Global Shadows: Africa in the Neoliberal World Order

by James Ferguson

Both on the continent and off, “Africa” is spoken of in terms of crisis: as a place of failure and seemingly insurmountable problems, as a moral challenge to the international community. What, though, is really at stake in discussions about Africa, its problems, and its place in the world? And what should be the response of those scholars who have sought to understand not the “Africa” portrayed in broad strokes in journalistic accounts and policy papers but rather specific places and social realities within Africa?In Global Shadows the renowned anthropologist James Ferguson moves beyond the traditional anthropological focus on local communities to explore more general questions about Africa and its place in the contemporary world. Ferguson develops his argument through a series of provocative essays which open—as he shows they must—into interrogations of globalization, modernity, worldwide inequality, and social justice. He maintains that Africans in a variety of social and geographical locations increasingly seek to make claims of membership within a global community, claims that contest the marginalization that has so far been the principal fruit of “globalization” for Africa. Ferguson contends that such claims demand new understandings of the global, centered less on transnational flows and images of unfettered connection than on the social relations that selectively constitute global society and on the rights and obligations that characterize it.

Ferguson points out that anthropologists and others who have refused the category of Africa as empirically problematic have, in their devotion to particularity, allowed themselves to remain bystanders in the broader conversations about Africa. In Global Shadows, he urges fellow scholars into the arena, encouraging them to find a way to speak beyond the academy about Africa’s position within an egregiously imbalanced world order.

Genres: Africa, Anthropology, Nonfiction, Politics, Economics, History, Academic

262 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. This is James^^^Ferguson.

James Ferguson was an American anthropologist. He is known for his work on the politics and anthropology of international development, specifically his critical stance (development criticism). He was chair of the Anthropology Department at Stanford University. His best-known work is his book, The Anti-Politics Machine. He delivered the most prestigious lecture in anthropology, the Morgan Lecture, in 2009, for his work on basic income.
Ferguson earned his B.A. in cultural anthropology from the University of California, Santa Barbara and an M.A. and Ph.D. in social anthropology from Harvard University.

Reviews

[Yaniv · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the field of anthropology and African studies, James Ferguson stands on his own. You'll never think the same about development, neoliberalism, Africa, the state, NGOs or even anthropology after reading his stuff. This collection of essays not only show Ferguson's depth and originality of thought, but they also illustrate how academics should write for the public, for Ferguson's clear and compelling writing is nothing but joy for the reader. Simply put, this is an excellent book by one of the most powerful and influential anthropologists today.

[Sara González · Rating 3 out of 5]

Una lectura estupenda para cualquiera que le interese la dinámica y las relaciones de poder entre África y Occidente.
Me pareció muy interesante y me abrió mucho los ojos su crítica a los programas de ayuda brindados por el FMI, las ONGs y el Banco Central.
Profundiza en casos precisos de algunos países y cuenta anécdotas que el autor vivió mientras estuvo de investigador en Zambia. También aborda la cuestión de la extracción de petróleo y minerales por empresas occidentales, tema del que personalmente no sabía nada y me ha dejado con ganas de seguir aprendiendo.
Es un libro que anima a utilizar pensamiento crítico y eso siempre está muy bien.
Eso sí, sólo hay versión en inglés y la lectura a veces se vuelve un poco pesada por lo densa que es.

[Phillip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ferguson basically begins with the contention that most discussion of neoliberalism and globalization has ignored Africa because the continent presents unique challenges to both supporters and critics of economic globalization. He argues that Africa--particularly southern and western Africa, where most of Ferguson's anthropological work seems to be focused--has been largely left behind by the globalized economy despite anthropologists and postcolonial theorists continually asserting Africa's 'alternative modernity.'
One point that he makes which I think is really prescient is that the metaphor of capital 'flow' fails to describe the actual movement of international capital. Instead, he argues, capital 'hops' from point to point. The image of flow suggests that capital moves across spaces and benefits everyone between say London and South Africa's diamond mines, when in reality capital may leap from London to Angola's oil fields to South Africa's mines and remain in smallish sheltered and militarized enclaves, providing only 'thin' social benefits to the nation and local population.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book de-romances and dissipates myths not only along neoliberal transnationalist fronts in africa, but many anthropological leanings as well. It analyzes ethnography, lexicons, trends of thought, and political economy itself. While researching the anthropology of the transnational in Africa, Ferguson concurrently questions and challenges current trails in anthropology, postcolonial studies, and the idea of development in Africa.

[Dillon Tatum · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a collection of essays written by Ferguson, an anthropologist specializing in nationalism and South Africa. I haven't read the entire book, just a few essays, but they are quite well done. Especially stimulating is the essay about "pseudo-nations." I am obviously not a South African specialist, nor am I an anthropologist, but I found that the essays are highly applicable to my own intellectual projects.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really accessible analysis of the 'problem' of academics in theorizing globalization and Africa. Ferguson is pushing us to stop fetishizing the 'local' so we can get in the game and talk about Africa more broadly, along with everyone else. Otherwise, those who study the continent won't have a chance to inform decisions about it.

[unperspicacious]

I read this for the relevant sections on the interplay between extractive industries, institutional legacies of social corporatism and the international economy (Chs 1 & 8).

Will come back to the rest later. Hints of some useful discussions about 'mimicry' in consumption (of both materials and ideas from the affluent West) in Chs 5 & 6.

[vivian · Rating 5 out of 5]

best writing ive read on "globalisation" and africa.

[Becci]

Complex topics clearly explained. Mind-opening, stimulating literature that is ideal for undergraduate anthropology studies.

[John Favini · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gotta love James Ferguson

[Dylan Groves · Rating 3 out of 5]

+1 pushes back on anthropologist bias towards the plural and the particular

-1 book of essays, so argument wasn't as cohesive, or as clear, as anti-politics machine or give a man a fish

[Ahmed Hafezi · Rating 4 out of 5]

really good

[Michael McLaren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really loved this book, very approachable and endlessly interesting. I think what I enjoyed most about this book was its sheer originality, I imagine that's partly due to the fact I'm more of a casual reader. Nonetheless, all the ideas within are fully formed, well described and remarkably original. Some of the most memorable sections of the book were:

1. The gutting of the state in Africa by structural readjustment policies and the subsequent filling of that vacuum by NGOs, who take on a quasi-governmental role.

2. The nature of globalisation within Africa and how it differs from the traditional narrative. The narrative being that globalisation has swept in and upturned Africa, whereas globalisation can be better seen as system of points- mines, nature reserves and oil wells - within Africa, with the parts in-between left to fend for themselves and how Africans often desire for greater connection to the global community.

3. Taking the example of Lesotho in South Africa as somewhat of a microcosm of Africa's relation to the world and how the system of nation states creates an arbitrary division and independence that's not reflected on the ground level. Lesotho is deeply exploited by its dependence on South Africa, used as a labour reserve and heavily influenced by South Africa policies, economics and culture, while being an enclave. Yet told it's an independent nation.

4. An alternative perspective on nature reserves as western intervention in Africa, where poachers are often locals who have had their ancestral hunting ground taken away by the reserves and how the system of nature reserves is ultimately a story of western coercion and western interests.

5. The failure of the concept of civil society as applied to Africa. How it originated as concept, to be applied to Eastern Europe and Russia. It quickly falls apart when transported to an African context, how the unique African context needs to take into account transnational organisations such as NGOS, the IMF and the World Bank, which intervene at all levels of society.

[Chloe Z · Rating 3 out of 5]

As my mentor once said, all research is me-search! Reading this back to back with Isabella Weber's book on how China escaped shock therapy made me realize, history becomes infinitely more interesting to me when there's a socio-cultural angle. This book still discusses IMF/World Bank structural adjustment programs, etc, but more contextualization and more human focused? I can only say for a topic I'm only tangentially interested in, I liked this more.

[Alice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Surprisingly still very relevant, given that it was written between 2004 and 2005.
Favorite essay: Decomposing modernity - there's much to think about for anthropologists.

[Laoise Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

read most of it teehee soz