Time,Development,Africa

Abstract

The current wave of pessimism about the future of tropical Africa is contested, on the basis that Euro/American temporal expectations are inappropriate in the African context. An approach to Africa in the light of large cycles of historical time seems to offer a useful foundation for western expectations and a western plan of action. Well-intended western efforts to assist in development (economically in general, regarding librarianship in particular) may not have been greatly successful because they have disregarded principles, such as those elucidated by Arnold Toynbee, about the way civilizations grow and how much time they need for the process of becoming ‘modem’. It is suggested that Sub-Saharan Africa is engaged now in the essential step of building its middle class, after which (approximately at the beginning of the next century) it will exhibit a demand for means of growth in that class as well as means to sustain upward movement in the poorest class. Those processes, inherent in the emergence of successful societies, will generate the need for information, education and libraries.