Abstract
The premise of this book is that “giving” to the African continent is very often compromised at best, and that there is an urgent need for rethinking the parameters of “giving” and “receiving.” So, what is necessary for westerners to know and do to enact their part in an equitable humanitarianism? This chapter puts to work some of the lessons learned thus far in this volume to say that those who employ logics of help emanating from the west need to acknowledge our own ignorance and limitations, regarding both what we know and do not know about Africa and Africans, and also about ourselves and our countries’ histories of intervention. We need to acknowledge our own ethical precarity and listen and learn instead of trying to lecture and impose our limited and flawed projects on others. Such learning, if sincere, inevitably results in perspectives that begin to see how Africa and Africans have given and continue to give to the west; this in turn leads to supporting projects of repatriation and reparations instead of charity and aid.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
For a bibliography, it is difficult to do better than the webpage, “African Feminist Perspectives Matter: A Reading List,” by Black Women Radicals, found at https://www.blackwomenradicals.com/blog-feed/african-feminist-perspectives-matter-a-reading-list, except to say that this excellent list, from a webinar held in July 2020, is constantly expanding given the explosion of African scholars of gender and sexuality.
References
Achebe, C. (1994). Things fall apart. (First Anchor books edition). Anchor Books.
Adomako Ampofo, A. (2019). The house that Africa built. Journal of African Cultural Studies, 31(3), 293–295. https://doi.org/10.1080/13696815.2019.1640109
Aina, T. A., & Moyo, B. (2013). In T. A. Aina & B. Moyo (Eds.), Giving to help, helping to give: the context and politics of African philanthropy. Amalion Publishing.
Akinola, A. O. (2018). Women, culture and Africa’s land reform agenda. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 2234–2234. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02234 (accessed July 2023).
Allman, J. (2019). HerskovitsMustFall? A meditation on whiteness, African studies, and the unfinished business of 1968. African Studies Review, 62(3), 6–39. https://doi.org/10.1017/asr.2019.40
Allman, J. (2020). Academic reparation and stepping aside. Africa is a Country. https://africasacountry.com/2020/11/academic-reparation-and-stepping-aside (accessed July 2023).
Arnfred, S., & Adomako Ampofo, A. (2009). African feminist politics of knowledge: Tensions, challenges, possibilities. Nordiska Afrikainstitutet.
Autesserre, S. (2014). Peaceland: Conflict Resolution and the Everyday Politics of International Intervention. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ba, M., & Bassène, P. C. B. (2018). Résistance feminine et pacifique en Casamance: AlañDi-So Bassène (1913-1940). Critical Investigations into Humanitarianism in Africa (CIHA) Blog. https://www.cihablog.com/resistance-feminine-et-pacifique-en-casamance-alandi-bassene-1913-1940-feminist-non-violent-resistance-casamance-alandi-bassene-1913-1940/
Bhargava, R. (2013). Overcoming the Epistemic Injustice of Colonialism. Global Policy, 4(4), 413–417.
Boateng, O. A. (2021). Building Africa’s homegrown humanitarian systems: Restoration as an alternative to localization. Frontiers in Political Science, 3. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpos.2021.711090 (accessed March 2023).
Cole, T. (2012). The white savior industrial complex. The Atlantic.
Eboussi Boulaga, F. (1977). Crise du Muntu. Authenticité africaine et philosophie. Paris: Présence Africaine.
Eboussi Boulaga, F. (1981). Christianisme sans fétiche. Révélation et domination. Paris: Présence Africaine.
Glissant, E., & Dash, J. M. (1989). Caribbean discourse: Selected essays / by Edouard Glissant; translated and with an introduction by J. Michael Dash. University Press of Virginia.
Hountondji, P. (2002). The Struggle for Meaning: Reflections on Philosophy, Culture and Democracy in Africa. Athens: Ohio University Press.
Isichei, E. (1995). A history of Christianity in Africa: From antiquity to the present. Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.
James, W. (1998). Mauss in Africa: On Time, History and Politics. In W. James & N. J. Allen (Eds.), Marcel Mauss: A Centenary Tribute (pp. 226–248). New York: Berghahn Books. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781789205695-016.
James, M. S. (2002). Listening to other (ed.) voices: Reflections around female genital cutting. In S. M. James & C. C. Robertson (Eds.), Genital cutting and transnational sisterhood: Disputing U.S. polemics (pp. 87–113). University of Illinois Press.
Johansson, P. (2022). Emotional practices and listening in peacebuilding partnerships: The invisibility cloak (First ed.). Routledge.
Kaledzi, I. (2022). Africa revives push for colonial-era reparations. DW. https://www.dw.com/en/africa-revives-push-for-colonial-era-reparations/a-62710366 (accessed 8.2023).
Kane, O. O. (2016). Beyond Timbuktu: An intellectual history of Muslim West Africa. Harvard University Press.
Lynch. C. (2020). Wrestling with God: Ethical Precarity in Christianity and International Relations. Cambridge University Press.
Lynch, C. (2022). Centering Global Humanitarianism in Africa. Global Africa, #1, 80–92.
Malkki, L. (2015). The need to help: The domestic arts of international humanitarianism. Duke University Press.
Mama, A. (1995). Beyond the masks : Race, gender, and subjectivity. Routledge.
Mudimbe, V. Y. (1994). The idea of Africa. Indiana University Press.
Ndlovu-Gatsheni, S. (2018). Epistemic freedom in Africa: Deprovincialization and decolonization (1st ed.). Routledge.
Ngũgĩ, w. T’o. (1991). Petals of blood. New York: Penguin Books.
Ngũgĩ, w. T’o. (1992). Decolonizing the mind: The politics of language in African Literature. East African Publishers.
Oyěwùmí, O. (2003). African women and feminism: Reflecting on the politics of sisterhood. Africa World Press.
Paras, A. (2012). CIDA’s secular fiction and Canadian faith-based organisations. Revue Canadienne D’études Du Développement, 33(2), 231–249. https://doi.org/10.1080/02255189.2012.689253
Rodney, W. (2009). How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. Panaf Publishing.
The Cable. (2023). AU Conference asks African countries affected by Glencore scandal to initiate judicial action. https://www.thecable.ng/au-conference-asks-african-countries-affected-by-glencore-scandal-to-initiate-judicial-action. Accessed 7/23.
Wakesho, E., & Gutbi, O. (2018). African correctives to European narratives about migration and the ‘refugee crisis’. Critical Investigations into Humanitarianism in Africa (CIHA) Blog. https://www.cihablog.com/african-correctives-to-european-narratives-about-migration-and-the-refugee-crisis/
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2024 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Lynch, C. (2024). Taking, Giving, Repairing, and Reversing. In: Kemedjio, C., Lynch, C. (eds) Who Gives to Whom? Reframing Africa in the Humanitarian Imaginary. Culture and Religion in International Relations. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-46553-6_11
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-46553-6_11
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-46552-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-031-46553-6
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)