Reading history in the wrong way

One of the questions I am asked is how best to read about Africa’s contemporary politics? My answer is invariably read history in the right direction.

What do I mean by ‘read history in the right direction’? Before I answer, one can see that I am assuming the questioners are reading history in the wrong way.

I conceptualise history as a continuum chain of events some more substantial and more significant than others. Each preceding event has a considerable bearing on the succeeding one.

If you parochially read African contemporary politics, without (let us say) the history of colonialism, then you are reading history in the wrong way.

Conflicts, political instability between states and within nation-states are all events of history informed by past events.

Now, what is the practical solution to this problem? Here is the order in which we should read about the conflict-strewn African contemporary politics;

1. Read pre-and post-state formation of Europe, in other words, how Europe become nation-states and what method they used to govern themselves before they become modern nation-states?
2. What were the key aims of colonising Africa? resource extraction, political influence, benevolence etc.
3. Post-colonial Africa-how Africa became independent, and what methods were used to build African post-colonial nation-states?
4. The key African anti-colonial leaders. The source of their intellectual and the aspirational project to fight European colonisers.

When you read this in chronological order, here is the picture that emerges

1. That Europe before the emergence of modern states were loosely connected municipalities eventually becoming nation-states after wars and coercions.
2. That the overriding aims and objectives of colonisers (in Africa and elsewhere) were to build extractive and dehumanising institutions in prosperous colonies, to feed, develop and sustain metropoles
3. That the colonisers used the same method of European state-building to their African colonies, with devastating consequences
4. That all anti-colonial leaders were educated and have developed their intellect by reading European enlightenment thinkers( Marxism, Liberalism, etc.).

Let us read history in the right way so that we can make sense of contemporary realities.