Questão 739848

Text III

1 ____Pierre Englebert’s attempt to measure all of Africa

using the yardstick of a single historical factor is highly

problematic. In this regard, Englebert’s book suffers from four

4 tendencies, the first two of which involve a dominant mode in

current writing about Africa, and the third and fourth of which

reflect the constraints of academic publishing, particularly in

7 the United States of America. Current writing about Africa is

characterised, firstly, by a remarkable tendency to generalise

about the entire continent, which no author specialising in

10 Asia, for example, would dare contemplate. This usually

involves the extrapolation of a single empirical situation to the

entire continent. In Englebert’s case, this clearly relates to his

13 experience in the eastern Congo, which is made to serve as an

example for all of sub-Saharan Africa. This tendency is

associated, secondly, with an intensive search for a single

16 factor that would explain the plight of Africa, a conceptual

master key that can unlock the puzzle of the “African

exception”. Englebert’s book is a typical example of this

19 tendency to substitute historical explanations with a philosophy

of history. He is not concerned with the identification of

contingent factors which, through their myriad combinations

22 and mutual (correlated) causal processes, have led to the

emergence of the current complex situation on the African

continent. Instead, he claims that the entire situation arose from

25 a single historical moment — that of decolonisation — and

evolved by necessity from this, and that this historical moment

gave birth to a structure of post-coloniality, from which

28 African states are fundamentally incapable of liberating

themselves (while non-African post-colonies apparently are

capable). Here, the argument becomes outright theological:

31 The sovereignty accorded by outside actors represents the

“original sin” of African statehood. As a consequence, and

keeping in line with this theological mode of thinking,

34 post-colonial Africa can be saved only by others.

T. Bierschenk. Book Review — Pierre Englebert (2009), Africa: unity, sovereignty,

and sorrow. Internet: <http://journals.sub.uni-hamburg.de> (adapted).

The statements below are about the ideas of text III and the vocabulary used in it. Decide whether those statements are right (C) or wrong (E).

Englebert’s experience in the eastern Congo is paradigmatic for the elaboration of his thesis.