RFC 106: Essential Elements of Africa’s Development
Final Exam Revision Guide
This examination consists of 3 parts. You are required to
answer five short answer questions in Part I and two essay questions from Part
II (one each from Sections A and B respectively).
PART I. – Possible Short Answer Terms (Final
Exam Will Have 8 of these 12)
Select five of the following terms and write short
descriptions (a paragraph or two) for each. Use specific and factual
information to support your answer.
Short
Answer Questions- 4 points each, 20 points total
African Independent Schools, acting against the useless provision of technical education, the African
schools though pegged with many problems managed to offer better education than
the missionaries as this schools taught math and English the mission schools
emphasized agriculture, crafts & rudimentary industrial education. Were
formed between 1900 and 1933,many formed from break aways of the mission
schools.
Alexandria Museum and Library
It was established
in the third century B.C. in Egypt. It grew to become the
largest center of
learning in the ancient world. The complex is estimated to
have housed more
than 200,000 volumes, and supported up to 5,000 scholars
and students.
Clearly, this was a large research institution, and many of the
leading Egyptian and
other African as well as Greek, Roman, and Jewish
scholars of the
ancient world studied or worked there at some point in their
lives.
Austerity measures
Carbon Trading- Form of emissions trading that specifically targets carbon dioxide
(calculated in tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent or tCO2e), This form of
permit trading is a common method countries utilize in order to meet their
obligations specified by the Kyoto Protocol; namely the reduction of carbon
emissions in an attempt to reduce (mitigate) future climate change. This is
where the major polluters namely large industrial company buy carbon credits so
that they may be allowed to continue polluting the atmosphere, it affects
agriculture negatively as it makes the climate unfavourable , thus in many area
without climate resilient agriculture a negative decrease in yields is noted.
Dare to invent the future. This was the name given to an interview between the late captain Sankara
and a reporter where he urged that Africans should dare to invent the future, their
own future, which is not controlled by the whites, our own future without debt
(foreign debt) the only way to achieve this was through hardwork and sacrifice,
in order focus to emancipate ourselves we need to accept that we are poor, thus
we need to get rid of all the unnecessary spending, in order to save the local
cloth industry and some money it was suggested that civil servants must wear
uniform, it was emphasized that we also do away with exorbitant salaries to
public officials, and that if the president is a captain he should receive a
captains salary, if a minister is a teacher then he should receive a teachers
pay, when delegates travel overseas they shouldn’t fly first class nor
shouldn’t they sleep in 5 star hotels.
Gender Stratification; Gender stratification: The unequal distribution of wealth, power, and
privilege between men and women, has been there since time immemorial
Leave the oil in the ground
This is the campaign
started by Oilwatch international that unites civil society organisations to
push for the international obligations of states to not extract earths minerals
such as oil, the slogan goes keep the oil in the soil, the coal in the hole,
since its mining affects the environment and ultimately ruining the climate.
An early example of
Oilwatch’s activism is the case of Yasuni ITT, pioneered by Accion Ecologica Ecuador’s forests sit above extensive, yet
unplundered oil reserves, with the Yasuni National Park being one of the most
bio-diverse spots on our planet Oilwatch
deepened the campaign to ‘Keep the Oil in the Soil’ in order to preserve Yasuni
and resist oil exploitation Ecuador
is now asking the international community to compensate the country in exchange
for keeping the oil below ground
Nationalization of land and natural resources
A principle tenet of
socialism that states that since the land belongs to the nation, the Government
has to see to it that it is being used for the benefit of the whole nation and
not for the benefit of one individual or just a few people. (Nyererep.13)
Oligopoly, is
a market form in which a market or industry is dominated by a small number of
sellers (Oligopolists). Oligopolies can result from various forms of collusion
which reduce competition and lead to higher costs for consumers.
Principle tenets of Capitalism
Individualism
Endless Accumulation
of property
Exploitation of human
labour
Private property
Structural Adjustment Programs
Removing Trade
Barriers: Free Markets, FTAs, Liberalizing the economy .
Privatization of
State industries and Public Services: PPPs.
Double standards on
subsidies and incentives to farmers: PL480.
Banning production
of generic HIV/AIDS drugs: Global Pharmaceuticals and Aid
Trade Liberalization, this is the supposed opening up of trade or
the better of human kind by removing tariffs and trade barriers to enable easy
international trade which always results in killing local industries rivatex,
PART II. – Possible Essay Questions (Final
Exam Will Have 4 out of these 6)
You MUST answer the essay question in Section
A. There is no choice in this Section. In Section B, you may
choose any one (1) essay question to answer. You must write two (2) essays in total. Be certain to
utilise specific and factual information to support your answers. The more
specific evidence you offer to support your argument, the better. Do
write in complete sentences. A well developed answer should be approximately
one page of a foolscap. Essay Questions- 20 points each, 40 points total
Sections A & B
1.
Discuss
three ways in which colonial education was deliberately used as an ideological
tool for domination and thus, a weapon for under-developing Africa.
Ø Colonial
education as a tool for cultural imperialism, an effective method of domination
is to make the dominated believe that they have no culture and thus adopt the
oppressors culture, this made Christianity an integral process of the
curriculum as it was used to denounce African cultures as heathen and satanic .
Africans still practicing their customs were kicked out of this mission
schools, Oginga Odinga wrote that the mission schools products were clerks,
secretaries and messengers (subservient positions) for the colonial government
Religious
instruction wasn’t the only subject used, lessons in geography, history and
civics, emphasized European cultures and white supremacy and how they struggled
in a bid to civilize Africans ( lies such as that the white man ended tribal
war as if it is not he who propagated tribalism by making us compete for scarce
resources after a successful divide and rule policy)
African
Communities richness in oral culture had no room in colonial education, at
games time they played soccer and volleyball whereas during literature classes
they sung London bridge is burning down. Colonial education was simply
education for underdevelopment.
Ø Racialized and disproportionate allocation of
educational resources
The
African population that constituted 97 % got 40% of the educational funding
whereas the Europeans who were 1% got 33% of the educational funding, it is
stated that there luxury standards of European schools had long surpassed
British standards,This has a lingering legacy that is carried out up to today
as a result people send their children to upcountry schools with the thought
that they will work because of the tough conditions rather than inspite of the
difficulties,whereas a child in England studies without difficulties and to the
maximum number possible thus this puts our education levels subservient to
theres, our numbers less as usual.
Ø Language
and Curriculum of Colonial education
Highly
technical as according to the 1926 Department of Education Annual Report it
states that the African mind in Kenya has reached the sense perception stage
hence had not developed reasoning faculties for literary education.
It
was only until 1935 that literary education was introduced to African but even
then it entailed the Rote memorization and the banking concept of teaching,
where students in this system are “ ‘receptacles’ ” that are to be “
‘filled’ ” with the “content of the teachers narration”.(Freire, 1) These
“receptacles” are expected to regurgitate information given in class, on tests,
quizzes, and anything that requires an answer that is “word for word” what the
teacher says. In a banking classroom, the teacher is the authority
and the students are oppressed. Freire writes, “The more students work at
storing deposits entrusted to them, the less they develop the critical consciousness
which would result from their intervention in the world as transformers of that
world.
Education
was used as a tool for cultural suppression because it showed the Africa that
he had no culture, no achievements in his history and was just pegged with
afro-pessimism, to be noted was the emphasis put on religious instruction as it
made a submissive, peaceful African out of men.
Ø Rigorous
Examinations for Africans
Common
Entrance Exam (C.E.E.) class 4, exceptionally hard out of 40 pupils only 5 or
even none made it.
Kenya
African Preliminary Examination (K.A.P.E.) class 7
The
hard exams are continued to this day some are K.C.S.E and K.C.P.E, result being
that the majority of people fail and only those who pass get good jobs in the
end and are a t a greater market value, this education only makes as have black
skins white masks because even content wise we study more European things than
African, we study his Story hence portraying us as subservient to him, this
makes some have a greater market value than others, Mwalimu Nyerere is of the
view that anyone who has a market value
is a slave/Commodity.
In
the alternative of what education should do and what its not doing is;
i.
Re-humanize Africans and reclaim their
dignity
ii.
Contextualizing African education:
problem-solving education
iii.
Pursuing African Nationalism and
Pan-Africanism
2. Define unfair trade and discuss the
four weapons of unfair trade employed in Africa and other underdeveloped
regions.
A. Dependency
on Primary Product Exports
.
According to the UN Conference on Trade in Development, in 2003 a dozen African
countries were dependent upon a single commodity for exports, including crude
petroleum (Angola 92 percent, Congo 57 per cent, Gabon 70 per cent, Nigeria 96
per cent)
Challenges
of Primary Product Exports
·
High levels of price volatility
·
Downward price trends for many natural
resources
·
Production is highly capital-intensive
·
It offers low incentives for educational
investments
·
Disincentive against industrialization
and manufacturing.
·
Manufactured goods are more valuable in
the world market
B.
Trade Liberalization
·
Removing tariffs and other barriers to
“Free Trade.”
·
Killing infant industries: Rivatex,
·
Loss of manufacturing jobs
·
Privatization
·
Double standards on subsidies
C.
Foreign Direct Investment
Under
colonialism the ownership was complete and backed by military domination.
Today, in many African countries the foreign ownership is still present,
although the armies and flags of foreign powers have been removed. So long as
foreigners own land, mines, factories, banks, insurance companies, means of
transportation, newspapers, power stations, etc. then for so long will the
wealth of Africa flow outwards into the hands of those elements
The
ills of FDI
·
Ecological Debt: Depletion of natural
resources and dumping of toxic wastes (Poison Fire)
·
Privatization: Telkom Kenya Experience
with Orange
D.
Bio-piracy
A
2005 study commissioned by the Edmonds Institute and African Centre for
Biosafety identified nearly three dozen cases of African resources captured by
firms for resale without adequate ‘access and benefit sharing’ agreements
between producers and the people who first used the natural products. The
values expropriated are impossible to calculate but easily run into billions of
dollars. They include a diabetes drug produced by a Kenyan microbe; a
Libyan/Ethiopian treatment for diabetes; antibiotics from a Gambian termite
hill; an antifungal from a Namibian giraffe; an infection-fighting amoeba from
Mauritius; a Congo (Brazzaville) treatment for impotence; vaccines from Egyptian
microbes; multipurpose medicinal plants from the Horn of Africa
3.
Analyze
the validity of the three theories offered to explain the colonial conquest of
Africa and show which one is the most convincing.
Economic Theory
Industrial Revolution and the need for
raw materials: Capitalist Exploitation
Psychological Theories
Social Darwinism
Evangelical Christianity
Social Atavism
Diplomatic Theories
National Prestige
Balance of Power
Global Strategy
4. Analyzing the four principle tenets
of capitalism, explain why it is ill-advised for African governments to
privatize public services as a strategy for development.
Ø Individualism
Ø Private
Property
Ø Endless
Accumulation of capital. Accumulation by dispossession.
Ø Unlimited
exploitation of humans and nature.
5.
Discuss
four market-based solutions to climate change and show why they are not real
solutions to the problem.
Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)
we are
now seeing granddaughters such as
the Reducing Emissions from
Deforestation and Forest
Degradation (REDD). A number of father
and mother mechanisms fall in
between, dealing with one carbon
off-setting mechanism or the other.
The most plausible concept
behind these market mechanisms is
that they provide the basis
for private sector investment in
efforts to tackle climate change.
Less subtly put, these mechanisms
provide opportunities for the
private sector to control the pace
and nature of projects allegedly
designed to tackle climate change,
but which in reality advantage
vested interests while allowing
primary corporate polluters to
evade accountability.
6.
Define
patriarchy and elaborate on how it contributes to gender discrimination in
various social spheres, including the corporate world, religious circles,
academic institutions, legal systems, and family relations.
Patriarchy: A social system of
power relations that privileges males and masculinity over females and
femininity.
A. Sexual
and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV)
a. Capitalism and deformed masculinity
b. Gubernatorial Slap
c. Rape: The Story of Liz
-January to May 2013, 338 reported
rape cases in Kenya
- More than 25% of South African
men admit to raping
-48 women raped in Eastern DRC
every hour
- ONE IN THREE WOMEN ON THE PLANET
WILL BE RAPED OR BEATEN IN HER LIFETIME.THAT IS ONE BILLION WOMEN. (1 Billion
rising campaign)
B. .
The Sexual Objectification of women
In
news T.V anchors, Models, magazines, Music videos, HipHop, Prostitution
C. Racism
and women’s bodies
Ø Eurocentric
standards of beauty and the market
Ø Pain
and the pursuit of beauty
Ø Indian
example (beauty products that makes private parts white)
D. Religion
and Gender Politics
Ø Moral
double standards: The story of Amina
Lawal.
Ø The
silencing and subordination of women
E. State
and Gender Politics
Ø .
Matrimonial Property Bill
Ø b.
Women: The most affected by underdevelopment
F.
Gender and the Politics of Reproductive Health
Ø
Women and Contraceptives
Ø
Marginalization and access to sanitary towels
G.
In the Corporate world, the most number of bosses are
men, in order for women to make it in the corporate world they are forced to
become aggressive, manlike creating her into a female king, rather than being a
queen and appreciating her significance, furthermore the women who have made it
the corporate world are stigmatized against as men are intimidated by them
hence many end up not married
H.
Family relations, at home the woman has been
domesticated according to the Victorian woman whose work is to just stay at
home pop babies and take care of the homestead they have been pulled out of
active production.
I.
Academic institutions, in the onset of colonialism due
to patriarchy girls stayed at home, thus many boys were sent to school at the
expense of the girl because the girl was going to get married, this resulted in
lesser numbers of the female gender being educated and to date the majority of
scholars in academic institutions mostly public are men and not women.
J.
Legal systems, Kenya has never had a female chief
justice, nor has it ever had a female attorney general,
