"Africa? It Won't Develop!"

The locations I resided and traveled to in rural Africa often contrast greatly with the more and more common thesis of the "Africa Rising" narrative that is growing prominent in some quarters of popular media and academic world. While some stories of "strange" everyday behaviors of rural Tanzanian population can be laughed off as novel or amusing, more serious topics of corruption, careless government spending, and other real obstacles to economic developments cannot be dismissed lightly. In a continent that has dramatically fallen behind nations of Asia that were equally impoverished mere decades ago, to avoid digging into the reasons for such is equivalent to burying any possibilities of an African nation achieving developed status.
But critical words are often a tiny minority when it comes to discussions among foreigners residing in this part of rural Tanzanian. The vast majority of discussions on African failings here fall into two categories. The first is the "blindly dismissive," a group of supposed Africa know-it-alls who have no qualms about launching sweeping generalizations with "Africa will never develop because..." Any nuance about the difference in histories and institutions among different African states are ignored. Their rants often sound more like complaints of their own dissatisfaction with their African experiences than helpful insights for others.

The second is the "overly idealistic" narrative. By putting enormous emphasis on Africa's suffering in the hands of colonists, never mind the fact that Asia and South America also suffered similarly, people in this group talk on the presumption that it is ludicrous to expect any African state to make it to the "developed" world within their own lifetimes. Moreover, the same people often also hold the view that Africa should not go down the same route of development as today's developed world should, citing overt materialism, ecological damages, and other socioeconomic issues from "back home" as something Africa can avoid.

For both of these groups, Africa exists merely as a caricature rather than a real place with real aspirations to perceived as economic equals to the rest of the world. For the first group, Africa is an enigmatic black hole where the worst of human behaviors assert themselves. For the second, it is a place where human issues pale in comparison to the unspoilt and overwhelming natural beauty that should not be altered. Both would agree that despite any external efforts to spur human and economic developments, it is simply ridiculous to expect an East Asian-style economic miracle occurring anytime soon anywhere on the African continent.

It goes without saying that such a black-and-white attitude among foreigners on the ground is definitely not helpful for Africa's future economic growth. The unfortunate reality is that foreigners residing in places like rural Tanzania are seen as experts on the continent in their home countries when it comes to analyzing Africa's current issues, because they reside on the continents for years, interacting with local populations and institutions daily, and come to understand the culture firsthand to see how they affect development. They are seen to be in a position to give genuinely objective assessments as they are not emotionally attached to the continent, making them less likely to be defensive to its failings.

Perhaps even more unfortunately, many more "thorough" analyses of Africa's developmental issues are authored by bookworm academics, "developmental experts," and professional analysts who either have never or have not for a long time lived on the continent. Their words and advice depend too much on academic theories, third-hand observations, or past personal experiences, most of which quickly become outdated and irrelevant in the ever-changing economic and political conditions of different African states. These are people who have even less than biased foreign residents in Africa when it comes to the understanding of the continent.

For the sake of truly developing Africa, it is time for non-Africans in Africa to step up their game in analyzing the continent. Tossing away their one-sided, idealistic biases of the place would be a great first step in achieving true objectiveness in their observation. Without non-Africans living in Africa being more objective and precise about analyzing what are needed to move African countries into the developed world, a "developed African country" may not exist, neither in the current lifetimes of the continent's residents nor in future ones.

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