Written By: Angelina Castrucci
Amidst the complexities of post-colonial Africa, Walter Rodney’s How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (1972) emerges as a seminal Marxist historical critique challenging dominant Western narratives, by arguing that Africa’s underdevelopment is a direct consequence of its sustained interactions with Europe since the fifteenth century.
Rodney critically examines the European capitalist-imperialist structure’s role in Africa’s underdevelopment. The unequal development-underdevelopment relationship is central to his analysis, as it is deeply intertwined with capitalism, imperialism, and colonialism. He also explores how these forces intersect with race, class, and, to a lesser extent, gender, emphasising their mutually reinforcing nature. By engaging with this comprehensive superstructure, Rodney reveals the totalising effects of the capitalist-imperialist world system, from hegemonic knowledge production to military, economic, and political dominance. From this perspective, Rodney argues that Africa’s ongoing interactions with Europe since the fifteenth century—first through the transatlantic slave trade and later through colonial rule—had ‘multiplier effects’ which created a structural dependency that fuelled Europe’s economic growth while systematically undermining Africa’s. The rise of capitalist exploitation, facilitated by the internationalisation of trade and labour and underpinned by narratives of civilisational superiority and racial hierarchy, enabled Europe to extract Africa’s resources and human capital. The subsequent imposition of colonial rule entrenched these exploitative structures. Rodney encapsulates this dynamic by asserting that ‘the development of Europe and the underdevelopment of Africa combine in a single system: capitalist imperialism’.
Rodney challenges prevailing Western-imperialist narratives that Africa’s subjugation resulted from God-given inherent inferiority, weakness, or stagnation. Indeed, he aims to deconstruct such discourses, which he critiques as ‘racist bourgeois propaganda’ and products of ‘cultural imperialism’. Anachronistically, his work resonates with that of Edward Said, as both authors aim to dismantle centuries of Western scholarship that have portrayed the “Other(s)” as backward. Chapter two contends that, prior to European intervention, Africa was on its own independent developmental path and had sophisticated political systems, thriving economies, and dynamic social structures—all disrupted by sustained contact with Europe. Thus, Rodney concludes with ‘capitalism stands in the path of further human social development’, arguing for its fundamental rejection.
Rodney wrote out of deep concern for the contemporary African situation. He emphasises the importance of historical analysis, asserting that ‘otherwise it would be impossible to understand how the present came into being and what the trends are for the future’. In doing so, he sought to rewrite Africa’s past and present to restore African agency in ‘constructing their own history’. Rodney’s African-centred approach is intertwined with his identity as a revolutionary scholar-activist. As a prominent Africanist, he positioned his scholarship in service of revolutionary change—a belief he upheld until his political assassination at the age of thirty-eight. How Europe Underdeveloped Africa epitomises this commitment. Written for an African audience, it foregrounds the notion of responsibility, avoiding both victimisation and absolution, emphasising that ‘every African has a responsibility to understand the system and work for its overthrow’. Rodney posits that Africa can transcend its dependent status through such socialist transformation.
Rodney’s most striking contribution to African historiography and post-colonial studies is his Marxist historical-materialist framework, which reinterprets global African history by tracing its trajectory through economic structures. Central is the Marxist conceptualisation of history as a progression through distinct economic stages—communalism, slavery, feudalism, capitalism, and ultimately, socialism. He uses Pierre Jalée’s theoretical distinction between ‘capitalist-imperialist and socialist countries’ to interrogate the uneven relationship between the ‘developed’ and the ‘underdeveloped’ and to expose how structural exploitation emerges from disbalanced inter-societal interactions. This analysis aligns with what later became World-System Theory, particularly its metropole-periphery framework, which highlights asymmetrical power relations between imperial centres and dependent colonies. This asymmetrical interaction meant that ‘Africa helped to develop Western Europe in the same proportion as Western Europe helped to underdevelop Africa’. This perspective offers a crucial macroeconomic lens for contemporary debates on global power disparities.
Rodney effectively historicises the aforementioned theories within a global African context, tracing a narrative that spans from the fifteenth century to the mid-twentieth century. Through a compelling synthesis of five centuries of African history, he structures the book around distinct historical phases, critically examining Africa’s past to reveal the mechanisms of its underdevelopment and the potential for its transformation. By symmetrically framing the African-European relationship as one of reciprocal yet exploitative dependency, Rodney employs a didactic approach with a provocative and impassioned writing style. By situating Marxist theories within Africa, Rodney demonstrates the critical importance of historical understanding in advancing the ongoing struggle for emancipation and development.
How Europe Underdeveloped Africa has profoundly transformed the field of African history and developmental debates. At the time of its publication, many African intellectuals and leaders had not recognised the historical dimensions of the continent’s exploitation. Rodney emerged as the first African scholar to articulate a comprehensive critique of capitalism’s role in African underdevelopment, significantly influencing anti-racist and anti-colonial activism.
However, Rodney’s work has not been immune to criticism. A key criticism is directed towards his tendency to homogenise Africa, treating it as a singular unit, subsuming its diversity within a somewhat monolithic framework. Some argue that Rodney’s analysis portrays Africa as a passive victim of European aggression, overlooking the agency of Africans who resisted and adapted in complex ways. This generalising tendency may arise from his reliance on broad socio-economic Marxist theories. Indeed, such a linear and universal perspective on history overlooks the complexity of historical structures and lived experiences. Furthermore, critics have pointed out his perceived lack of effectiveness, as the book does not address the question of the future, with only vague allusions to a socialist revolution. However, these critiques may overlook the book’s fundamental purpose: to present the contemporary situation as it exists for Africans. Rodney establishes a crucial ideological foundation for future developmental strategies, as highlighted by A.M. Babu’s postscript, offering a vital starting point for understanding Africa’s challenges amidst the remnants of empire.
What is perhaps most significant is its relevance today. In an era where capitalism asserts its permanence, his critique of global economic structures resonates. As neo-colonial policies perpetuate economic instability, poverty, and unrest across the continent, Rodney’s work serves as a historical call to action, advocating for structural transformation rather than mere reform.
Bibliography
Agyeman, Opoku. “Rodney: How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (Book Review).” Africa Today. Denver, etc: Africa Today Associates, etc, 1973.
Bly, Viola Mattavous. “Walter Rodney and Africa.” Journal of Black Studies 16, no. 2 (1985): 115–30. https://doi.org/10.1177/002193478501600201.
Falola, Toyin. “Walter Rodney’s How Europe Underdeveloped Africa: Its Relevance to Contemporary Issues 50 Years Later.” African Economic History 50, no. 2 (2022): 58–63. https://doi.org/10.3368/aeh.50.2.58.
Klein, Martin A. “Rodney, ‘How Europe Underdeveloped Africa’ (Book Review).” The International Journal of African Historical Studies. New York: Africana Publishing Corp, 1974.
Rodney, Walter. How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. London: Verso, 2018.
Shenton, Robert. “How Europe Underdeveloped Africa – Rodney, W.” Canadian Journal of African Studies. OTTAWA: Canadian Assn Afr Stud, 1975. https://doi.org/10.2307/484037.
Wallerstein, Immanuel. “Walter Rodney: The Historian as Spokesman for Historical Forces.” American Ethnologist 13, no. 2 (1986): 330–37. https://doi.org/10.1525/ae.1986.13.2.02a00090.
Retrospect Journal 