Reading Africa in the Neoliberal World-System

In this chapter, the contextual and conceptual foundations of the book are consolidated by scrutinising ideas and terms commonly used to think about Africa-in-the-world. Following Raymond Williams on tragedy, I redefine the description of Africa as tragic, in ways that generate a more nuanced and less patronising understanding of the continent’s position within the world-system. This chapter reconceptualises tragedy and its application to Africa’s recent history by interrogating the structurally embedded origins of ‘the tragic continent’ narrative in global discourse. In short, I argue that international neoliberal policy and practice has perpetuated the idea of ‘tragic Africa’ to serve its own interests, from the latter half of the twentieth century to the present.