African Studies Series 2021

African Studies Series

Here on this blog I will be answering several questions that include:

(1) Where am I local?

(2) What happened in Sudan 2021?

(3) What does it mean to empower?

( 4 ) What possible competitions have emerged from the Scramble for Africa?

( 5 ) What is the global impact of The Cocoa Trade in Cote d’Ivoire?

( 6 ) Can Africa return to previous traditions?

My intended goal of my African Studies Series is to enlighten, educate, and interpret western misconceptions and perceptions of Africa. While ensuring quality content, I attempt to break down historical stereotypes with modern presumptions of African Countries, Africans and Africa as a continent.

Where Am I Local?

If someone were to ask you, where are you from? What would your response be? I would start of by saying I’m from Indy born and raised; but specifically, my home is in a suburb on the north east side. This only gives perspective of my physically inhabitance, it has nothing to do with who I am as a person. 

Taiye Selasi is a woman who contested this question. Career wise Selasi has dove headfirst into the life of Afropolitans and what that means. Furthermore, she posed this new question where are you local? She broke down the differences in asking “where are you from?” and “where are you local?” The difference lies within the intention not more so the specificity. When asking where you are from? One can be playing a game of power intentionally or unintentionally. The power grab for people can be unintentional and harmless but once it become intentional it is malicious. It quickly transitions to why are you here? The responses to this question vary from “London but was raises in Toronto and born in Accra” or “Lagos but grew up in Houston, Texas”. The “but” breaks the statement into fragments, making it an inflexible statement. Though altering a response, given by Selasi, “I’m a local of Lagos and Berlin” where the “and” joins the two-world making them into one, it can’t be denied. Where you are from can result in mutually exclusive categorical responses.

Selasi dissects locality into three R’s rituals, the relationship and restrictions which can all form through one human experience. The human experience is distracted from the restrictions of the place. Locality exhibits experiences, not inhabitance. I’m from Indy but really, I’d be local to Richmond Virginia, Orlando, Florida, or Bloomington. I played lacrosse all across the nation, visiting the same place year after year tying myself to the locality of Richmond and Orlando, where rituals included eating at the same restaurants and building upon the relationships made with other teams. Furthering, I’m local to Indy but more specifically with my relationships to the homeless community shelters scatter across the city, or the families and kids at Miracle Place. I am local to Bloomington where I find myself gaining educational and experienced based knowledge through course and connections across the city. Here I have developed into a person that I respect, love and want to see do purposeful work for the good of others. I am tied to Little 500, as student athlete I’ve remain dedicated, self-motivated and organized in my agenda. My experiences have shaped my locality to which I am grateful. I’m Gretchen Reeves, I’m local to Indy, Miracle Place, Bloomington and Little 500.  

What Happened In Sudan 2021?

In order to understand the Coup in Sudan, you must understand that coups stem from regime vulnerability; the Sudan Coup is no different.

Rewind to 17 months ago to when the Sudanese people revolt against the reigning 30 year president Omar a-Bashir and won. The ICC accuses a-Bashir for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. The Sudanese were visibly unsatisfied with his intention to remain president for another term, he left power nearly the same way he gained power. The military ended up turning on his authority and aligning with the people. The goal of this revolution was to give power to the people, keep the governance out of military hands. Sudan had been in a transitional period with the civilian-military administration which was intended to be completely transitioned to the civilian administration in less than a month from now. 

To no one’s surprise, the military authorities were dissatisfied with the regime change. Though hardly had any indication of intentions to arm a military coup. Shortly before the coup was underway, Jerffery Feltman, the United States diplomat to the Horn of Africa sat with both the Army chief Lt. Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and civilians prime minister Abdalla Hamdok discussing the 2-year shift in democracy. The New York Times recounted with Nureldin Satti, Sudan’s ambassador to the United States, when he said that “they lied to him. This is very serious, because when you lie to the U.S., you have to pay the consequences.”[i] Gen. al-Burhan took control, place the nation in a state of emergency and is now in works to govern Sudan with military administration. The Sovereign Council recently put in place is comprised of the country’s transitional government, not the civilian and military’s figures previously working on a democratic state. I think “working on” is a relative term in this sense, for the reason that to civilian and military figures have but heads for the duration of this transitional period. Abdalla Hamdok and citizens are back to square one.

What is under threat? For starters, lives of the Sudanese people. The people will continue to oppose this power grab; as of November 17th, Aljazeera reports that fatalities have raised to 39, following the protests across Khartoum and twin cities of Bahri and Omduraman starting on October 25th 2021.[ii] Last Wednesday protestors carried picture of people killed in protests and of Abdalla Hamdok, who was placed under house arrest, with the slogan “Legitimacy comes from the street, not from the cannons.” Secondly, the hope of democracy. Thousands of people rally for a new democratic state that ensures the human rights the Sudanese crave. Last Wednesday protestors carried picture of people killed The international consequences so far, have been limited punitive aid like $700 million in assistance from the United States,[iii] while global powers demand a civilian rule. 

What now? The mostly likely event will be Gen. al-Burhan stepping down as a military leader to become civilian in order to remain in power. Time and time again this transition of roles has led to a “regime” change. I do not believe the Sudanese nor international players will be satisfied with this adjustment resulting in a drawn-out revolution. Fortunately, seen in many African countries, the fortitude and will power of the people has resulted in change. Sudan is no different by having pro-democracy groups promise to continue protesting until the return of the Sovereign Council. 

[i] Dahir, Abdi Latif, and Declan Walsh. “'They Lied.' inside the Frantic Days Leading to Sudan's Coup.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 29 Oct. 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/29/world/africa/sudan-coup-general.html. 

[ii] Al Jazeera. “Several Anti-Coup Protesters Killed in Sudan as Thousands Rally.” News | Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera, 18 Nov. 2021, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/11/17/sudan-authorities-close-bridges-ahead-of-mass-anti-coup-protests.

[iii] Jakes, Lara. “The U.S. Cut off Aid to the Sudanese Government after the Coup.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 25 Oct. 2021, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/25/world/africa/us-aid-frozen-sudan.html. 

What Does It Mean To Empower?

EM·POW·ER·MENT

Empowerment in context to African society can be view with westernized conations. Merriam Webster describes empowerment as: ‘1. The act or action of empowering someone or something; the granting of the power, right, or authority to perform various acts or duties; 2. The state of being empowered to do something : the power, right or authority to do something.[i]  This definition succumbs to tradition colonial emphasis of power transferences from one authority to another. While Zimmerman and Rappaport [16, page 725] describe empowerment as “the ability of individuals to gain control socially, politically, economically, and psychologically through access to information, knowledge and skills, decision-making, individual self-efficacy, community participation, and perceived control”.[ii] I argue that in the scope of Africans countries, the definition of  empowerment is a framework of advocacy rather than the traditional westernized definitions that transfers the authority, power, right to an individual or group. 

The Zimmerman and Rappaport description of empowerment allows it to be a contextual noun that depends on region, industry, or population. For example, it extends to caregiving, community, healthcare, and workplace empowerment. Furthermore, empowerment is viewed as “a process of enhancing feelings of self-efficacy among organizational members through the identification of conditions that foster powerlessness and through their removal by both formal organizational practices and informal techniques providing efficacy information”.[iii] Empowerment is a process. African countries who host societal and political institutions that implement a framework of an empowerment seek a self-sufficient, self-confident, and self-supporting community with a desired social, economic, political and psychological independence.[iv]  

Harnessing empowerment within African societies requires us to take a look at powerlessness. Powerlessness is the opposite of empowerment; it stems the desire for empowerment advocacy. Powerlessness can be viewed within African countries as decreased economic and political status which typically is a result of authorities who hold power or global constructs that maintain power over African countries through economic, political or resources infrastructures. Groups within African countries have limited resources, but holding frameworks of advocacy like education, resources management and socioeconomic mobility encouragement allow for empowerment within African societies. These vulnerable societies are not transferred direct power but instead given tools within the toolbox to gain self-sufficiency of empowerment.  The tools within the toolbox are catered toward the individual, groups, and communities who are within the framework of advocacy; this is why African countries can view empowerment as just the framework rather than transference of power.  At the same time, African countries experience this powerlessness as they lack the political capital to advocate for themselves due to subpar economic and political status.

The action of empowerment means to mediate powerlessness with combative measure like empowerment education and empowerment engagement. Empowerment education is the intervention of powerlessness when it comes to environments. This can be seen prominently in environments such as healthcare and the workplace where education of self-health, management and awareness can create change within the environment or the individual. The demand for self-confident and self-sufficient empowerment in environments as these is crucial for long term success of a society entirely. Empowerment engagement means taking the construct of interaction within the society in a framework that centers around understanding the desire, necessities, strengths and points of hurt within the community. I think understanding allows for creative collaboration with members who hold power, to then advocate for that enduring powerlessness. The framework of engagement advocacy still seeks the desired goals of social, economic, political and psychological independence. Combating powerlessness is circumstantial with approaches, but the framework of empowerment advocacy holds firm when deciding on impactful change. To empower means to have a voice, to be equal in standing, to be respected, and to build upon individual strengths and weakness to formulate the end goal of desired awareness. 

[i] “Empowerment.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/empowerment. 

[ii] Zimmerman MA, Rappaport J. Citizen participation, perceived control, and psychological empowerment. American Journal of Community Psychology. 1988;16(5):725–750.\

[iii] Conger JA, Kanungo RN. The empowerment process: integrating theory and practice. Academy of Management Review. 1988;13:471–482.

[iv] Carr, Gloria F. “Empowerment: a framework to develop advocacy in african american grandmothers providing care for their grandchildren.” ISRN nursing vol. 2011 (2011): 531717. doi:10.5402/2011/531717

What Possible Competitions Have Emerged From The Scramble For Africa ?

The Scramble for Africa allowed European and Western countries to grab ahold of African capitol. The recourse extraction exhibited by European countries like Great Britain, piqued the interest of other power-hungry countries. In 1884, the Berlin Conference, also known as the “Congo Conference” occurred.  The conference included Britain, France, Germany, Portugal, Turkey, Russia, United States, and other Westernized countries, to establish boundaries of what was open or neutral territories. These countries negotiated to establish boundaries for open and neutral territories (elaborate… for what? What were these territories). In my opinion, t this conference initiated the Scramble for Africa, which has resulted in periodic competition over nations and national recourses across the African continent. Most recently, the Scramble has been seen through China and the United States investing into African countries for similar or separate gains, while the implications are comparable to the colonial Scramble for Africa. 

At the moment, China is investing and supporting African infrastructure. China has been able to capitalize on the pattern of Africa’s inability upgrade and renovate their infrastructure systems, striking competition between models of investment between the two powers. A surprise to no one, the United States is not coming in with quick solutions matching China capitalism. The reason lies within valued-based models.  The US focuses on private-sector partner investing, while promoting entrepreneurship, and independence from government dependency. Maintaining an emphasis on education, health, and democracy rather than infrastructure. China is heavily government influenced, as they view African investment as a power and resource opportunity. They are willing to throw in political and economic capital along with providing equipment to build infrastructure, resulting in a heightened sense of competitions between the nations. 

The possible implications to this competition are concerns for African people, loss of nationalization, and increased instability. The African people are being mulled over like they did on the colonial era of competition. I argue that Africans have lost their voice in this competition and their role is minimized as a result of the outcome. The common African can be viewed as a bystander, while the African political leaders are conflicted on where they stand in this modern scramble. These leaders are signing unprotected contracts which hurt their control of resources. Contracts in Kenya are being signed that 70% of the labor is going to be Chinese, the production is Chinese, and the profit margin is held by the Chinese. The African nationalization is minimized to what is permitted in negotiations. There is nothing for African leaders to fall back on; the stability is lost because China is a crutch for possible prosperity amongst regions. This is where the United States could take a different approach to reduce these implications to African populations. The United States should focus on investing the African people and not infrastructure. 

The battle between these two powerhouses weakens the vulnerable state of African countries. The United States model cannot be viewed as a slow return for financial gain, but rather an investment of people, democracy, and education to increase prosperity for generations to come. It is said that when you put sugar down, ants will come. To translate: where you put money, people will come. China has the transactional accessibility to attract stakeholders to the table but hopefully the United States, amongst others, can create attractive long-run benefits as the modern scramble continues. 

What Is The Global Impact Of The Cocoa Trade In Cote d’Ivoire?

Global Impact of Chocolate?

The beloved chocolate comes from Africa’s finger tips.

Seen through the docuseries Rotten, the episode Bitter Chocolate dives into how Africa’s natural resources of cocoa contributes to the global economy through exportation of trade. Cote d’Ivoire makes up 40% of the cocoa bean production in the world and every ton of that is collected a handful at a time. The exploitation of labor and natural resources is at an all-time high in the cocoa industry. This is a result of a monopolistic competition market where there are 10 major traders of cocoa for the global production; so the production and distribution reach a choke point through these traders. Cocoa productions influences global consumptions rates, the economy surrounding a countries cocoa trade, and the overal global supply and demand chain of cocoa. 

Cocoa is only grown with in 10 degrees north or south of the equator resulting in only a handful of countries capable of growing cocoa; meaning that african countries like Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Cameroon, Nigeria, etc. supplies the global demand for cocoa. Countries that consume the most chocolate, to no surprise, are western european countries. In a study done by Stataic, published in 2021 but collected in 2017, Switzerland consumed 8.8 kilograms of cocoa per captia, Austria close second at 8.1 kilograms per captia, Germany consumed 7.9 kilograms and in comparison to the U.S. sitting at a compution rate of 4.4 kilograms per captia. Countries that farm cocoa dont even get to taste the refine delacousy of chocolate, only smell the beans in the village.  

The process of production takes advantage of the weak and strengthens the powerful. The pyramid starts with the local farmer at the bottom. The isolation of the farmer prevents them from enquiring any bargaining power. The only connection the farmer has to the market is the next man called the Pistore, he comes and collects the dried Cocoa from the remote villages. His position on the pyramid is to try to make as much money as he can by buy and reselling quickly to cooperatives. Though, this positon is one of the more dangerous positions on the pyramid, due to the travel with large sums of money, and large amounts of cocoa. Both products are in dire demand. The co-ops are a private business that’s goal is to collect / buy as much cocoa from the pistores as possible, for then they send it to the sea co-ops where they collect about 3,000 tons of cocoa a year. This is when they are places on ships or sent to corporations to then refine the beans to then send those private buyers of refines manjufaturable chocolate. 

Cocoa beans spread to sun bake before sell.

Time and time again the entrepreneur mindset has capitalized on the lack of infrastructure in Africa. In the case of Bitter Chocolate, there was one instance where the company Transmar fell from the market drop of Cocoa in 2016. Here is why they fell, prior to the drop they had been selling at a fixed price and when the global market price for cocoa drops below this fixed price, the deficit loss of producing at that rate ensues. The market spiked to $3,000 per ton with the rumour that China was about to dip their toe in the Cocoa game. China did not. Resulting in an oversupply of cocoa on the market with no change in demand. At this point, the price dropped to $1,000 per ton resulting in the African producers (farmers)  taking the hardest hit being the lowest in the pyramid. Each contributor and entity can affect the global economy, here we saw that the resources actually affected the global market by increasing supply when the globe was in no need of such demands. 

A common trend seen throughout Africa (and the middle east) is the lack of nationlization. With proper nationalization of resources the a nation state is capable of enhancing the local economy. The cocoa trad is only one example of the exploitation and uses of post-colonial power over the impoverished of Africa. Cote d’Ivoires GDP per captia is $2,278 US dollars, the farmers make US $0.93 to $1 a day [2], while countries like Germnay that benefit from this resource mis-managment have a GDP per capita of $51,860. In 2020, the global chocolate market was valued at nearly USD 106.6 Billon [3]. The global mismanagement of the cocoa industry shows how Africa lost the power of the land again.

[1] Shahbandeh, M. “Cocoa Production by Country 2019/2020.” Statista, 26 Apr. 2021, https://www.statista.com/statistics/263855/cocoa-bean-production-worldwide-by-region/. 

[2] Written by Govind Bhutada, Author. “Cocoa's Bittersweet Supply Chain in One Visualization.” World Economic Forum, https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/11/cocoa-chocolate-supply-chain-business-bar-africa-exports/.

[3] “Global Chocolate Market Report and Forecast 2021-2026.” Chocolate Market Price 2021-2026, Size, Share, Report and Forecast, https://www.expertmarketresearch.com/reports/chocolate-market. 

Can Africa Return To Previous Traditions?

The simple answer is, no. The innovation of technology, resources and other cultural implications have progressed past the time in which previous African traditions could survive.

First, one must be aware of Pre-colonial Africa. Africa has always been diverse; pre-colonial Africa consisted of over 800 distinct ethic regions. Within regions multiple cultural groups resided, these cultural groups could have coexisted peacefully by fair trade and market structure between tribes; meanwhile other tribes were in consistent states of war and futility over territories. Previously, there were a variety of ethnic institutions, which included states with centralized authorities like the Shongia Empire in Western Africa or the Lube Kingdom in Central Africa while many societies consisted of village organizational structures such as the Nuer in Sudan or the Konkomba in Ghana and Togo. [i] Culture groups coexisted with their own way of life without disturbance from imperialism. Then the industrial revolution began, resulting in limited recourse in European countries. The expansion to Africa had emerged.

Once landed in Africa, imperialism coursed through countries of Africa. The use of technology in regards to mining resources began, they taught the natives how to use European “advancement” while throwing out the old tradition of agriculture/resource management. Some groups were apprehensive toward colonialism and fought against it while other groups welcomed the white man who brought paper as a form of trade. Introducing the greed, corruption and intense caste system that cripples the continent to this day. The cultural presence of working together as a village evaporated with the outbreak of capitalism. At the time, natives weren’t aware of the natural resources and capability that the land held because their practices were for local purposes. Practices remained within the tribe and the resources pooled for the community. 

They lost the power of the land. The land they had cultivated for years, built their traditions and began their history, is no longer in their hands. Therefore, they cannot revert back to their practices they were founded upon.

[i] Michalopoulos, Stelios, and Elias Papaioannou. “Pre-Colonial Ethnic Institutions and Contemporary African Development.” Econometrica : Journal of the Econometric Society, U.S. National Library of Medicine, Jan. 2013, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4118452/.