Africa Must Be Modern: A Manifesto

256 Pages·2014·1.202 MB·English

by  Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò (Olufemi Taiwo)

Africa Must Be Modern
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Africa Must Be Modern
A Manifesto
Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò
IndIana UnIversIty Press
BloomIngton & IndIanaPolIs
This book is a publication of
Indiana University Press
Office of Scholarly Publishing
Herman B Wells Library 350
1320 East 10th Street
Bloomington, Indiana 47405 USA
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Africa Must Be Modern: The Modern Imperative in Contemporary Africa,
A Manifesto © 2011 by Olúfémi Táíwò. Publishing rights licensed from
˙
the original publisher, BOOKCRAFT LTD, Ibadan, Nigeria.
© 2014 by Olúfémi Táíwò
˙
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval
system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The Association of American
University Presses’ Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only exception to this prohibition.
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence
of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48–1992.
Manufactured in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Olúfémi Táíwò
˙
Africa must be modern : a manifesto/ Olúfémi Táíwò—U.S. edition.
˙
pages cm.—
Originally published: Ibadan, Nigeria : Bookcraft, 2011.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-0-253-01272-2 (cloth : alk. paper)—ISBN 978-0-253-01275-3 (pbk : alk.
paper)—ISBN 978-0-253-01278-4 (ebook) 1. Civilization, Modern. 2. Philosophy,
African. 3. Africa—Civilization. 4. Africa—Economic policy. 5. Africa—Social conditions.
6. Africa—Social life and customs. 7. Africa—Politics and government. I. Title.
DT14 .T343 2014
960.33—dc23
2013039900
1 2 3 4 5 19 18 17 16 15 14
For
Adéyínká Táíwò
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Contents
Preface to the U.S. Edition ix
Acknowledgments xix
Introduction xxiii
One Why Africa Must Get on Board
the Modernity Express 1
Two The Sticky Problem of Individualism 33
Three The Knowledge Society and Its Rewards 79
Four Count, Measure, and Count Again 119
Five Process, Not Outcome: Why Trusting
Your Leader, Godfather, Ethnic Group,
or Chief May Not Best Secure
Your Advantage 153
Six Against the Philosophy of Limits:
Installing a Culture of Hope 185
Index 219
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Preface to the U.S. Edition
I am gratified that this little book is being republished for
the North American audience after its original publica-
tion in Nigeria by a Nigerian publisher. Its publication in
Nigeria fulfilled my original plan for the book as it began
to take shape. My objective was to open a dialogue with
African interlocutors who know the terrain of which this
book treats quite intimately and who can easily, without
translation, find their lives—personal, professional, cul-
tural, political—reflected in the case that it makes. That
it was a Nigerian publisher who put the book out was the
luck of the draw for me: all I wanted was to put it out in
the African continent.
In addition to the need for a conversation with
my fellow African labourers in the search for lasting solu-
tions to Africa’s multifarious problems, I was also con-
cerned that this not become another exile product, easily