How Colonialism Preempted Modernity in Africa HOW COLONIALISM PREEMPTED MODERNITY IN AFRICA Olúfémi Táíwò indiana university press Bloomington and Indianapolis This book is a publication of Indiana University Press 601 North Morton Street Bloomington, IN 47404-3797 USA www.iupress.indiana.edu Telephone orders 800-842-6796 Fax orders 812-855-7931 Orders by e-mail [email protected] © 2010 by Olúfémi Táíwò All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The Association of American Univer- sity Presses’ Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only exception to this prohibition. > The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American Na- tional Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992. Manufactured in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Taiwo, Olufemi. How colonialism preempted modernity in Africa / Taiwo Olufemi. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-253-35374-0 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-253-22130-8 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Africa—Civilization—Philosophy. 2. Africa—Colonial infl uence. 3. Africa—Colonization— History. 4. Europe—Colonies—Africa—History. 5. Colonies—Africa—History. 6. Africa— Politics and government. 7. Missionaries—Africa—History. 8. Democracy—Africa. 9. Capitalism—Africa. I. Title. DT14.T35 2009 325.6—dc22 2009019610 1 2 3 4 5 15 14 13 12 11 10 To Segun Osoba Toye Olorode Dipo Fashina Teachers, Friends, Comrades And John Olubi Sodipo Sweet are the memories of the just. The proof is that at present [that is, while colonialism lasted] it is the indigenous peoples of Africa and Asia who are demanding schools, and colonialist Europe which refuses them; that it is the African who is asking for ports and roads, and colonialist Europe which is niggardly on this score; and that it is the colonized man who wants to move forward, and the colonizer who holds things back. —Aimé Césaire We claim, in common with the rest of mankind, that taxation without represen- tation is a bad thing, and we are pledged, as all free peoples have had to do, that in our several communities the African shall have that common weapon for the protection and safeguarding of his rights and interests, namely, the franchise. It is desirable, we hold, that by our vote we shall determine by what laws we shall be governed and how the revenues which we help to put together shall be utilized. Equally do we hold with others that there should be free scope for the members of the community, irrespective of creed or colour, to hold any offi ce under the crown or fl ag to which a person’s merits entitle him or her. —J. E. Casely Hayford CONTENTS Acknowledgments ix Introduction: Of Subjectivity and Sociocryonics 1 PART I. COLONIALISM 1. Colonialism: A Philosophical Profi le 21 2. Running Aground on Colonial Shores: The Saga of Modernity and Colonialism 49 3. Prophets without Honor: African Apostles of Modernity in the Nineteenth Century 98 4. Reading the Colonizer’s Mind: Lord Lugard and the Philosophical Foundations of British Colonialism 128 PART II. THE AFTERMATH 5. The Legal Legacy: Twilight before Dawn 157 6. Two Modern African Constitutions 202 PART III. LOOKING FORWARD 7. Globalization: Doing It Right This Time Around 237 Conclusion 273 Notes 275 Selected Bibliography 323 Index 329 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS For a work that has had as along a gestation as this one, it is quite in order that I have garnered a lot of debts along the way. While the work developed I moved around a lot, and as much as possible, I shall thank my benefactors according to where I met them and where they came to affect the shape or direction of this work. The oldest antecedent of all the chapters of this book came out of the original project for which I was awarded a Rockefeller Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Africana Studies and Research Center, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, back in 1990. There I met Kofi Anyidoho. If I could claim nothing else from my stay but Profes- sor Anyidoho’s friendship and his interest in and sponsorship of my work ever since, it would have been well worth it. Fortunately, Ithaca was also a place where I was blessed to interact with some old friends and make new ones. I would like to thank David Lyons, whose friendship and mentoring had a greater impact on me than I think he realized. I also thank Anne Adams; Biodun Jeyifo; Jim Turner; Robert Har- ris, Jr.; Abdul Nanji; and the late Don Ohadike. Yetunde Laniran always managed to save me from the terror of computers and their quirky ways. In 1991, I moved to the Philosophy Department at Loyola University in Chicago. I was the benefi ciary of the kindness and professional support of so many colleagues during the many years I spent there. As the individual acknowledgments in differ- ent chapters show, the bulk of the research that has been gathered in this book was done while the department at Loyola served as my home base. My Chicago years were productive but they also were some of the most diffi cult periods of my life so far, both personally and professionally. I am forever thankful for the support of my Chi- cago family, who never let me really discover how bad my situation then was until I left and was able to look backward with some detachment. I thank Hugh Miller and his family; David Schweickart, David Ingram, Thomas Sheehan, and the rest of the Heartland Café Sunday morning group; Julie Ward and her husband, Ezio Vailati, “my countryman”; Holly Graff; David Ozar; Ardis Collins; Sue Cunning- ham; Andrew Cutrofello; Jennifer Parks; the late Hans Seigfried; Ken Thompson; Heidi Malm; Patricia Huntington; Tom Carson; Diane Suter; Cheryl Johnson-Odim and her family; Susan Cavallo; Judith Wittner; Ayana Karanja; Clement Adibe and x Acknowledgments his family; Chiji Akoma and his family; Charles Mills; Bernard Walker; Leslie Bris- sette; and Jeanne Huchthausen. The graduate students who participated in my seminar on Modernity and Co- lonialism at Loyola University in 1998–1999 deserve mention. Among them, Shannon Shea, who later served as my research assistant, must be cited for special thanks. She was an invaluable assistant and tracked down materials for me at cru- cial stages in the evolution of my research. Kory Schaff and Katrina Sifferd read ear- lier versions of chapter 5 and gave me helpful feedback. Colleen Sweeney, Carole Heath, Cynthia Brincat, Carmela Eppright, David Gandolfo, Judy Massey-Dozier, and Lenora Jean Daniels, along with those I just mentioned, are all former graduate students whom I am honored and proud to now call friends. When I was invited to spend a most fruitful week as a Visiting Distinguished Mi- nority Scholar at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Professors Tess Onwueme and Obika Gray were incredible hosts. The community there provided the original audience for the precursor of what is now chapter 2. I thank them for providing me with enough activities in one week to try out many new ideas. I also thank Masako Arisawa, then of Menomonee, Wisconsin, now of Kobe, Japan, for her continuing friendship. I was invited to Bayreuth in 1999, where I served as a Visiting Professor at the Institut für Afrikastudien, Universität Bayreuth. I would like to thank my host, Pro- fessor Dr. Dierk Lange and his family; Dr. Peter Probst and his family; and Profes- sor Dr. Ulrich Berner of the Religious Studies Department for their hospitality and generosity. I also thank Gabriele Weisser, Heike Wildemann, Diatou Sylla, Lucia Dogbe, Thorstein Parchent, and Kristin Scherer. Professor Dr. Eckard Breitinger’s friendship and generosity remain ever green in my heart. The Nigerian academic community I met in Bayreuth was a welcome surprise and a source of strength and inspiration. I take this opportunity to express my appreciation for the support, en- couragement, and friendship of Charles Bodunde, Wole Ogundele, and Onookome Okome. And to the rest of the Nigerian community who welcomed me into their homes, I remain grateful. Part of what they taught me with their stories is refl ected in this book. I would like to say to my Bayreuth community that your city and your welcome did a lot more for me than you will ever know. During my one-year stay at the Carter G. Woodson Institute, University of Vir- ginia, Charlottesville, this book came together, and for that I must thank the in- credible good luck that placed me in the midst of one of the most intellectually ac- tive communities I have ever participated in. Tejumola Olaniyan, brother, friend, comrade, and original instigator of my venture to UVA, and Mojisola Olaniyan, “de Law,” and their family deserve special gratitude. Aà ní té lówó ara wa o. Director Reginald Butler and Associate Director Scot French facilitated my work. The core of young scholars, junior postdoctoral fellows, and predoctoral fellows challenged Acknowledgments xi my thinking in more ways than they would permit themselves to believe. Dr. Meta DuEwa Jones, Jemima Pierre, Joseph Hellweg, Mieka Brand, Jeffrey Fleisher, Adrian Hastings, Peter Bwenge, I hope that this reminds you all of what a wonderful time we shared in Charlottesville. I thank Professor Hanan Sabea and Professor George Mentore of the Anthropology Department and Andrew Efemini of the Government Department. Seattle University has been my home and my place of work since August 2001.