3 - On Prospective: Development and a Political Culture of Time
Corresponding Author(s) : Souleymane Bachir Diagne
Africa Development,
Vol. 29 No. 1 (2004): Africa Development: Special Issue on 'Philosophy and Development'
Abstract
This paper interprets the African development crisis as a crisis of initiative. Right after the Lagos Plan of Action was adopted in 1980, came in 1981 the Berg Report on which were built the Structural Adjustment Programmes that African countries were soon forced to adopt. Unsurprisingly, the weakened states and impoverished populations lost sight of what was the driving force behind the Lagos Plan of Action; that is, a long-term perspective, a horizon for development. Along with developmental perspective, what was thus lost was nothing less than meaning. This crisis of meaning is felt today particularly in Africa's youngest generations who perceive themselves as futureless unless they emigrate. Because meaning flows from the future to the present, and is about shaping the future, this is a philosophical reflection on time which is also a call for the reconstruction of meaning through the cultivation of 'a prospective capacity' in our African societies. Analyzing this philosophical concept as it was developed by Gaston Berger, this paper argues that such a cultivation of 'prospective' amounts to fostering a political culture of time which is to be understood in total contrast with the ethnological approach attached to a so called 'African' notion of time.
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- Adedeji, A., 2002, 'From the Lagos Plan of Action to the New Partnership for African Development and from the Final Act of Lagos to the Constitutive Act: Whither Africa?' in Anyang' Nyong'o, P., Asegedech, G. and Davinder, L. eds., New Partnership for Africa's Development: NEPAD. A New Path?, Nairobi, Heinrich Boil Foundation.
- Adjaye, J. K. ed., 1994, lime in the Black Experience, Westport: CN, Greenwood Press.
- Berger, G., 1958, 'L'attitude prospective', Prospective, Paris, Publication du Centre d'Etudes prospectives,no.1, Mai.
- Chesneaux, J., 1998, 'Pour une culture politique du temps. Quel dialogue entre passé, présent et avenir', Futuribles, no. 234, Septembre.
- Diagne, S. B. and Kimmerle, H., 1998, Time and Development in the Thought of Subsaharan Africa, Amsterdam and Atlanta, GA, Rodopi.
- Diagne, S. B., 2000, Reconstruire le sens: textes et enjeux de prospectives africaines, Dakar, CODESRIA.
- Gyekye, K., 1987, An essay on African Philosophical Thought: the Akan Conceptual Scheme, New York, Cambridge University Press.
- Mbaye, A., 1997, 'Léopold Sédar Senghor et Gaston Berger', in Diagne, S.B. ed., Gaston Berger: Introduction à une philosophie de l'avenir, Dakar, Neas. Mbiti, J. S., 1990, African Religions and Philosophy, second edition, Oxford Heinemann.
- Olukoshi, A., 2002, 'Goveming the African Political Space for Sustainable Development: A Reflection on NEPAD', in Anyang' Nyong'o, P., Asegedech, G., and Davinder, L. eds., New Partnership for Africa 's Development: NEPAD. A New Path?, Nairobi, Heinrich Boil Foundation.
- Sail, A., 2003, Afrique 2025. Quels futurs possibles pour l'Afi·ique au sud du Sahara? Paris, Karthala.
- Schoenbnm, D.L.,1997, The Historical Reconstruction of Great Lakes Bantu CulturalVocabula,y: Etymologies and Distributions, Koln, Rüdiger Koppe Verlag. Senghor, L. S., 1964, 'Le problème de la culture', Liberté, négritude et humanisme,Paris, Seuil.
- Serres, M., 'Espace et temps', 1981, in Philippe Choquard and Jean-Louis Ferrier eds., Sur l'aménagement du temps. Essai de chronogénie, Paris, Denoël/ Gonthier.
References
Adedeji, A., 2002, 'From the Lagos Plan of Action to the New Partnership for African Development and from the Final Act of Lagos to the Constitutive Act: Whither Africa?' in Anyang' Nyong'o, P., Asegedech, G. and Davinder, L. eds., New Partnership for Africa's Development: NEPAD. A New Path?, Nairobi, Heinrich Boil Foundation.
Adjaye, J. K. ed., 1994, lime in the Black Experience, Westport: CN, Greenwood Press.
Berger, G., 1958, 'L'attitude prospective', Prospective, Paris, Publication du Centre d'Etudes prospectives,no.1, Mai.
Chesneaux, J., 1998, 'Pour une culture politique du temps. Quel dialogue entre passé, présent et avenir', Futuribles, no. 234, Septembre.
Diagne, S. B. and Kimmerle, H., 1998, Time and Development in the Thought of Subsaharan Africa, Amsterdam and Atlanta, GA, Rodopi.
Diagne, S. B., 2000, Reconstruire le sens: textes et enjeux de prospectives africaines, Dakar, CODESRIA.
Gyekye, K., 1987, An essay on African Philosophical Thought: the Akan Conceptual Scheme, New York, Cambridge University Press.
Mbaye, A., 1997, 'Léopold Sédar Senghor et Gaston Berger', in Diagne, S.B. ed., Gaston Berger: Introduction à une philosophie de l'avenir, Dakar, Neas. Mbiti, J. S., 1990, African Religions and Philosophy, second edition, Oxford Heinemann.
Olukoshi, A., 2002, 'Goveming the African Political Space for Sustainable Development: A Reflection on NEPAD', in Anyang' Nyong'o, P., Asegedech, G., and Davinder, L. eds., New Partnership for Africa 's Development: NEPAD. A New Path?, Nairobi, Heinrich Boil Foundation.
Sail, A., 2003, Afrique 2025. Quels futurs possibles pour l'Afi·ique au sud du Sahara? Paris, Karthala.
Schoenbnm, D.L.,1997, The Historical Reconstruction of Great Lakes Bantu CulturalVocabula,y: Etymologies and Distributions, Koln, Rüdiger Koppe Verlag. Senghor, L. S., 1964, 'Le problème de la culture', Liberté, négritude et humanisme,Paris, Seuil.
Serres, M., 'Espace et temps', 1981, in Philippe Choquard and Jean-Louis Ferrier eds., Sur l'aménagement du temps. Essai de chronogénie, Paris, Denoël/ Gonthier.