African Perspectives on Colonialism, by Albert Adu Boahen. The John Hopkins University

Press: Baltlimore, 1987. 133 pages. Reviewed by Siyaduma Biniza*.

Introduction

I chose Albert Adu Boahen’s African Perspectives on Colonialism because of its relevance

to the Third World Politics course. This book analyses various cases in Africa’s history

explicating many concepts dealt with in Third World Politics like imperialism,

colonialism and decolonisation. Furthermore, this book deals with economic and

political development, nationalism and ethnicity which are also integral to the course’s

analysis of the “Third World”. Moreover, this book is important because it offers an

African perspective on the colonial experience in Africa, which is mostly disregarded or

absent in the academic body of work dealing with the subject.

So this critical book review analyses Boahen’s main thesis and whether the book

convincingly achieves his aims. Thus the review is divided into four sections which deal

with: a brief background on the author and his previous work, the purpose and focus of

his book, a chapter-specific summary of his argument, and finally a critical review of the

book in general and its main thesis. Therefore the purpose of this review is to present

Boahen’s argument, his development of it, and analyse its merits and short-comings.

It is important to note that African Perspective on Colonialism is Boahen’s attempt a

synthesis of various published journals, anthologies and books; most of which comes

from a seminal volume in the UNESCO General History of Africa which was edited by

Boahen.

Background

Boahen was a Professor of History at the University of Ghana and also served as the

President of the UNESCO International Scientific Committee for the Drafting of a

General History of Africa. He has written many published books and articles, some of

which include: Topics in West African History; Britain, the Sahara, and Western Sudan,

1788-1861; and Ghana: Evolution and Change in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

(Boahen, 1987).

African Perspectives on Colonialism is a publication of the edited lectures Boahen

presented as part of the James S. Schouler lecture series at the John Hopkins University.

Boahen intends to offer an Afrocentric perspective on colonialism African as an

academic response to the predominantly Eurocentric perspective in the scholarly body

of work on the subject. He challenges the view that colonialism has had a positive net

effect on Africa.

His main thesis is that, given the colonial powers’ economic and political influence, the

colonial powers ought to have contributed more towards Africa’s development; and

that the colonial era in African history will be remembered for its unattained potential,

the ruthless exploitation of Africa’s natural resources, and the net underdevelopment

and humiliation of African people (Boahen, 1987).

Boahen focuses on how Africans viewed colonialism, the initiatives and responses to

the colonial challenge, and the reactions to the systematic contradictions of

colonialism (Boahen, 1987).

Summary

The Eve of the Colonial Conquest and Occupation

In this opening chapter Boahen analyses the economic, political, social and intellectual

dynamics on the African continent during the eve of colonialism. He argues that the

abolishment of slavery posed a new threat for the African economy. This challenge was

dealt with through a transformation of the Africa’s trade towards a goods economy

that allowed for more equitable distribution of wealth because the traded goods were

openly accessible to all even in the rural areas (Boahen, 1987). And although there had

not been much integration of Africa’s trade before internally, at the end of the

nineteenth century, three trade systems emerged in the North and West African

regions spreading into Central Africa which started the process of cultural, linguistic

and social unification (Boahen, 1987).

These changes led to further spreading of Christianity which had previously been

limited to coastal regions and the major trade routes. Boahen argues that the spread of

Christianity through missionaries led to improvements in some of the converted

Africans’ standard of living which made them feel contemptuous towards their

traditional way of life (Boahen, 1987). And he asserts that missionaries and the spread

of Christianity brought about religious pluralism and ideas that polarised many of the

populations which lead to considerable social upheaval (Boahen, 1987). This led to an

intellectual revolution which resulting in the emergence of Ethiopianism, Pan-

Africanism, and Africanism that were all responses to the racist doctrines introduced by

the spread of Christianity (Boahen, 1987). These are the changes that Africa faced in the

eve of colonialism.

Thus, Boahen concludes that “Africa was in a mood of change and revolution,

accepting new challenges, showing ability at adaptation and modification, fighting

against racist doctrines, and above all changing its economy and politics to suit the

socioeconomic realities of the day” (Boahen, 1987: 23).

The Imposition of the Colonial System: Initiatives and Responses

Boahen opens this chapter with an argument against the prominent view that Europe

colonised Africa for exclusively economic or political reasons. He argues that neither of

these arguments is convincing or adequate because “it was not economic conditions

and especially the need to invest surplus capital alone that gave rise to the new

imperialist spirit of Europe … [and that] political and social conditions were equally

important” (Boahen, 1987: 29). Thus, Boahen asserts that it was the competitiveness of

the international trade, led by Britain naval expansion, along with the industrial

revolution that led many European countries to search for markets and natural

resources to monopolise, and the “need to invest the surplus capital that was being

generated by the capitalist system of production” (Boahen, 1987: 30), which were the

key economic drivers of colonialism. Along with these economic conditions, Boahen

asserts that the rise in nationalism amongst the newly developed countries of Europe,

as well as the need to establish colonies to accommodate the surplus labour and

unemployed workforce resulting from industrial capitalism, which ultimately led to

colonialism (Boahen, 1987).

Boahen then analyses the African initiatives and responses by examining various case

studies characterising the responses into three categories: confrontation, diplomacy,

and a hybrid response. He argues that, aside from the social and intellectual division of

the African population which influenced their reactions to the imposition of

colonialism, the various stages of the colonial process warranted unique reactions at

every stage as well (Boahen, 1987: 35).

Lastly, Boahen spends some time dispelling the Eurocentric notion of African rulers as

being “collaborators” to the process of colonialism. He argues that evidence shows that

those leaders who formed alliances with imperial powers did so to safeguard their

sovereignty as opposed to personal gain or furthering the colonialists’ interests

(Boahen, 1987). Finally, Boahen concludes that “Africans did not readily surrender their

sovereignty but, rather, resorted to all possible measures to defend it [but] failed

except Ethiopia and Liberia” (Boahen, 1987: 56).

The Operation of the Colonial System

Since colonialism was largely motivated by economic-driven exploitation of raw

materials to catalyse the expansion of capitalism and the European industrialism; most

of the colonies were forced to grow one or two cash crops which resulted in neglecting

food production and import-substitution (Boahen, 1987). Additionally, expatriate firms

were encouraged to export natural resources and given unlimited opportunities to

import manufactured goods from the metropolitan countries (Boahen, 1987). This

resulted in the exclusion of Africans from all trade activities (Boahen, 1987). Thus, as

Boahen concludes, the nature of the colonial was that of complete exploitation of

African natural resources and labour for the sole benefit of the imperial powers and

expatriate companies which monopolised all industries (Boahen, 1987:).

The Colonial Impact

Finally, Boahen examines the colonial impact to conclude that the negative

consequences of colonialism far outweigh the positives. He considers the resulting

peace and order that followed the periods of immense violence which came with the

imposition as a positive (Boahen, 1987). Then the creation of national states is another

positive although this had mostly negative consequences of unfair distribution of

resources and arbitrary division of ethnic groups and tribes that once lives together in

African empire states (Boahen, 1987). Furthermore, Africa benefited from the

introduction of bureaucratic and judicial institutions and hospitals; although these

were solely created to benefit expatriate settlers in the colonies (Boahen, 1987). In

addition, Boahen considers the unintended creation of African nationalism, economic

expansion and infrastructural development of colonies amongst some of the

contentious positives of colonialism (Boahen, 1987).

On the other hand Boahen argues that the loss of sovereignty, as a result of

colonialism, meant the complete loss of African self-determination in the continent’s

path towards modernisation and development. Boahen argues that this is “one of the

fundamental causes of [Africa’s] underdevelopment and technological backwardness”

(Boahen, 1987: 100). Moreover, since all the economic expansion and infrastructural

development was made to facilitate the exploitation and extraction of natural

resources for the sole benefit of colonial powers; these developments did not take any

needs of the colonies into consideration thus industrialisation of colonies was

completely neglected (Boahen, 1987). Furthermore, the concentration of cash crops

and exploitation of raw materials neglected the internal economy of colonies,

especially in the production of food for domestic consumption, resulting in heavy

reliance on imports from the metropolitan states leading to the demise of inter-African

trade (Boahen, 1987). In addition, the monetary policies in the colonies meant that they

were deeply entrenched in an economic imperialism which encouraged all expatriate

companies and banks to repatriate surplus capital to metropolitan states instead of

reinvesting in the colonies (Boahen, 1987).

Lastly, Boahen argues that this mixture of political and economic condition had dire

social and psychological consequence for Africans; some of which include a colonial

mentality that condemns all things African, flamboyant life-styles, especially amongst

the elite and businessmen, and a deep-seated inferiority complexity that is attributable

to the colonial powers’ interventions in education and religion (Boahen, 1987). In

conclusion, Baohen claims that it’s not that colonialism “did not do anything for Africa,

but that it did so little and that little so accidentally and indirectly … that such a

relatively small number of Africans [got] to the top” (1987: 109).

Critical Review

Boahen is quite successful at reaching what he sets out to do in his thesis. He makes

prudent use of sources and case studies making a well-structured and concise yet in-

depth survey of African history to back his argument. His argument draws from many

different case studies and sources; so he does not examine the history of colonialism

from any one perspective exclusively making his argument unbiased. Furthermore,

Boahen is willing admit that colonialism attained some positive consequence for Africa

even though these consequences were unintended and accidentally achieved while

pursuing European interests. Moreover, his standpoint offers a well-balanced optimism

that is absent in most historical accounts of Africa’s colonial experience (Lonsdale,

1988).

However, methodologically, his synthesis of such a large volume of academic works has

two major short-comings. Firstly, his synthesis relies heavily on the concept of

resistance as an analytical framework in his analysis of colonialism (Ferguson, 1990). He

thus collapses all the various responses to colonialism into one homogenous response

of resistance. This does not allow for the analysis of contradicting responses within the

subject population. For example, he dispels the view of African leaders as collaborators

with colonialism, and asserts that their “collaboration” with colonialist powers was in

expedience for sovereignty and independence (Boahen, 1987). But he barely deals with

any contradicting reactions to the resistance against colonialism; except for the

Christian converts whom he discusses briefly in relation to the overarching framework

of resistance.

Secondly, because Boahen’s framework of resistance cannot deal with the colonial

period in its entirety, he is forced to pick those sources which he thinks to be most

adequate making his analysis is eclectic (Ferguson, 1990). The diversity of sources

results in Boahen being unable to capture and express the essence of the various

sources’ specific analyses. As Ferguson (1990) notes, this does not allow Boahen to

convince his reader that he has adequate understanding of the specific source’s

analysis and the concepts involved in the various analyses. This leads him into the trap

of turning analytic concepts into descriptive concepts. For example, his description of

Africa’s economic integration into the world system of capitalism takes the modern-

day’s single export economies as a habitual result of colonialism instead of it being a

result of African integration into the global economy (Ferguson, 1990). But considering

that Boahen’s synthesis covers extensive arguments from many theorists like Lenin,

Hobson, Robinson, W. Rodney, and T. B. Kabwegyere, which cannot be fully covered in

the scope of the book, his work is necessarily cryptic (Harris, 1989). Notwithstanding,

these methodological short-comings do not hinder Boahen from justifying his thesis.

But his aim of offering an Afrocentric perspective remains questionable. Boahen is

aimed at offering an African perspective to Africa’s history of colonialism which based

on the premise that the scholarly body of work on the subject is written from a

predominantly Eurocentric perspective. However, although his synthesis draws from a

variety of sources, his conclusion is not far from some of European scholars such as

Messrs Gann and Duignan whom Boahen criticises for their seeming defence of

colonialism (Kirk-Greene, 1991).

This highlights the questionable notion that, as an African scholar, his view is distinctly

African. Thus his perspective heavily undermined by the dominant academic body of

work that grounds his synthesis. Furthermore, as proposed by Le Vine (1993), if what is

important for an African perspective is the fact that Africans are the subject instead of

being the object of analysis, is an Afrocentric perspective from non-African scholar

equally valid? Moreover, 15 out of 35 contributors to the seminal volume of the

UNESCO General History of Africa are English, American, Belgian, Caribbean, and French.

But this does not say much about what Boahen considers to be integral in an Afro-

centric perspective, even though it expresses who Boahen considers valid in this regard

(Le Vine, 1993).

So Boahen does not help in differentiating the real difference between a Eurocentric

and Afrocentric perspective of colonialism. He does not fully overcome the challenge of

asserting an African perspective without drawing from a neo-Leninist or Hobsonian

economic perspective of colonialism (Le Vine, 1993). This makes Boahen’s conclusion

indistinguishable from the Eurocentric scholars, which undermines his aims, and

questions the merit and significance of his Afrocentric perspective. Nevertheless

perhaps what Boahen succeeds in doing, which the other prominent scholars have

failed in doing, is taking an unpretentious or unbiased examination of the history of

colonialism in Africa.

Therefore, although Boahen does not clearly assist the reader in discerning an

Afrocentric perspective of colonialism, he assists the reader in the realisation that there

are potentially many different perspectives influencing the academic and historical

accounts of colonialism. And that a history written by Africans does not qualify as a

history that offers a distinctly African perspective per se. Moreover, his thesis brings

across an important note that the opposing consequences of colonialism are not

balanced and that the negative consequences outweigh the positive. And, even

though this might not have been Boahen’s intention, his work goes a long way in

showing that a history that takes both Afrocentric and Eurocentric perspectives into

account offers a less biased and fair analysis of the colonial experience (Le Vine, 1993).

In conclusion, all things considered, this book is an adequate synthesis of vast

academic literature on colonialism and it highlights the importance of perspective in

historical accounts in literature. Boahen also successfully challenges the predominant

perspectives on colonialism, its impact and the literature on the colonial experience. In

addition, although his methodology has short-comings this does not diminish the

merits of Boahen’s aims and thesis. The greatest merit of this book, aside from the

acknowledgement of the lack of African scholarly work on colonialism, is Boahen

detailed and rigourous argument and thesis; which adequately shows that the negative

consequences far outweigh the positive consequence that were mostly accidental and

unintended by the colonial powers. However, given the perspective and conclusions of

some of the scholars Boahen bases his argument on; perhaps he should have been

more conservative in his use of these sources or drawn from other authors with the

same aims as his.

Bibliography

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Retrieved August 22, 2012, from EBSCOhost.

Boahen, A. A., 1987. African Perspectives on Colonialism. 1st Edition. Baltimore:

John Hopkins University Press.

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http://www.jstor.org/stable/2168387.

Ferguson, E., 1990. African Perspectives on Colonialism by A. Adu Boahen, The

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14, 2012, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/219358.

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http://www.jstor.org/stable/1906498.

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from http://www.jstor.org/stable/573252.

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http://www.jstor.org/stable/3820215.

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* Siyaduma Biniza is currently a final-year student at the University of Cape Town

studying towards a B.Soc.Sci in Politics, Philosophy and Economics.