by Moussa P. Blimpo (the author is a Ph.D. candidate in Economics at NYU from Togo.)
A prominent university professor in the US goes back to his home country in Africa with his American Master’s student who wanted to get some field experience. The professor is unable to schedule a meeting with a key political leader whereas the student does get a meeting with the African leader.
Last summer, in a heated discussion with some friends and graduate students at the University of Lome in Togo, a pre-doctoral student says: I need to find a white guy on my committee.
In 2000 when I got to France to start college, I asked to take one year of prerequisite courses before I started the normal 4-year math degree because I believed that my high school diploma from Togo was not on par with the French equivalent. Fortunately my brother attended the same university and he convinced me then that we actually cover more materials in Togo than the French.
By and large, it seems that Africans have a negative bias toward their own capability and the aptitudes and that of other Africans. This bias is present at all level of the African society. There are many possible explanations for this:
- It seems to most that white people made most modern scientific advancements and discoveries in human history and this is subconsciously promoted through our normal schooling.
- A rational choice and statistical discrimination: Given the rampant corruption and the resulting mediocrity of the decision makers and the servants, any foreigner is de facto assumed to be able to do better.
- Legacy of slavery and or colonization: Just as recent research has suggested a relation between trust and slavery, it is likely that many other social attitudes and perceptions persist.
- The continued presence of the predominantly white aid workers and the importance and attention given to them by the leaders. Local scholars are marginalized in favor of westerners who work under the banner of the international organizations. For example, it is much easier for any World Bank consultant to meet with and to be listened to by a minister or to appear on national tv in Africa than professors in African universities.
This attitude could be a big impediment to the much-needed innovation in African societies. Spreading technologies is great in that it avoids reinventing the wheel. But in my view, many innovations respond to contextual needs and demands. Therefore, homegrown innovations to solve day-to-day challenges are a must to development. My view is that point 2 and 4 are the dominant. Readers’ thoughts are welcome.
9 Comments
For me point 1 is the important and the result of colonization. Most French I know still talk about the good side of colonization like the school curriculum, obviously glorifying their own heroes and discoveries…
As for point 4, this is because governments do not want to empower local professors by putting them on TV. This would create potential competition. Better to empower foreign aid workers who are part of the milk cow…
Point 3 makes no sense to me…Nathan Nunn’s paper is not convincing
Do you know of any scholarly or other published work about this? Something along the lines of points 1 and 4 is going to feature in my dissertation, based on my own experience in Kenya, but it would be great to have some references.
Mousa,
Most of my experience is with eastern Africans (Kenya, Sudan, etc.) and South Africans, many of them the product of the typical public schools in their area.
I think what you are suggesting is troubling to those of us who are rooting for African solutions to African challenges, but I think it is a reality. I could provide you many examples of what you observe, but here’s one recent: Why did my American nurse (and only foreign worker) get the Minister of Health to promise free vaccines (to an NGO) when my (indigenous) doctor could not, even with multiple requests?
That being said, I’ve also seen indigenous people get commitments/meetings that outsiders could not. I could probably give one example of this for every two of the other. As a result, I think we need to be careful not to take anecdotal evidence too far.
Regardless of which (or all) of these are the cause of the problem, what do you think is the solution or is there no “magic pill”?
Mousa
I think you are confusing two things:
1. Racism, discrimination and profiling on the basis of skin color and
2. Conditional on skin color, discrimination for being African (by African leaders).
and confounding another:
3. Money
In your hypothesis 4, what if World Bank consultant is an African? Does he get discriminated against the counter-factual black or white consultant?
Similarly, African leaders may discriminate on the basis of money – white NGO workers typically represent larger budgets so leaders more willing to talk to them. Again, conditional on resources, does an African NGO worker get discriminated?
Also, there is so-called positive discrimination, where Africans are more likely to be hired by international and US organizations, ceteris paribus.
And African government officials discriminate against white Africans or otherwise in terms of business concessions, for historic reasons or otherwise.
My point: Whereas it is important to document discrimination – and there is evidence of that – as well as overcome any sense of inferiority, I don’t think therein lies the root of Africa’s problems. My sense is African empowerment has been tried before (noirisme, etc.)
Perhaps your point is it has not been tried hard enough, but we know where that takes us.
Hypothetically I don’t think making all the world’s population black (and/or African), would solve Africa’s problems.
I do however feel that Africans would pull themselves up from their bootstraps if only the aid industry and African leaders allowed them.
Tim:
I think this is a challenging problem that has also been shown to turn up in the United States. Children of African heritage, in the US, if given two dolls, one white, one black, are more likely to chose the white doll, because they see it as “superior”. I also noticed this problem on a recent trip to Nicaragua while visiting a “poor” high school. The students in the high schools there were learning more information than was taught in my high schools. Yet many of them believed they would not be able to succeed at a US colleges. This caused them to not even apply and settle for Universities in their own country that were not ranked as favorably. The challenge is a growth problem in many ways since the better off a country is the easier it is to find many examples of people of your own heritage succeeding and therefore implanting the idea you can succeed.
This phenomenon is real and a serious barrier to development. The author forgot to add that another factor which exacerbates the problem, is that Africa’s best and brightest achievers often emigrate (because it is difficult for bright, honest people without political connections to advance) and potential positive role models are lost.
Social processes tend to be path-dependent and self-replicating. Most of Africa’s interaction with Westerners have not been as equals. The presence of a White person in Africa is a powerful symbol of power and wealth.
Most Africans, if given a chance, would leave. In such a setting, friendship with a Westerner or an African living abroad could be a person’s contact to the outside world and a possible means of “getting out”. Normally, locals do not have such leverage. It would be rational then to be deferential to the one from whom one could more easily benefit.
I also agree with 1 & 4. In the early 2000′s, I went to the hospital in Monrovia with a root canal. There were two dentists – a Nigerian guy and a light skinned Indian/Pakistani (south asian). He looked white. I chose the White looking guy, because his skin color indicated competence to me. He ended up smashing my tooth in my mouth and for 2 weeks I was taking out shards of my broken tooth. It became infected and required a more expensive procedure. I later found out that the Nigerian was the most competent dentist in all of Liberia. Go figure.
Excelent topic.
I think that, ceteribus paribus, everytime, the most politically incorrect explanation is the less emphasized, but the more explicative.
the four point have two alternative explanations: either innate inferiority or cultural inferiority of africans.
the first is the default explanation, because it appeals to intuition for people with no anthropological, historical or evolutionary knowledge, and this is 99.99% of the total population. Because this is deeply politically incorrect, many people use the second explanation.
The fact is that, according with all this knowledge the first is incorrect, and the second is the correct explanation. This should be made public and common sense, so africans can recover his self esteem, and do whatever the can to fix the cultural problems, , something that the developed worl has spent thounsands of years on, with no inferiority complex and knowing that there are no easy shotcuts.
But the contrary happens indeed. Extreme political correctness rules, and tend to promote the idea that “all cultures are equal”, that is, the second is also politically incorrect.
This indeed reinforces the alternate, racist explanation, because, if cultures are equal, people are not. At the same time, it blocks some necesary cultural changes.
This is the shit that political correctness is promoting.
Anway, for your comfort, this problem is not african nor racist in nature. This inferiority complex happens all around the world and in the frist world too, whenever a nation is richer that other.
French feel so with Americans, Spanish with French, protuguese with spanish. Although not as acute, i know that some of these discriminations happens whenever people of a richer country gets promoted easier than the natives. Race just make this more sharp.