4 - The Role of NGOs in Canada and the USA in the Transformation of the Socio-Cultural Structures in Africa
Corresponding Author(s) : Anita Van Wyk
Africa Development,
Vol. 32 No. 2 (2007): Africa Development
Abstract
This paper aims to explain how International Non-Governmental Organisations (INGOs) in Canada and the United States of America assist in maintaining the West’s hegemonic position in ongoing globalisation process, with specific ref- erence to Africa. The process begins at the local community level with ordinary citizens in North America. These people are exposed to ‘development pornogra- phy’ through a plethora of visual, text and audio input via the mass media and popular culture, which present the African lifeworld as inferior and primitive, and African people as helpless, hapless, and in the throes of an unending series of epidemics on the short road to extinction. African cultures are portrayed as backward, atavistic, stuck in their primeval past, and needing ‘modernisation’ from the West. This African lifeworld is used to describe and portray Africa in ways that justify the importance of civil society organisations (CSOs) – chari- ties, aid workers, business people, missionaries and non-governmental organi- sations (NGOs) – in ‘intervening’ in the African continent’s seemingly inexora- ble human crises. INGOs, in turn, use this image as ‘compassion usury’, tugging on the heartstrings of North Americans to donate generously to various projects in Africa. Large amounts of money, goods and time are donated by ordinary people to help re-make the so-called inferior traditional lifeworlds of Africans in accordance with Western visions. In return, these donors receive generous rewards for their contributions, in the form of tax deductions, community recognition, and development fund awards. Many of these donors are so motivated that they become development tourists who regularly visit Africa, bringing back ‘mercy-soliciting’ images to raise funds and create jobs for NGOs. Horrific pic- tures further reinforce negative stereotypes and misconceptions about Africa. In this way CSOs, particularly those recognised in Canada and the USA as interna- tional NGOs, not only unwittingly export and impose North American values on Africans, but also serve and maintain the global status quo of Western hegemony and African dependence.
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References
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Ake, C., 1996, Democracy and Development in Africa, Washington DC: Brooking Institution.
American Institute of Philanthropy, 2006, Top Salaries, Retrieved on June 7, 2006, from www.charitywatch.org.
Amselle, Jean-Loup, 2002, ‘Africa’s Repulsive Charm in The Western Imagination’,Les Temps Modernes, 620-621, August-November.
Bauman, Z., 1992, Intimations of Postmodernity, London: Routledge.
Blanty, S., 2006, ‘The Silence Is Brutal’, Retrieved on October 11, 2006 from http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/news/voices/2005/07-2005_niger.cfm.
Bob, C., 2005, The Marketing of Rebellion: Insurgents, Media, and International Activism, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bofelo, M., 2005, ‘Gramsci and Biko on Hegemony and Counter-Hegemony, and the Role of Intellectuals and Mass Participation’, Centre for Civil Engagement, Virginia: University of Richmond.
Boggs, C., 1976, Gramsci’s Marxism, London: Pluto Press.
Bond, P., Brutus, D and Setshedi, V., 2004, ‘Are Mainstream NGOs Failing Africa?’,ZMagazine.
Bradley, B., Jansen, P. and Silverman, L., 2003, ‘The Nonprofit Sector’s $100 Billion Opportunity’, Harvard Business Review, May, pp. 94-103.
Brooks, S., 2004, ‘Political Culture in Canada: Issues and Directions’, Canadian Politics, 4(1), 70-78.
Burke, B., 1999, ‘Antonio Gramsci and Informal Education’, The Encyclopedia of Informal Education. Retrieved on July 26, 2006 from http://www.infed.org/thinkers/et-gram.htm
Cahill, D., 2000, ‘Neo-liberal Intellectuals as Organic Intellectuals’, Retrieved on September 23, 2006 from http://apsa2000.anu.edu.au/confpapers/cahill.rtf.
Canadian Association for the Study of Adult Education (CASAE), 2005, National Conference On-Line Proceedings, University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario May 28 to May 31.
Coben, D., 1995, ‘Revisiting Gramsci’, Studies in the Education of Adults, Vol. 27, No. 1, April, pp. 36-51.
Collins, S., 2006, ‘Even the Sound of a Care Made People Run into the Bush’, Retrieved on October 11, 2006 from
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/news/2006/04-14-2006.cfm
De ourny, I., 2006, Niger. We Want To Do More, Retreived on October 11, 2006
from http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/news/2006/09-26-2006_1.cfm.
Dyson, M., 2003, Reflecting Black: African-American Cultural Criticism, Minnesota: University of Minnesota Press.
Elkington, J., 2006, ‘The 21st Century NGO: In the Market for Change’, Retrieved on July 26, 2006
from http://www.sustainability.com/insight/research-article.asp?id.
Faroohar, R., 2005,. Where the Money Is? New York: Global Policy Forum.
Ferguson, R., 1998, Representing Race – Ideology, Identity and the Media, Arnold: London. Ghana News Agency (GNA), 12 July, 2006: 1
Gidley, R., 2005, ‘Rivalry Among Aid Agencies Leads Some to Development Pornography’, Arizona Daily Star, 16 October.
Global Policy Forum, 2006, Global Development Policies, Retrieved July 23, 2006 from http://www.globalpolicy.org.
Gramsci, A., 1971, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, London: Lawrence and Wishart.
Hawk, B. G., 1992, Africa’s Media Image, New York: Praeger.
Honore,Y. A. (2006). ‘A Viable undertaking’. African Society. Retrieved on October 1, 2006.
http://www.africansocieties.org/n4-eng/index_eng.htm
Jez, A., 2006, ‘NGOs: Achievers or deceivers?’, Retrieved on October 11, 2006 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3502733.stm.
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Lappe, F. and Collins, J., 1998, The 12 Hunger Myths, New York: Grove Press.
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3502733.stm.
Mayo, P., 1999, Gramsci, Freire and Adult Education: Possibilities for Transformative Action, New York: Zed Books.
Mezzana, D., 2006, ‘A Cancerous Image’, African Societies, Retrieved on July 26, 2006 from
http://www.africansocieties.org/n4/eng/Dossier.htm.
Moeller, S., 1998, Compassion Fatigue, New York: Routledge.
Muchie, M. and Xing, L., 2006, ‘The Crisis of Hegemony and Counter-hegemony under Transnational Capitalism’, Research Centre for Development and International Relations Institute for History, International and Social Studies, Aalborg University, Denmark.
Munene, H., 2005, ‘Why NGO Corruption in Africa is Unsettling’, The New Times,August 24.
Nduru, M., 2006, ‘Aid for the Poor, Not for the Consultants’, InterPress Service (IPS), July 5.
Nkrumah, K., 1973, Handbook of Revolutionary Warfare, London: PANAF Books Ltd.
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Qaal, O., 2006, ‘NGOs: Achievers or deceivers?’, Retrieved on October 11, 2006 from
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3502733.stm.
Quist-Adade, C., 2001, In the Shadows of the Kremlin and the White House: Africa’s Media Image from Communism to Post-Communism, University Press of America: Lanham.
Quist-Adade, C., 2005, ‘Media Pluralism or Pluralism in the Media?’, Unpublished: Mount Pleasant,
MI. Ritzer, G., 2003, The Globalization of Nothing, Thousand Oaks: Pine Forge.
Robinson, W.I., 2005, ‘Gramsci and Globalisation: From Nation-State to Transnational Hegemony’, Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, 8, no. 4 :1-16.
Ronning, H., 1998. An Unholy Alliance : The Relationship Between International Media and International Aid Organisations, Paper alla confereza su “Reporting Africa”, Centre for Journalism Studies, University of Cardiff (1998), Wales, 22-24 November.
Sankore, R., 2006, ‘Not Enough Flies to Create the Right Effect’, New African. July, 36-37.
Stockwell, J., 1984, In Search of Enemies: The CIA Story, New York: Norton Inc.
The Economist, 2006, ‘The Aid Industry’, March 30.
Van Wyk, A., 2006, ‘Unpublished anonymous interview’, Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada.
Wiarda, H., 1984, Ethnocentrism in Foreign Policy, Washington: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research.
Wikipedia, 2006, Globalization, Retrieved September 23, 2006 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globalization