There are two common ways of writing about Africa, says Célestin Monga. One way blames Africa’s ills on the continent’s history of exploitation and oppression. The other way blames Africans themselves for failing to rise above poisonous national prejudices and resentments. But patronizing caricatures that reduce Africans to either victims or slackers do not get us very far in understanding the complexities and paradoxes of Africa today.
A searching, often searing, meditation on ways of living in modern Africa, Nihilism and Negritude dispels the stereotypes that cloud how outsiders view the continent―and how Africans sometimes view themselves. In the role of a traveler-philosopher, Monga seeks to register “the picturesque absurdity of daily life” in his native Cameroon and across the continent. Whether navigating the chaotic choreography of street traffic or discoursing on the philosophy of café menus, he illuminates the patterns of reasoning behind everyday behaviors and offers new interpretations of what some observers have misunderstood as Africans’ resigned acceptance of suffering and violence.
Monga does not wish to revive Negritude, the once-influential movement that sought to identify and celebrate allegedly unique African values. Rather, he seeks to show how daily life and thought―witnessed in dance and music, sensual pleasure and bodily experience, faith and mourning―reflect a form of nihilism developed to cope with chaos, poverty, and oppression. This is not the nihilism of despair, Monga insists, but the determination to find meaning and even joy in a life that would otherwise seem absurd.

Nihilism and Negritude: Ways of Living in Africa

Politics & Social Sciences

Monga, Célestin

Philosophy

Harvard University Press

How poor countries can ignite economic growth without waiting for global action or the creation of ideal local conditions
Contrary to conventional wisdom, countries that ignite a process of rapid economic growth almost always do so while lacking what experts say are the essential preconditions for development, such as good infrastructure and institutions. In Beating the Odds, two of the world's leading development economists begin with this paradox to explain what is wrong with mainstream development thinking―and to offer a practical blueprint for moving poor countries out of the low-income trap regardless of their circumstances.
Justin Yifu Lin, the former chief economist of the World Bank, and Célestin Monga, the chief economist of the African Development Bank, propose a development strategy that encourages poor countries to leap directly into the global economy by building industrial parks and export-processing zones linked to global markets. Countries can leverage these zones to attract light manufacturing from more advanced economies, as East Asian countries did in the 1960s and China did in the 1980s. By attracting foreign investment and firms, poor countries can improve their trade logistics, increase the knowledge and skills of local entrepreneurs, gain the confidence of international buyers, and gradually make local firms competitive. This strategy is already being used with great success in Vietnam, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Mauritius, Ethiopia, Rwanda, and other countries. And the strategy need not be limited to traditional manufacturing but can also include agriculture, the service sector, and other activities.
Beating the Odds shows how poor countries can ignite growth without waiting for global action or the creation of ideal local conditions.

Beating the Odds: Jump-Starting Developing Countries

Business & Money

LIN, JUSTIN YIFU

Economics

Princeton University Press

How poor countries can ignite economic growth without waiting for global action or the creation of ideal local conditions
Countries that ignite a process of rapid economic growth almost always do so while lacking what experts say are the essential preconditions for development, such as good infrastructure and institutions. In Beating the Odds, two of the world's leading development economists begin with this paradox to explain what is wrong with mainstream development thinking―and to offer a practical blueprint for moving poor countries out of the low-income trap regardless of their circumstances.

The Anthropology of Anger: Civil Society and Democracy in Africa

Many scholars argue that ongoing democratisation in Africa is doomed to fail because political reforms have been imposed by external donors; others challenge the roots of the current changes. This work believes that both views are wrong, as Africa has a long tradition of indigenous activism.

Anthropology

Lynne Rienner Pub

Cet essai présente des visions africaines de l’art de vivre, non pas sous une étiquette exotique mais en invitant le lecteur à cheminer à travers les modes d’invention de l’amour-propre, les conceptions du bonheur, les labyrinthes de la morale, les mystères de l’esthétique musicale, les dédales de la foi religieuse, les dilemmes de la violence ou la philosophie de la mort.L’ouvrage n’a cependant rien d’un traité dogmatique. Il restitue les imaginaires de l’Afrique actuelle, de l’absurdité pittoresque de la vie quotidienne à l’économie politique du mariage, de la philosophie des menus et des manières de table aux usages du corps. Ce fourmillement d’histoires et d’idées illustre diverses formes de nihilisme et de négritude et esquisse l’hypothèse d’une éthique du mal.

Nihilisme et négritude: Les arts de vivre en Afrique

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Monga, Célestin. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Monga, Célestin

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Monga, Célestin. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Nihilism and Negritude: Ways of Living in Africa

Beating the Odds: Jump-Starting Developing Countries

Beating the Odds: Jump-Starting Developing Countries

The Anthropology of Anger: Civil Society and Democracy in Africa

The Anthropology of Anger: Civil Society and Democracy in Africa

Nihilisme et négritude: Les arts de vivre en Afrique