Introduction: The Cynics, Optimists and Pirates are all Making Africa Beautiful
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Date
2012
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Journal ISSN
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Publisher
Development
Abstract
There are two dominant positions about Africa today and in the near future: on the one
side, a heady optimism that envisions ‘Africa Rising’, and on the other a cynicism that
sees a continent still trapped in‘darkness’. In between you find the simply weary, mildly
celebratory, and nearly indifferent.
The majority of articles in this issue hug the vast middle; there is shy pessimism, cautious
optimism, but also recognition that Africa’s development has not and probably will
not be linear, and interesting possibilities could ^ ormight not ^ emerge as nationsmuddle
along. And even where outcomes have been disastrous, and nations starved and
people killed or oppressed, there is some acknowledgement that most of Africa’s Big
Men (it has been men for the most part) set out with good intentions.
Together, this search for new vantage points to evaluate the continent, the recognition
that enough of ‘old Africa’still persists to justify pessimism, but also that optimism
about the continent has not been snuffed out by the failures and disappointments of
recent decades, is beautiful to see.This is because these various outlooks prevent a slide
into the complacency and insularity that are often born of an overblown sense of
achievement, or the despair that can be bred by pessimism.
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Keywords
Introduction, Cynics, Optimists, Pirates, Africa
Citation
Onyango-Obbo, C. (2012). Introduction: The Cynics, Optimists and Pirates are all Making Africa Beautiful. Development, 55(4), 435-440. doi:10.1057/dev.2012.87