THE ANTHROPOLOGY OF ANGER: CIVIL SOCIETY
AND DEMOCRACY IN AFRICA. Celestin
Monga.
Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1998. pp. 218,
paper $19.95.
Celestin Monga's The Anthropology
of Anger articulates an alternative to the study of democratization
in Africa. He finds the paradigmatic approaches to African politics
inadequate and often demeaning to Africans. Since, according to Monga,
Western academics and governments alike do not take Africa seriously,
he intends to elevate the discourse on Africa in order to repair the
damage done by cavalier and ethnocentric studies of Africa. He proposes
to accomplish this task through "a political anthropology of anger,"
which incorporates what he variously calls the "grassroots perspective,"
"everyday-life approach," and "everyday-language approach".
The anthropology of anger -- a putatively intellectual response to situations
that produce anger -- is intended to supplement a more conventional
approach to understanding politics as involving "political markets."
One fails to see what is fresh and original
about such an approach. The concept of political markets, like that
of laissez-faire capitalism, is based on a view of society as consisting
of egoistic individuals pursuing purely selfish interests. Although
there is no lack of egoism among Africans, the concept of political
markets scarcely fits societies still characterized by mutual aid, still
under the sway of tradition (by Monga's own admission), and whose solidary
relations remain largely intact (p. 153). It therefore seems odd that
Monga, who blames some of Africa's most intractable problems on the
reluctance of Africans to modernize and enter history (Chapter 3), would
promote the concept of political markets as part of a methodology for
understanding African politics.
The Anthropology of Anger also
suffers from a glaring lack of complete and systematic argumentation,
and some of Monga's critical terms are poorly defined. At various points,
it seems as if he is finally going to demonstrate how his "everyday-life"
approach works, but he falters, moving on to once more merely argue
the merits of the approach (p. 110). Similarly, he continually refers
to the concept of "indiscipline" without explicating it, let
alone demonstrating its practical relevance. He defines civil society
to mean society as a whole. Moreover, we are not sure whether democracy
is merely a system of government that disperses power and maximizes
governmental accountability, or "a quest for greater public welfare"
(p. 70). Equally, we are not sure whether he believes Africa is modern
when he declares "… those in charge of what passed for cultural
politics in Africa missed the arrival of modernity" or questions
whether outmoded ways are hampering modernization (p. 90). Monga does
not explicate "modernity" and "modernization" in
ways that would strengthen his argument.
This work also relies too heavily on
secondary sources. The only evidence of primary research consists of
a small number of interviews with musicians. The connection between
the aims of the book and the views of the artistshowever, is nebulous.
The few examples of interpretations of everyday language also have no
discernible connection to the author's proposed aim. He discusses the
plight of youth in Africa and their supposed proclivity to violence.
Yet apart from general statements about youth joblessness, he offers
no concrete instances of the plight of youth in even one country to
enable us to properly assess his claim. Throughout the book one notices
Monga's overwhelming tendency to generalize about Africa. We have the
inexcusable statement, "In an Africa where cable stations like
CNN are watched in every home…" (p. 28). We also come across
the claim, "… only a tiny minority of Africans can read the
language they speak fluently" (p. 74), a claim Southern Africans
in particular will find hard to accept.
Monga's book is engaging for its brilliant
prose. It fails, however, to provide a satisfactory alternative to understanding
political development in Africa. Monga dulls discourse by treating arguments
outside his philosophical frame as motivated by a posture of cultural
superiority. Carol Lancaster, for instance, is supposedly contemptuous
of African voters because she does not think they behave like citizens
in modern democracies. Instead, she argues that African democracy is
bound to be different from Western democracy (p. 36). Rather than the
Western intellectuals whom he cites as culprits of African denigration,
it is seemingly Monga who disparages African society in a most regrettable
manner. Taking a stance outside the narrative of the multitudes and
ensconcing himself among "those who do not feel any allegiance
to the habits and customs of their ancestors," Monga calls African
peoples "social misfits" and "marginalized players in
the construction of history" (p. 90). Although a central theme
of the book seems to be the liberation of Africans (defined as the ending
of the dictatorship of the group and the promotion of individualism),
Monga displays an unusually intense interest in canvassing foreign intervention
in African affairs.
Monga's version of dialectical materialism
has much to do with his misdirection. This approach declares that the
dialectic outcomes must come to pass, regardless of what the people
actually think. The concept of progress, a process that he identifies
with thorough-going modernization, governs Monga's enterprise as a dialectician.
His method leads to apoplectic generalizations of African political
scenes as consisting of villains (the rulers) and victims (the people).
Monga's anger is directed mostly at what
he perceives as African injustice, and at outsiders who refuse to acknowledge
that Africa's peoples are capable of embracing modernity. Although we
may understand and even share Monga's anger at the injustice perpetrated
by some of Africa's rulers, we should insist that anger is a poor substitute
for proper research and argumentation.
Chisanga Siame
Department of Political Science
Northwestern University
|
