African-Western Comparative Economic Rationality

A research project by Bert hamminga

(Read on BBC World Service, 24 August 1998)

 

I am a philosopher from the Netherlands doing research into the differences between European and African philosophy. I have chosen the Busoga of Uganda as my main tribe for purposes of practical inquiries, I work in the Diocese of Jinja, as an associate to the Cultural Research Centre, that is also involved in research on Busoga culture.

In both Europe and Africa, philosophy is much more than academic. It is the way in which all people in a culture look at life generally. When people grow up, they learn about such things as life, death, man, woman, relations, truth, good, bad, time, respect, knowledge, work, money and many more. European children learn sometimes the same, but sometimes also ideas very different from those acquired by African children. It is impossible to decide which of the two is better. Both philosophies grew in their own environment, and perhaps both Europe and Africa are best off with their own philosophies.

But Europeans and Africans can learn from each other. I for instance, learned from Ugandans to sometimes be a little late because I met a relation whom I paid attention to. That is "bad" according to European philosophy: to Europeans, the watch is the absolute master that should be obeyed at all times, from rising to sleeping, with minute preciseness. Two minutes late at a meeting will cause you frowned faces. Europeans often "have no time" for friends, greet quickly and pass. Perhaps that is why they are richer, but much lonelier. To compensate their loneliness, they get anxious to have bigger cars and larger houses, and work almost every minute of the day to get them. Once they bought them, they will take no time to enjoy, because they continue working for more and more. It is nice to have good things, but too many Europeans made it into their religion. And a lot of them suffer from that. They are not happy. There is not always reason to envy Europeans for what they have, because they paid a very heavy price.

The most important difference between the Ugandans and the Dutch is what they answer to the question: what do you have? The Dutch will say: I have a car, house, TV set, on the bank I have so and so much money, etc. De Ugandan will say: I have a husband, and I have four children, and I have a mother, a grandmother, four uncles and six aunts.

Though I am a Dutchman, I am not a normal Dutchman, because I myself do very much prefer the Ugandan answer. That is why I think Europeans can learn a lot from Africans, to regain important values Europeans lost: time, that is attention, for the people around them. As a result of too much working in order to purchase all kinds of commodities, pollution is a big problem in Europe. By relaxing a little bit and pay more attention to relations and relatives, Europe could become happier and cleaner.

On the other hand, Ugandans could learn from Europeans. In Uganda many things could be improved very easily, provided people would be a little bit more conscious about time and future, to make agreements more precise, and fulfil them more exactly. That is in my opinion the strong point of most Europeans: if they have agreed with me to supply bricks at 7:30 AM so that my workers can start at dawn to make my wall, the bricks will not be there at 7:31 AM but at 7:30 AM! A very precise agreement was made about something to happen at a point of time in the future, the future was kept firmly in mind, and the agreement was fulfilled exactly.

Other differences between Holland and Uganda concern responsibility and respect. In Uganda, like in Holland, those who have responsibility, have respect. But in Holland, everybody with responsibility should earn his respect every day by doing what he or she is supposed to do. In Uganda, responsibility often seems so heavy to carry that you can do absolutely nothing besides carrying it! In Holland, someone merely carrying responsibility without doing something would very quickly loose both responsibility and respect to another who is more active in working at the problems he is supposed to solve. Though in both countries there are many exceptions to the rule, in Holland, respect is gained by working hard and having results, in Uganda, respect is often gained by mere responsibility.

Uganda could do better if its best minds would not be judged by the responsibility they acquired but by the results they booked. A poor man who succeeded to make a rain gauge to reduce the time his children carry water en thus increase the time they can work for school deserves respect though he may have little responsibility. A high civil servant only delivering boring and long speeches about things he says are important, though everybody knows he is not going to anything about them, has a lot of responsibility but does not deserve respect. Once everybody feels that respect comes from results, the good people will slowly get at the right positions in society. Democracy and free press are very important to spread knowledge about results people achieved and failures people made. The effect of truly free information to the people on the wealth of everyone is tremendous. When you see people withholding information you can always be sure this is good for a few, but detrimental to the general welfare of the country.

Careers of the good minds in Uganda are responsibility-directed rather than result-directed. As a result many people aspire university education, and Uganda lacks people who can improve the technical problems in the country: respect deserves the worker who can repair the electricity net in such a way that it will not break again in the next storm. Respect deserves the worker who succeeds in keeping telephone switches working all day, every day of the week. Respect deserves the woman who digs the land in time to grow the crop for the school fees. Respect deserves the worker who keeps the water pump going, who builds and repairs the sewage that saves the children from dying. If such people get the respect they deserve, there will soon be many more of them. Who will prefer unemployment after an academic graduation with that notorious handsome square hat and dress but no acquirement of useful capabilities to such beneficial technical professions? Such a preference can only result from an improper distribution of respect in a society. And respect is made not by leaders, but by all people. Respect is part of the philosophy of life in a culture.

"Future" is a word that both Europeans and Africans know. I have learnt from the African philosopher John S. Mbiti how the African "future" differs from the European one. Mbiti successfully explained it to me in his book "African religions and Philosophy", because he took the trouble of learning the European concept of time, and thus understood how to explain the African concept of time to Europeans. A very good result, deserving respect!

To Europeans, time is a set of stripes drawn on the tarmac that is on the road on which we drive. They believe to drive at exactly constant speed, so they think they know exactly when we will cross these stripes. There is one big stripe every hour, a small one every minute, a very small one every second, and so on. Europeans feel sure the road is straight, regular, and goes on forever. Their journey stops when they die, but dying soon is not a real possibility to most of them. Their agreements with each other about future deliveries and payments are very precisely drawn on this tarmac. If they fail to pay or deliver at the moment the vehicle of time is on the agreed tarmac stripe they are in big trouble and probably loose their customer and all his friends. So, agreements made often cause Europeans to be very nervous.

Africans have no such unshakeable belief in the future. Constant speed over regular tarmac might be possible, but the car might as well break down, floods could take the road, and a relative might be met. Africans do not like to waste much time speculating about the future. The chance of it being what we expect is considered low. Why loose energy to such hypothetical considerations! Instead of hours and numerical dates, Africans traditionally rely on emotional marks of time, like when you were born, when you married, when you had you first child, when there was a war. But as far as the future is concerned these marks are still to be made, and the African typically considers his or her influence on that as small.

As a result of its hypothetical nature, to Africans a certain future point in time seems further away than to a European. Waiting for the start of a play by the Ebonites in Jinja, I met a Ugandan sister who just returned from her first visit to London. I asked her: one Ugandan week, how many London weeks would it be. She immediately understood my question, did not think long and said: six.

This would have tremendous consequences: it means that in one week�s hard work, a Ugandan suffers six times as much as a Londoner. If he is free for one week, he enjoys six times as much than a Londoner. If the number six would be a reasonable estimate, which I would be inclined to think, it would be very irrational for a Ugandan to work as hard as a Londoner, especially when you add that the Londoner feels sure about the future enjoyment of his working results and to the Ugandan the future is very unsure and hypothetical.

Whether six or another number, to a Ugandan as compared to a European the present is larger and the future is smaller. Future enjoyment is more real to a European and he is willing to work now in order to fill his future with enjoyment. This future is "big" to him, and he likes it to be filled with enjoyment. To a Ugandan, the same work, requiring the same number of hours, occupies his present, which is something very large. The sacrifice is very high. The reward, filling his future with enjoyment, is low, because his future is small.

That explains why we do not see enough rain gauges, proper sewage, people sitting before houses that have roofs with wholes (in some African languages, "living" and "sitting" are denoted by one and the same word!). If you have money, you could save by living as if you were poor. If you are poor, you could save by living as if you were very poor. But you would suffer in your present, which is much bigger than that of saving Europeans, and enjoy in the future which is much smaller than that of the enjoying Europeans. All this means that for an African to take it more easy in life than a European is understandable and rational.

Growth of wealth is mainly determined by saving and using your savings to buy and make durable conveniences, like all kinds of improvements of your house en household equipment, that increase health and security. Then more children will survive. Then people will have less children. Then children will expect a bigger future before them, and their present will shrink. Then they will feel the personal advantage to save more and work harder for their future. Then they might become like Europeans. I hope they will be a very little bit more like Europeans in cherishing the future somewhat more, and planning it somewhat more precisely, but will not go as far as Europeans to concentrate so much on the acquisition of commodities, often neglecting the people surrounding them.