Africa and Globalization

“In this powerful, must-read book, Setiloane and Bangura have assembled a masterpiece that focuses on the understated consequences of globalization ranging from social media changing the landscape of in-person communication to the accelerated deaths of African languages. It also focuses on globalization’s insidious impact on infant mortality—a preference for the ‘modern’ infant formula over traditional breastmilk—and promotion of consumerism. The book closes on a hopeful note: by weakening boundaries of statehood, globalization can lead to the resurgence of a powerful and effective Pan-Africanism for the betterment of African peoples.” -James T. Gire, Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychology, Virginia Military Institute

This edited volume examines the challenges of globalization in light of the need to revisit and reconceptualize the notion of Pan-Africanism. The first part of the book examines globalization and Africa’s socioeconomic and political development in this century by using the Diopian Pluridisciplinary Methodology. This approach is imperative because the challenges faced by Africa vis-à-vis globalization and socioeconomic development are so multiplexed that no single disciplinary approach can adequately analyze them and yield substantive policy recommendations. The chapters in the second part analyze the imperatives for Africa’s global knowledge production, development, and economic transformation in the face of the pressures of globalization. Part two demonstrates an urgent need for Africa’s significant participation in the global knowledge economy in order to meet the continent’s modern transformation and development aspirations. The final part examines lessons from old and new Pan-Africanism and how they can be utilized to deal with the challenges emanating from the forces of modern globalization. With its multidisciplinary approach to a wide range of pressing, modern issues for the African content, this book is essential reading for scholars across the social sciences interested in where Africa is now and where it should go in this increasingly globalized world.

Abdul Karim Bangura is Researcher-In-Residence of Abrahamic Connections and Islamic Peace Studies at the Center for Global Peace in the School of International Service at American University, USA. He is also the director of The African Institution, a visiting graduate professor of Regional Integration at the University of Cabo, a senior doctoral dissertations mentor of the CODESRIA College of Mentors, and the international director and adviser of the Centro Cultural Guanin in the Dominican Republic.

Kelebogile T. Setiloane is Associate Professor of Nutrition in the Department of Behavioral Health and Nutrition and Director of the African Studies program at the University of Delaware, USA. Her work concentrates on international public health with a focus on the nutrition and livelihoods of low-income women and children in Africa and the United States. She is a recipient of the Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship, a senior mentor of the CODESRIA College of Mentors, and has been a visiting scholar at several universities in Africa, including Obafemi Owolowo University, University of Pretoria Postgraduate School of Agriculture and Rural Development, and the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria.