Paper Topic:

African Studies

Running head : AFRICAN CULTURE AND DEVELOPMENT

Studies on the African Culture and Development : The Hurtful Effects

[Your name]

[University]

[Professor]

[Subject]

Studies on the African Culture and Development : The Hurtful Effects

1 . Several studies have been made regarding the efforts on the determination of the development process or practical progress undergone by Africa in the post-war era . Some say that what cause the underdevelopment are the policies made by the policy makers , but other theories have been proposed to further understand the situation where Africa came to involvement

. Many countries have been observed regarding their policies and what contributions these policies make in their struggle for liberation from the negative marks that the war created Social theorists ranging from Karl Marx to Daniel Bell have subjected these to arguments , saying that economic development brings about cultural change . Max Weber and Samuel Huntington have claimed the independent societal influence of cultural values is still one of the factors that endure . Although there are evidences of massive cultural changes , the distinctive cultural traditions still remain . It was established fifty years ago the causal , relatively autonomous , and the correlative variability of the relationship between culture and economic development

The starting point of the identification of this relationship is the collective agreement regarding the terms development and culture . With this the complexity of this relationship has been identified . Sometimes due to the terms being not that general , they loose the applicability It has been explained that proving the hurtful effect of culture to development is still an opaque view and can never be studied as a discourse (Thomson , 2001

Civilization and rural labour , modernization , globalization , political growth , and individual competitiveness are just a few examples of the things being hindered towards development by the cultural factors as being hypothesized by theorists

2 . The pre-colonial times in Africa helped in the emergence of ecological harmony , which resulted from the making of policy requirements in the traditional African societies . From iron-age technologies that the physical environment possessed , the indigenous cultures secure in their daily lives a high value on consensus and cooperation (Yeager and Miller , 1986 ,

. 7

It has been described the parameters that must be considered in finding the solutions to eliminate problems regarding the cultivation of the traditional African land that (1 ) the traditional land of Africa is so badly eroded and cannot be utilized agriculturally . Grasses and trees should be planted as possible . The use of these lands is no longer advisable if the previously mentioned solution is not applicable , unless external factors causing erosion are identified and can be given attention (2 ) Also , considering the soil depth and erosion rates in the case those agricultural lands will provide partially irreducible productivity for a couple of years

The safest among the two mentioned is that (3 ) if a present danger is foreseen , meaning that the land is beyond salvation , the land utilization should be culminated . We may even say that for a reduced productivity , the land utilization may be stopped . The three...

14 pages

59.5 KB

Free sing-up