The Black Man's Burden : Africa and the Curse of the Nation-State

Rating:
Summary: So-So Political Science, Unfocused Overall
Review: According to the list at the beginning of this book, Basil Davidson has written almost 30 books on African politics and society, and he has studied these topics for decades, so he definitely knows what he's talking about. Unfortunately he knows even more about Eastern Europe, which he can't stop talking about (much to this book's detriment); and he gets himself into trouble by approaching areas that he's clearly not strong in, like cultural anthropology. Hence, Davidson takes a subject in which he could have written an authoritative masterpiece, and delivers a rambling, unfocused mess instead.

Davidson tries to present past events and their influence on the current world, which requires distinct and chronological history writing, but this is a failure as he keeps jumping around from ancient to modern times with no rhyme or reason. He also tries to tie the ancient beliefs and customs of African peoples to their success, or lack thereof, in modern nation building, but he doesn't know enough about cultural anthropology to do much more than frustratingly skirt this interesting concept. And the biggest blunder in this book is Davidson's refusal to directly address the most commonly accepted theory that political scientists use to describe Africa's current problems. This would be the stipulation that the national borders in Africa don't make any sense, and are leftovers from old colonial partitions. Many ethnic groups are spread across multiple "nations," peoples within the same national borders often hate each other, and people are often more closely allied to their kinsmen in other countries instead of other peoples in their own nation. This explains why most African nations are a mess, because these "countries" are only accepted as entities by the outside world, and not by the people living in them. Davidson states early in the book that this phenomenon is irrelevant to discussions of current African politics. But he still can't help coming back to this theory again and again, such as in his discussions of social processes in Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, and Liberia. Instead, he dwells on the unconvincing argument that the problem is caused by Europe-inspired political models used in the nation-building process.

Davidson spends at least half of this book trying to define the term "nation-state," as opposed to "country" or "nation." There are some important nuances between these terms, especially for political science, but taking so much time to cover them is unnecessary. In his discussion of the historical development of African nation-states, Davidson inexplicably forgets to mention Ethiopia and their King Haile Selassie. This nation was the only African state within thousands of miles to remain intact and non-European during the colonial period. Ethiopia would be enormously relevant to this discussion. Most irritatingly, chapters 5 and 9 (one-fifth of the book) are entirely about Europe. Here Davidson tries to amaze us with his knowledge of European history to endlessly draw weak comparisons to nation-state processes in Africa. These two chapters only contain a few useless non-sequiturs to remind you that you're reading a book about Africa. A much more useful comparison would be with independence movements in Latin America, but apparently Davidson only avoids that area so he doesn't have to do more research into it.

Rating:
Summary: Basil is Background
Review: As a student in African Studies, I read Black Man's Burden as a way to expand my background in Africa's history. I found Davidson's book to be quite informative, filled with interesting facts and right-on analyses of many African issues Though there was a slow period around the middle, Davidson provides a source of knowledge on Africa that couls be useful for anyone interested in the continent, its challenges and hopes for the future.

Rating:
Summary: Fine book from one of the leading historians of Africa
Review: In "The Black Man's Burden: Africa and the Curse of the Nation-State" Basil Davidson argues that indigenous African societies were developing into nation-states much as Europe had during the last few centuries, and that colonialism -- far from being necessary for people who could not govern themselves -- actually fouled up everything. This book focuses mostly on Africa in the 20th century, which, for most of the continent saw the last decades of colonialism and first decades of independence. Davidson draws on lessons learned over a lifetime to describe the nation-state both in Africa and Europe (a surprising amount of the book describes the advent of the European nation-state). He also describes many personal experiences from decades spent studying Africa. This is one of many fine books by one of the 20th century's best historians.

Rating:
Summary: Summation of a career?
Review: Is this Basil Davidson's summation of his career? If it is, he can be proud that he brought to life aspects of history that, for generations, was left either buried, or unsaid. This book is an excellent analysis of post colonial Africa that is accessable to the main stream reader and to the person who is also already versed in aspects of African history.

Rating:
Summary: Great to understand Africa's road to salvation
Review: Maybe like the Israelites of old who had to wander for forty years before entering the promised land to shake off the servitude to Pharaoh mentality, African's will need many years after "independence" to shake off the colonized minds. Great book and should be read along with Franzt Fanons "The wretched of the Earth" to get a better understanding. As Albayruni said "The colonized trys to immitate the colonizer". Dashed hopes, disappointing "leaders" and continued interference has been the fate of Africa and Davidson gets to the very root of the crisis. It is one of confidence and will, resulting in Africans reviving the colonial state in indeginous garb.

Rating:
Summary: Great to understand Africa's road to salvation
Review: Maybe like the Israelites of old who had to wander for forty years before entering the promised land to shake off the servitude to Pharaoh mentality, African's will need many years after "independence" to shake off the colonized minds. Great book and should be read along with Franzt Fanons "The wretched of the Earth" to get a better understanding. As Albayruni said "The colonized trys to immitate the colonizer". Dashed hopes, disappointing "leaders" and continued interference has been the fate of Africa and Davidson gets to the very root of the crisis. It is one of confidence and will, resulting in Africans reviving the colonial state in indeginous garb.

Rating:
Summary: The most respect
Review: Truly,one of the greatest historians in living memory.This is an analogy of where the african continent has been and is going.

Rating:
Summary: Too long with not enough to say...
Review: While I am certain that this book's author knows what he's talking about when it comes to African history, I still found a lot missing from this book. Every page seems to say the same basic statement (just with different words): Africa was told it had to deny its history if it wanted to be "civilized." I certainly agree with this statement, but I didn't have to see it written on virtually EVERY page. I think that an account of the African people and their personal struggles would have been a much better read. C+