Modernity is Misconceived

         በአፍሪካ የዘመናዊነት ትርጉም ተዛብቷል

This article is an extract from my Masters (MA) thesis  in which I attempted to argue the misconception of Modernity in post-colonial African situations. In this blog page, I tried to present how African conceptions of Modernity misunderstood and how this misunderstanding severely hampered its development in general and African identity in particular.

Due to the impacts of colonialism, neo-colonialism and globalization, modernization is conceived, by Africans, as synonymous with Westernization or Europeanization. This in turn, led African countries, lose their identity and indigenous cultural values. Consequently, as the reconstruction and development programs (policy and strategy formulations in various aspects) did not take these indigenous values as their anchoring point, many African countries could not reach the level of development where they can feed their people, keep their health and facilitate the infrastructures.

The thesis is developed following the line of argument of those African philosophers who argue for the critique of modernity. Kwame Gyekye is the first philosopher whose works, particularly, “Tradition and Modernity” is used in the development of my argument. In the first part of the thesis, I have explicated the notion of modernity. As the idea is too complex to define in few words, for it is closely tied with the concept culture, I also discuss the notion of culture and tradition in line with modernity. With regards to the conception of modernity, I tried to critically reflect on the controversies whether it true that the whole of Western societies are modern and, not traditional. Furthermore, fundamental questions, such as:  “Is really the modern superior to the traditional? Is modernity the opposite of tradition? Are tradition and modernity mutually exclusive concepts? Is contemporary Africa modern or traditional? What are the criteria to distinguish between the modern and the traditional?” are also discussed.

    

In the second part, a special attention is given to the Western notion of modernity. This is because; the controversies and misappropriation of modernity are deeply rooted in the invention and development of the concept of modernity in Europe. Thus, I have critically analyzed and evaluated the origins, aspects and manifestations of modernity. Moreover, I have showed the logical relationship between modernity and rationality; and the colonial narratives of “civilizing mission of colonialism” that aimed at modernizing the “savage” people of Africa. Furthermore, the Western theorists and philosophers (such as: Kant, Hegel, Weber, Habermas) conceptions of modernity and its legacy on contemporary Africa is also discussed.

The third section comprises the critique of modernity in general, and in the post-colonial African situations, in particular. Although Ethiopia was exceptional to escape from colonization, she did not manage to free herself from impacts of the so called “modernizing mission of colonialism”, for no African country was capable to avoid the mental hegemony of neocolonialism. Thus, some challenges and consequences of misappropriating modernity in contemporary Ethiopian situations are presented as substantiation to explicate the magnitude of the problem.

In the concluding part, I have critically pointed out the significance of using Tsenay’s critical and Historico-Hermeneutical analysis of African realities as a method so as to detect the roots and magnitude of the misconception. Once the roots of the misconception have been clearly pointed out, I clearly argue that deconstruction of the misconceptions and reconstruction of the idea “modernity” is essential.  Indeed, this can not be possible with out awakening the society’s consciousness; hence, I emphasized the role of philosophy to secure mental liberation in Africa. To this end, I tried to critically analyze, interpret and utilize the arguments of African philosophers (Such as: Messay, Tewodros, Tsenay, Sogolo) for the role that philosophy plays in bringing about mental decolonization, that consequently aims at an entire development of the continent.

 

Conclusion

If you ask someone, in Ethiopia, the meaning of modernization, you will get an answer that may label modernization as synonymous with Westernization or Europeanization; which, indeed, implies the magnitude of the intellectual hegemony of the West on Africa. In general, postcolonial Africa is represented by the misconception and misappropriation of the idea modernity due to the impacts of colonialism and neocolonialism. As mental colonization is the phenomenon of intellectual, not physical, hegemony, it is usually difficult to detect or identify it easily with out having deep philosophical outlook.

In other words, if we make use of our critical attitude, we can easily be aware of the fact that African conceives western modern values as an exact opposite of, and superior to the traditional African values. This resulted in uncritical rejection and replacement of these indigenous cultural elements with the alien western values. This, however, does not mean that there are no people in Africa who are aware of the apparent confusion. While few intellectuals and conservative groups have been striving to appropriate modernity in the postcolonial African situation, the majority seems unaware about the situation. This is because they are either doing nothing in response to the challenge, even though they are aware of the problem; or they keep on telling and retelling the Western discourse on modernity unintentionally. Policy formulation and decision making processes at the national level are not also free from the negative impacts of western modernity. Whoever could be the originator, wherever it may be emerged first, it is undeniable that modernity posses essential values, without which betterment of human conditions is inconceivable.

Modernity is a vital element in the journey of human progress or development. Since development is the sum total of all aspects of human progress aims at improving the human conditions, and modernity has the same end, it is obligatory to conceive modernity appropriately. Just as some aspects of modern western values speed up our economic development, there are some that weigh down the social and emotional wellbeing of the African people. Thus, critical investigation and modification of both the Western and the African values should be highly demanded so as to meet genuine modernity.

Philosophy plays a significant role in meeting this goal. This role ranges from awakening the societies consciousness, to enabling citizens to actively participate in the deconstruction of the imposed western identities so as to re-evaluate, to reconstruct or to modify where necessary. This sort of advanced critical engagement, indeed, is possible only when the education systems of African countries consciously include philosophy in their curriculum. The main objective of the inclusion would be developing critical attitude of the learners at all levels. This can be possible not only by introducing philosophy courses such as Logic and Critical thinking at the tertiary level curriculums; but also, by systematically including parts of this courses in other disciplines such as Language, Civics and ethical education at the primary and secondary levels; if possible starting from kindergarten. Unless Africa does so, with the ever-increasing phenomenon of globalization, I believe that the future of Africa will be a time of identity crises, confusion, dilemma and normlessness.