Who sets the terms of cooperation?

---

Who sets the terms of cooperation? V. Y. Mudimbe argued that partnerships between Euro-America and Africa are unequal before anyone sits down at the table.

The argument

In “Cultural Cooperation and Dialogue,” Mudimbe makes three claims. First, cooperation is unequal from the start: its working rules are set before any consultation takes place. Second, the approach of Euro-American cooperation specialists is colonizing, in that it reshapes another world by its own norms; African academics who apply borrowed models, he adds, do the same. Third, in the imperial view, African culture becomes a relic of the past: a spectacle for ethnologists and a curiosity for tourists.

The evidence

Mudimbe examines forecasts by Herman Kahn’s team at the Hudson Institute in New York, from The Year 2000 and Things to Come. They projected a “multifold trend” in which, by 1985, the world’s peoples would be more culturally alike than ever, as Western values spread through mass culture, cities and bureaucratic elites. Mudimbe calls this vision firmly ethnocentric, with the West set up as the reference for humanity’s present and future, though still useful for measuring the gaps between old powers and young nations.

His alternative

African culture, he argues, must be defined as a project for Africa’s present and future, not by reference to tradition alone. Cultures differ, but each has the same function: to promote freedom and affirm a people’s right to exist in the full political sense. He also warns that a dialogue of cultures is always tragic, because efficiency often comes at the cost of one partner’s culture and history.

Why it matters now

Take Nigeria and Britain. In 1914, Britain joined its Northern and Southern Nigeria protectorates into a single colony, a decision made in London and carried out by Governor-General Frederick Lugard, not negotiated with the people it brought together. When Nigeria became independent in 1960, many of the terms were already in place: the borders, English as the language of government, and institutions modeled on Britain’s. Mudimbe asks us to look past the handshake to the rules written before it. Whether it is an aid package, a trade deal or a university partnership between the two countries, the first question is the same: who set the terms, and when?

Questions to ask of any partnership

1. Who set the terms, and when?
2. Whose model of success is being measured?
3. Is African culture treated as a living project, or as heritage on display?