a short essay
Walter Rodney's How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (1972) examines the systemic extraction of wealth, labour, and resources from Africa during and after colonialism. he argues that European economic practices delibrately inhibited African development to benefit European powers. this framing as underdevelopment not as accidental but a direct consequence of colonialism, emphasises structural inequalities and the historical continuation from colonialism to neocolonialism.
similarly, Frantz Fanon's The Wretched of the Earth (1961) approaches the effects of colonialism through a psycho-political lens. through the dehumanising impact of occupation on both the colonised and coloniser, Fanon emphasises violence as both a symptom of colonial oppression and a necessary agent of revolutionary change. liberation requires active disruption of imposed sociopolitical orders.
and so both of these texts together form comprehensive and complementary perspectives; Rodney maps the structural and economic mechanisms of underdevelopment, particularly in Africa, while Fanon exposes the psychological and revolutionary forces that arise from such a systemic oppression. in the context of artistic strategies, these frameworks guide creativity that expose historical injustices and imagine emancipatory futures. as analysed in decolonialism the political work that is to come in the next few years will be the realisation of these ideas.
adrian robinson
last updated: december 2025