The Practical Book of
Oriental Rugs
 COST AND TARIFF
The value of an Oriental rug cannot be gauged by measurement any
more than can that of a fine painting; it depends upon the number
of knots to the square inch, the fineness of the material, the
richness and stability of its colors, the amount of detail in design, its
durability and, last but not least, its age. None of these qualifications
being at sight apparent to the novice, he is unable to make a fair
comparison of prices, as frequently rugs which appear to him to be
quite alike and equally valuable may be far apart in actual worth.
When we consider that from the time a rug leaves the weavers'
hands until it reaches the final buyer there are at least from five to
seven profits to pay besides the government tariffs thereon, it is no
wonder that the prices at times seem exorbitant. The transportation
charges amount to about ten cents per square foot. The Turkish
government levies one per cent. export duty and the heavily
protected United States levies forty per cent. ad valorem and ten
cents per square foot besides, all of which alone adds over fifty per
cent. to the original cost in America, and yet should we estimate the
work upon Oriental rugs by the American standard of wages they
would cost from ten to fifty times their present prices.
To furnish a home with Oriental rugs is not as expensive as it would
at first seem. They can be bought piece by piece at intervals, as
circumstances warrant, and when a room is once provided for it is
for all time, whereas the carpet account is one that is never closed.
In the United States good, durable Eastern rugs may be bought for
from sixty cents to ten dollars per square foot, and in England for
much less. Extremely choice pieces may run up to the thousands. At
the Marquand sale in New York City in 1902, a fifteenth century
Persian rug (10-10 x 6-1) was sold for $36,000, nearly $550 a
square foot. The holy carpet of the Mosque at Ardebil, woven at
Kashan in 1536 and now owned by the South Kensington Museum,
of London, is valued at $30,000. The famous hunting rug, which was
presented some years ago by the late Ex-Governor Ames of
Massachusetts to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, is said to have
cost $35,000. The late Mr. Yerkes of New York City paid $60,000 for
his "Holy Carpet," the highest price ever paid for a rug. Mr. J. P.
Morgan recently paid $17,000 for one 20 x 15. Two years ago H. C.
Frick paid $160,000 for eight small Persians, $20,000 apiece.
Senator Clark's collection cost $3,000,000, H. O. Havemeyer's
$250,000, and O. H. Payne's $200,000.
 THE METROPOLITAN ANIMAL RUG
BY COURTESY OF THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS
NEW YORK CITY
(See page 337)
Everything considered, the difference in cost per square foot
between the average Oriental and the home product amounts to
little in comparison to the difference in endurance. If one uses the
proper judgment in selecting, his money is much better spent when
invested in the former than when invested in the latter. While the
nap of the domestic is worn down to the warp the Oriental has been
improving in color and sheen as well as in value. This is due to the
fact that the Eastern product is made of the softest of wool and
treated with dyes which have stood the test of centuries and which
preserve the wool instead of destroying it as do the aniline dyes.
In comparing the cost of furnishing a home with Oriental rugs or
with carpets one should further take into consideration the fact that
with carpets much unnecessary floor space must be covered which
represents so much waste money. Also the question of health
involved in the use of carpets is a very serious one. They retain dust
and germs of all kinds and are taken up and cleaned, as a rule, but
once a year. With rugs the room is much more easily kept clean and
the furniture does not have to be moved whenever sweeping time
comes around.
 DEALERS AND AUCTIONS
Few Europeans or Americans penetrate to the interior markets of the
East where home-made rugs find their first sale. Agents of some of
the large importers have been sent over to collect rugs from families
or small factories and the tales of Oriental shrewdness and trickery
which they bring back are many and varied. We have in this country
many honest, reliable foreign dealers, but occasionally one meets
with one of the class above referred to. In dealing with such people
it is safe never to bid more than half and never to give over two-
thirds of the price they ask you. Also never show special preference
for any particular piece, otherwise you will be charged more for it.
No dealer or authority may lay claim to infallibility, but few of these
people have any adequate knowledge of their stock and are, as a
rule, uncertain authorities, excepting in those fabrics which come
from the vicinity of the province in which they lived. They buy their
stock in large quantities, usually by the bale at so much a square
foot, and then mark each according to their judgment so as to make
the bale average up well and pay a good profit. So it is that an
expert may occasionally select a choice piece at a bargain while the
novice usually pays more than the actual worth. Every rug has three
values, first the art value depending upon its colors and designs,
second the collector's value depending upon its rarity, and third the
utility value depending upon its durability. No dealer can buy rugs on
utility value alone and he who sells Oriental rugs very cheap usually
sells very cheap rugs.
It might be well right here to state that when rugs are sold by the
bale the wholesaler usually places a few good ones in the bale for
the purpose of disposing of the poor ones. Dealers can always find
an eager market for good rugs, but poor ones often go begging, and
in order to dispose of them the auction is resorted to. They are put
up under a bright reflected light which shows them off to the best
advantage; the bidder is allowed no opportunity for a thorough
examination and almost invariably there are present several fake
bidders. This you can prove to your own satisfaction by attending
some auction several days in succession and you will see the same
beautiful Tabriz bid off each time at a ridiculously low price, while
those that you actually see placed into the hands of the deliveryman
will average in price about the same as similar rugs at a retail store.
 KHORASAN CARPET
Size 14' × 10'
LOANED BY A. U. DILLEY & CO.
OWNER'S DESCRIPTION
An East Persian rug of especially heavy weave in robin egg blue, soft red and
cream.

Design: Serrated centre medallion, confined by broad blue corner bands and seven
border strips. A rug of elaborate conventionalized floral decoration, with a modern
rendition of Shah Abbas design in border.

(See page 207)

 ANTIQUES
The passion for antiques in this country has in the past been so
strong that rugs showing signs of hard wear, with ragged edges and
plenty of holes, were quite as salable as those which were perfect in
every respect and the amateur collector of so-called "antiques" was
usually an easy victim. Of late, however, the antique craze seems to
be dying out and the average buyer of to-day will select a perfect
modern fabric in preference to an imperfect antique one.
There is no question that age is an important factor in the beauty of
a rug and that an antique in a state of good preservation is much
more valuable than a modern fabric, especially to the collector, to
whom the latter has little value. In order to be classed as an antique
a rug should be at least fifty years old, having been made before the
introduction of aniline dyes. An expert can determine the age by the
method of weaving, the material used, the color combination, and
the design, with more certainty than can the art connoisseur tell the
age of certain European pictures, to which he assigns dates by their
peculiarities in style. Every time a design is copied it undergoes
some slight change until, perhaps, the original design is lost. This
modification of designs also affords great assistance in determining
their age. In the Tiffany studios in New York City can be seen a
series of Feraghan rugs showing the change in design for several
generations.
As a rule more knowledge concerning the age of a rug can be
obtained from the colors and the materials employed than from the
designs. An antique appears light and glossy when the nap runs
from you, whereas it will appear dark and rich but without lustre
when viewed from the other end. Such rugs are usually more or less
shiny on the back and their edges are either somewhat ragged or
have been overcast anew.
With the exception of a few rare old pieces which may be found in
the palaces of rulers and certain noblemen, the Orient has been
pretty well stripped of its antiques. Mr. Charles Quill Jones, who has
made three trips through the Orient in search of old rugs, reports
that region nearly bare of gems. During his last sojourn in those
parts he has succeeded in collecting a considerable number of
valuable pieces, but his success may be attributed to the poverty
and disruption of households occasioned by the losses of the recent
revolution in Persia. As especially rare he writes of having secured
five pieces which were made during the reign of Shah Abbas in the
16th century. In England, France, Germany, Russia, Austria, Poland,
and especially Bavaria, there are many fine old pieces, those of
London, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, and Budapest being particularly
noteworthy. The Rothschild collection in Paris contains many
matchless pieces and the Ardebil Mosque carpet, which is in the
South Kensington Museum, London, is without doubt the most
famous piece of weaving in the world. According to the inscription
upon it, it was woven by Maksoud, the slave of the Holy Place of
Kashan, in 1536. It measures thirty-four feet by seventeen feet six
inches and contains 32,000,000 knots. No doubt there are more
good genuine antiques in Europe and America than in the entire
Orient. They are to be found, as a rule, in museums and in private
collections. A number of really old and very valuable pieces may be
seen at the Metropolitan Museum of Fine Arts in New York City. The
Yerkes collection of Oriental rugs, which has recently been disposed
of at public sale by the American Art Galleries, contained nothing but
Polish fabrics and Persian carpets of royal origin, made at some early
date prior to the seventeenth century. Some of the most prominent
collectors of the United States are Mr. J. Pierpont Morgan of New
York City, who has one of the most valuable collections in the world;
Mr. H. C. Frick of Pittsburg, Pa., Miss A. L. Pease of Hartford, Conn.,
Mr. C. F. Williams of Morristown, Pa., the Hon. W. A. Clark and Mr.
Benjamin Altman of New York City, Mr. Theodore M. Davis of
Newport, R. I., Mr. Frank Loftus, Mr. F. A. Turner and Mr. L. A.
Shortell of Boston; Mr. J. F. Ballard of St. Louis and Mr. P. A. B.
Widener of Elkins Park, Pa. The late Ex-Governor Ames of
Massachusetts was an enthusiastic collector and possessed many
fine pieces.
The late A. T. Sinclair of Allston, Mass., possessed over one hundred
and fifty antiques, which he himself collected over twenty years ago
from the various districts of Persia, Asia Minor, the Caucasus,
Turkestan, and Beluchistan. Many of these pieces are from one
hundred and fifty to two hundred and fifty years old and every one
is a gem.
A PERSIAN RUG MERCHANT
 EXPERT WEAVER AND INSPECTOR

With the exception of an occasional old Ghiordes, Kulah, Bergama or

Mosul, for which are asked fabulous prices, few antiques can now be
found for sale. It is on account of the enormous prices which
antiques bring that faked antiques have found their way into the
market. Rugs may be artificially aged but never without detriment to
them. The aging process is mostly done by cunning adepts in Persia
or Constantinople before they are exported, although in recent years
the doctoring process has been practised to quite an extent in the
United States, and a large portion of the undoctored rugs which
reach these shores are soon afterwards put through this process.
The majority of dealers will tell you that there is comparatively little
sale for the undoctored pieces. The chemically subdued tones and
artificial sheen appeal to most people who know little about Oriental
rugs.
For toning down the bright colors they use chloride of lime, oxalic
acid or lemon juice; for giving them an old appearance they use
coffee grounds, and for the creation of an artificial sheen or lustre
the rugs are usually run between hot rollers after the application of
glycerine or paraffin wax; they are sometimes buried in the ground
for a time, and water color paints are frequently used to restore the
color in spots where the acid has acted too vigorously. Such rugs
usually show a slight tinge of pink in the white.
There is a class of modern rugs of good quality, good material, and
vegetable dyed, but with colors too bright for Occidental taste. Such
rugs are sometimes treated with water, acid, and alkali. The effect of
the acid is here neutralized by the alkali in such a way that the
colors are rendered more subdued and mellow in tone without
resulting injury to the material.
What the trade speaks of as a "washed" rug is not necessarily a
"doctored" one. There is a legitimate form of washing which is really
a finishing process and which does not injure the fabric. It merely
washes out the surplus color and sets the rest. The belief that only
aniline dyes will rub off when wet and that vegetable ones will not
do so is erroneous. If a rug is new and never has been washed the
case is quite the opposite. For the reader's own satisfaction, let him
moisten and rub a piece of domestic carpet. He will find that the
aniline of the latter fabric is comparatively fast, whereas, in a newly
made vegetable dyed Oriental, certain colors, especially the blues,
reds and greens, will wipe off to a certain extent. After this first
washing out, however, nothing other than a chemical will disturb the
vegetable color.
 SARUK RUG
Size 14' × 10'
LOANED BY A. U. DILLEY & CO.
OWNER'S DESCRIPTION
The field: Three fawn and blue flower colored medallions and four arabesques in a
line arrangement on a rose-colored background, strewn with garlands.

The border: One broad stripe, carrying elaborate floral sprays and arabesques,
separated by four elongated corner designs in blue.

An elegant combination of brilliant color and ornate floral design. Cotton

foundation and wool pile.

(See page 200)

 ADVICE TO BUYERS
No set of rules can be furnished which will fully protect purchasers
against deception. It is well, however, for one, before purchasing, to
acquire some knowledge of the characteristics of the most common
varieties as well as of the different means employed in examining
them.
In the first place, avoid dealers who fail to mark their goods in plain
figures. Be on the safe side and go to a reliable house with an
established reputation. They will not ask you fancy prices. If it is in a
department store be sure you deal with some one who is regularly
connected with the Oriental rug department. You would never dream
of buying a piano of one who knows nothing of music. So many
domestic rugs copy Oriental patterns that many uninformed people
cannot tell the difference. The following are some of the
characteristics of the Eastern fabrics which are not possessed by the
Western ones. First, they show their whole pattern and color in
detail on the back side; second, the pile is composed of rows of
distinctly tied knots, which are made plainly visible by separating it;
third, the sides are either overcast with colored wool or have a
narrow selvage; and fourth, the ends have either a selvage or fringe
or both.
In buying, first select what pleases you in size, color, and design,
then take time and go over it as thoroughly as a horseman would
over a horse which he contemplates buying. Lift it to test the weight.
Oriental rugs are much heavier in proportion to their size than are
the domestics. See if it lies straight and flat on the floor and has no
folds. Crookedness detracts much from its value. Take hold of the
centre and pull it up into a sort of cone shape. If compactly woven it
will stand alone just as a piece of good silk will. Examine the pile and
see whether it is long, short or worn in places down to the warp
threads; whether it lies down as in loosely woven rugs or stands up
nearly straight as in closely woven rugs; also note the number of
knots to the square inch and whether or not they are firmly tied. The
wearing qualities depend upon the length of the pile and the
compactness of weaving. Separate the pile, noting whether the wool
is of the same color but of a deeper shade near the knot than it is
on the surface or if it is of an entirely different color. Vegetable dyes
usually fade to lighter shades of the original color, while anilines fade
to different colors, one or another of the dyes used in combination
entirely disappearing at times and others remaining. This will also be
noticeable, to a certain extent, when one end of the fabric is turned
over and the two sides are compared. Two rugs may be almost
exactly alike in every respect excepting the dye, the one being worth
ten to fifteen times as much as the other.
A good way to test the material is to slightly burn its surface with a
match, thus producing a black spot. If the wool is good the singed
part can be brushed off without leaving the slightest trace of the
burn. The smell of the burnt wool will also easily be recognized.
Ascertain the relative strength of the material, making sure that the
warp is the heaviest and strongest, the pile next and the woof the
lightest. If the warp is lighter than the pile it will break easily or if
the warp is light and the weaving loose it will pucker. Rugs whose
foundation threads are dry and rotten from age are worthless. In
such pieces the woof threads, which are the lightest, will break in
seams along the line of the warp when slightly twisted.
Examine the selvage. It will often indicate the method of its
manufacture, showing whether it is closely or loosely woven, for the
selvage is a continuation of the groundwork of the rug itself. Also
notice the material, whether of hair, wool or cotton. Separate the
pile and examine the woof, noting the number of threads between
each row of knots. If possible pull one of them out. In the cheaper
grade of rugs you will often find two strands of cotton and one of
wool twisted together. Such rugs are very likely some time to bunch
up, especially if washed. See if the selvage or warp threads on the
sides are broken in places. If so it would be an unwise choice. Now
turn the rug over and view it from the back, noting whether repairs
have been made and, if so, to what extent. View it from the back
with the light shining into the pile to see if there are any moths. Pat
it and knock out the dust. In some instances you will be surprised
how thoroughly impregnated it will be with the dust of many lands
and how much more attractive the colors are after such a patting.
Rub your hand over the surface with the nap. If the wool is of a fine
quality a feeling of electric smoothness will result, such as is
experienced when stroking the back of a cat in cold weather.
Finally, before coming to a decision regarding its purchase, have it
sent to your home for a few days. There you can study it more
leisurely and may get an idea as to whether or not you would soon
tire of the designs or colors. While you have it there do not forget to
take soap, water and a stiff brush and scrub well some portion of it,
selecting a part where some bright color such as green, blue or red
joins a white. After the rug has thoroughly dried notice whether or
not the white has taken any of the other colors. If so, they are
aniline.
 BERGAMA PRAYER RUG
Size 3'8" × 2'7"
PROPERTY OF MR. GEORGE BAUSCH
(See page 237)
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