How Europe Underdeveloped Africa

Gerhart, Gail M.; Rodney, Walter

doi:10.2307/20048265

Cited by 2,530African history and culture studiesWorld Systems and Global TransformationsPolitical Economy and Marxism

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How Europe Underdeveloped Africa

Gerhart, Gail M., Rodney, Walter·1997·Foreign Affairs

DOI 10.2307/20048265

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How Europe Underdeveloped Africa is an ambitious masterwork of political economy, detailing the impact of slavery and colonialism on the history of international capitalism. In this classic book, Rodney makes the unflinching case that African “mal-development” is not a natural feature of geography, but a direct product of imperial extraction from the continent, a practice that continues up into the present. Meticulously researched, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa remains a relevant study for understanding the so-called “great divergence” between Africa and Europe, just as it remains a prescient resource for grasping the multiplication of global inequality today. In this new edition, Angela Davis offers a striking foreword to the book, exploring its lasting contributions to a revolutionary and feminist practice of anti-imperialism.

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Authors: Gerhart, G. M., & Rodney, W.
Venue: Foreign Affairs
Publisher: JSTOR
Published: 1997
Volume: 76
Issue: 5
Pages: 237
ISSN: 0015-7120 (ISSN-L)
DOI: 10.2307/20048265
OpenAlex: W4246066143
Cited by: 2,530
References: 0
Citations by year: 2025: 110 · 2024: 229 · 2023: 274 · 2022: 298 · 2021: 229 · 2020: 205 · 2019: 148 · 2018: 117 · 2017: 106 · 2016: 95 · 2015: 63 · 2014: 67 · 2013: 69 · 2012: 62
FWCI: 48.20
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: closed
Locations: Foreign Affairs (publishedVersion)
Topics: Social Sciences › Anthropology › African history and culture studies
Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › World Systems and Global Transformations
Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Political Economy and Marxism
Keywords: European colonialism, underdevelopment, Africa, colonialism

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