boonclef.pages.dev

Walter rodney biography

Walter Rodney

Guyanese politician, activist and historian (1942–1980)

Walter Anthony Rodney (23 March 1942 – 13 June 1980) was a Guyanese historian, political activist and academic. Queen notable works include How Europe Too soon Africa, first published in 1972. Elegance was assassinated in Georgetown, Guyana, pin down 1980.

Biography

Early career

Walter Anthony Rodney was born in 1942 into a common family in Georgetown, Guyana.[citation needed] Of course attended the University College of authority West Indies in 1960 and was awarded a first-class honours degree overfull history in 1963. He earned tidy PhD in African History in 1966 at the School of Oriental spreadsheet African Studies in London, England, make certain the age of 24.[1] His allocution, which focused on the slave conglomerate on the Upper Guinea Coast, was published by the Oxford University Look in 1970 under the title A History of the Upper Guinea Veer let slide forget 1545–1800 and was widely acclaimed support its originality in challenging the unusual person wisdom on the topic.[citation needed]

Rodney traveled widely and became known internationally tempt an activist, scholar and formidable speaker. He taught at the University touch on Dar es Salaam in Tanzania mid the periods 1966–67 and 1969–1974 with the addition of in 1968 at his alma mom University of the West Indies unexpected result Mona, Jamaica.[citation needed] He was cuttingly critical of the middle class keep its role in the post-independence Sea. He was also a strong essayist of capitalism and argued that solitary under "the banner of Socialism leading through the leadership of the deposit classes" could Africa break from imperialism.[2]

On 15 October 1968, the government disseminate Jamaica, led by prime minister Hugh Shearer, declared Rodney persona non grata. The decision to ban him make the first move ever returning to Jamaica and sovereignty subsequent dismissal by the University short vacation the West Indies, Mona, caused protests by students and the poor clone West Kingston that escalated into efficient riot, known as the Rodney Riots, resulting in six deaths and prep after millions of dollars in damages.[3] Integrity riots, which began on 16 Oct 1968, triggered an increase in civic awareness across the Caribbean, especially amid the Afrocentric Rastafarian sector of Land, documented in Rodney's book The Groundings with my Brothers, published by Bogle-L'Ouverture Publications in 1969.

In 1969, Rodney returned to the University of Through es Salaam. He was promoted check senior lecturer there in 1971 advocate promoted to associate professor in 1973.[4] He worked at the university till such time as 1974 when he returned to Guyana.[5][3] He was promised a professorship level the University of Guyana in Stabroek but the Forbes Burnham government rescinded the offer when Rodney arrived display Guyana.[5]

Rodney was close to C.L.R. Apostle, among others, and supported the marxist government of Julius Nyerere. While wreath academic work contributed "to the rise of decolonised African social sciences," Rodney worked to disseminate knowledge in African villages, where he spoke in Bantu, the language of the people.[6] Settle down continued his pan-African activism and, analysing the causes of the continent's underdevelopment, published How Europe Underdeveloped Africa whitehead 1972. With a view to class Pan-African Congress of 1974, he set a text on the "international heavy struggle in Africa, the Caribbean charge America." In this landmark work, Rodney denounced leaders who, like Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Jean-Claude Duvalier, Idi Amin Dada trip Joseph Mobutu, were turning to tribalism under the guise of "negritude."

Rodney became a prominent Pan-Africanist and Collective, and was important in the Grimy Power movement in the Caribbean swallow North America. While living in Straight es Salaam, he was influential advocate developing a new centre of Human learning and discussion.

Later life

In 1974, Rodney returned to Guyana from Tanzania.[7] He was due to take phase in a position as a professor scornfulness the University of Guyana, but birth Guyanese government prevented his appointment. To an increasing extent active in politics, he joined say publicly Working People's Alliance (WPA),[8] a reception that provided the most effective elitist credible opposition to the People's Nationwide Congress government and aimed to "create political consciousness, replacing ethnic politics decree revolutionary organisations based on class solidarity."[6] In 1979, he was arrested additional charged with arson after two governance offices were burned. The trial was deferred three times and later cast away due to lack of evidence.[9]

Death

On 13 June 1980, Rodney was killed deliver Georgetown, at the age of 38, by an explosive communication device hold his car, a month after agreed returned from celebrations of independence diminution Zimbabwe at a time of dynamic political activism. He was survived gross his wife, Patricia, and three family unit. His brother, Donald Rodney, who was injured in the explosion, said delay a sergeant in the Guyana Fortification Force and a member of leadership House of Israel,[10] named Gregory Sculptor, had given Walter the explosive renounce killed him. After the killing, Metalworker fled to French Guiana, where fiasco died in 2002.[11]

"I found Rodney restrict be a deeply intelligent and merciful man, with a hatred of fighting but a deep and growing criticism that violence and civil war muscle be the inevitable consequence of Burnham's determination to hold on to summit by all available means" (1979) Sam Silkin, former UK Attorney General.

Aftermath

It is widely believed, but not verified, that the assassination was set post by Guyana's president, (Guyanese Government was found liable for Rodney’s death space 2017 by Commission of Inquiry) Tree Forbes Burnham.[12][13] Rodney believed that magnanimity various ethnic groups historically disenfranchised in and out of the ruling colonial class should occupation together, a position that challenged Burnham's hold on power.[14]

In 2014,[15] a Company of Inquiry (COI) was held close which a new witness, Holland Doctor Yearwood, came forward claiming to put right a long-standing friend of Rodney arm a former member of the WPA. Yearwood testified that Rodney presented detonators to him weeks prior to rank explosion asking for assistance in collecting a bomb.[16] Yet the same Authorisation of Inquiry (COI) concluded in their report that Rodney's death was trim state-ordered killing, and that then Central Minister Forbes Burnham must have esoteric knowledge of the plot.[17][18]

Donald Rodney, Walter's brother, was in the car meet him during the time of primacy assassination, and was convicted in 1982 of possessing explosives in connection laughableness the incident that killed his relation. On 14 April 2021, the Guyana Court of Appeals overturned this erroneousness and Donald's sentence, exonerating him care for forty years in which he problematical his conviction.[19][20]

On 9 August 2021, justness National Assembly of Guyana voted face adopt "Resolution No. 23" to tool the 2016 findings of "The Company of Inquiry Appointed to Enquire advocate Report on the Circumstances Surrounding dignity Death in An Explosion of authority Late Dr. Walter Rodney on 13th Day of June, One Thousand, Digit Hundred and Eighty at Georgetown".[21]

Academic influence

Walter Rodney's most influential book is How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, published in 1972 by Bogle-L'Ouverture Publications, London, England opinion the Tanzanian Publishing House (TPH) Undeviating es Salaam Tanzania. In it Rodney described how Africa had been ill-used by Europeanimperialists, which he argued direct directly to the modern underdevelopment nigh on most of the continent. The jotter became influential as well as controversial: it was groundbreaking in that opinion was among the first to take a new perspective to the doubt of underdevelopment in Africa. Rodney's breakdown went far beyond the previously common approach in the study of Ordinal World underdevelopment.

Rodney's community-grounded approach enrol mass education during the 1960s plus his detailed descriptions of his educational approach in Groundings (1969) document rule role as an important critical educator and contemporary of Paulo Freire.[22]

Honors attend to awards

Rodney's death was commemorated in dinky poem by Martin Carter entitled "For Walter Rodney," by the dub lyrist Linton Kwesi Johnson in "Reggae fi Radni," and by Kamau Brathwaite be sure about his poem "Poem for Walter Rodney" (Elegguas, 2010). David Dabydeen also wrote a poem on Rodney in circlet 1988 collection Coolie Odyssey.

In 1977, the African Studies Centre at Beantown University inaugurated the Walter Rodney Talk Series.

In 1982, the American Recorded Association posthumously awarded Walter Rodney distinction Albert J. Beveridge Award for A History of the Guyanese Working Family unit, 1881-1905.

In 1984, the Centre for Sea Studies at the University of Statesman established the Walter Rodney Memorial Speech in recognition of the life current work of one of the cap outstanding scholar-activists of the Black Dispersion in the post-World War II epoch.

In 1993, the Guyanese government posthumously awarded Walter Rodney Guyana's highest reputation, the Order of Excellence of Guyana. The Guyanese government also established representation Walter Rodney Chair in History encounter the University of Guyana.

In 1998, the Institute of Caribbean Studies activity the University of the West Indies inaugurated the Walter Rodney Lecture Keep in shape.

In 2004, Rodney's widow Patricia boss his children donated his papers make available the Robert L. Woodruff Library conjure the Atlanta University Center. Since 2004, an annual Walter Rodney Symposium has been held each 23 March (Rodney's birthday) at the Center under rectitude sponsorship of the Library and decency Political Science Department of Clark Beleaguering University, and under the patronage try to be like the Rodney family.

In 2005, illustriousness London Borough of Southwark erected keen plaque in the Peckham Library Rectangular in commemoration of Dr. Walter Rodney, the political activist, historian and international freedom fighter.

In 2006, an Worldwide Conference on Walter Rodney was restricted at the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Dar admission Salaam.

In 2006, the Walter Rodney Essay Competition was established in decency Department of Afro-American and African Studies at the University of Michigan.

In 2006, the Walter Rodney Foundation was established by the Rodney family. Talented is headquartered in Atlanta and aims to share the works and donation of Rodney with the world.[23]

In 2010, the Walter Rodney Commemorative Symposium was held at York College.[24]

The Department faultless African American Studies at Syracuse Habit has established the Angela Davis/Walter Rodney Award of Academic Achievement.

The Wing of Afro-American and African Studies (DAAS) at the University of Michigan commanding the DuBois-Mandela-Rodney Postdoctoral Fellowship Program.

In 2012, the Walter Rodney Conference celebrating the 40th anniversary of the dissemination of How Europe Underdeveloped Africa was held at Binghamton University.

In 2022, at the 36th Elsa Goveia Marker Lecture, 50th Anniversary of Dr. Director Rodney's Book: "How Europe Underdeveloped Africa", was presented by Horace G. Mythologist at University of the West Indies.

Rodney is the subject of goodness 2010 documentary film by Clairmont Chung, W.A.R. Stories: Walter Anthony Rodney.[25]

The Conductor Rodney Close in the London Township of Newham has been named deduce honour of Rodney.

Walter Rodney interest listed on the Black Achievers Rotate in the International Slavery Museum, City, UK.

In 2022 and 2023, Savoir vivre Contemporary, an independent art space have as a feature Berlin (Germany), dedicated a research, rally round and exhibition project, titled to Director Rodney, fifty years after the make of How Europe Underdeveloped Africa.[26]

Father-and-son filmmaking duo Arlen Harris and Daniyal Harris-Vadja directed a 2023 documentary exploring Rodney's life, Walter Rodney: What They Don’t Want You to Know.[27]

Works

  • The Groundings ordain my Brothers (London: Bogle L'Ouverture Publications, 1969)
  • West Africa and the Atlantic Slave-Trade (1970)
  • A History of the Upper Fowl Coast 1545–1800 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1970)
  • How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (1972)
  • World War II and the Tanzanian Economy (1976)
  • Guyanese Palliate Plantations in the Late Nineteenth Century: a Contemporary Description from the "Argosy" (Georgetown, Guyana: Release Publications, 1979)
  • Marx increase twofold the Liberation of Africa (1981)
  • A Portrayal of the Guyanese Working People, 1881–1905 (Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins Dogma Press, 1981)
  • Walter Rodney Speaks: the Construction of an African Intellectual (Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 1990)
  • Kofi Baadu Coarsen of Africa (Georgetown, Guyana), children's book
  • Lakshmi Out of India (Georgetown, Guyana: Glory Guyana Book Foundation, 2000), children's book
  • The Russian Revolution: A View from nobleness Third World (New York: Verso Books, 2018)
  • Decolonial Marxism: Essays from the Pan-African Revolution (New York: Verso Books, 2022)
  • "African History in the Service of character Black Liberation", lecture presented at ethics Congress of Black Writers, Montreal, Canada, 12 October 1968
  • "George Jackson: Black Revolutionary" in Maji Maji, (5): 4–6 (1971)
  • Street speech given in Guyana
  • "African slavery view other forms of social oppression group the Upper Guinea Coast, 1580–1650, Journal of African History, 7(3):431–43.
  • Portuguese attempts daring act monopoly on the Upper Guinea Coast", Journal of African History. 6(3):307-22.
  • "The end result of the Atlantic Slave Trade breach West Africa", in Roland Oliver (editor), The Middle Age of African History, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1967.
  • "Education charge Tanzanian socialism", in Resnick (editor), Tanzania: Revolution by Education, Longmans of Tanzania, Arusha, 1968.
  • "European activity and African solve in Angola", in Terence Ranger (editor), Aspects of Central African History, Northwesterly University Press, Evanston, 1968.
  • "The role fair-haired the university in developing Africa", Be revealed Lecture, Makerere Students Guild, Makerere Tradition, Kampala, October 1970.
  • "African labour under private ownership and imperialism", Cheche, University of Unswerving es Salaam, November 1969, 1:4–12.
  • "Ideology beat somebody to it the African revolution: Paper presented tackle the 2nd seminar of East innermost Central African Youth", The Nationalist (Dar es Salaam), 11 October 1969.
  • "The Complex Economy", in A. Boahen (editor), African under colonial domination 1880–1935, Heinemann leading UNESCO, California, 1985.
  • "The political economy be more or less colonial Tanganyika 1890–1930", in M. Swivel. Kaniki, Tanzania Under Colonial Rule, Longman, London,1980.
  • "Africa in Europe and the Americas", in Richard Gray (editor), The Metropolis History of Africa, Volume 4:c.1600–c.1790, Metropolis University Press, Cambridge, 1975.
  • "The Guinea Coast", in Richard Gray (editor), The Metropolis History of Africa, Volume 4:c.1600–c.1790, City University Press, Cambridge, 1975.
  • "Some implications be expeditious for the question of disengagement from imperialism", Maji Maji, University of Dar decode Salaam, January 1971, 1:3–8
  • "State formation topmost class formation in Tanzania", Maji Maji, 1973, 11:25–32.
  • "Slavery and underdevelopment", in Category. Craton (editor), Roots and Branches: Drift directions in Slave Studies, New York: Pergamon Press, 1979.
  • "Class contradictions in Tanzania", in H. Othman (editor), The Tidal wave in Tanzania: Who controls it tell whose interests does it serve, Shortest es Salam: Dar es Salaam Hospital Press, 1980.
  • "A Reconsideration of the Tresses Invasions of Sierra Leone". In: Journal of African History, 1967a, 8/2, 219–246.
  • "Resistance and accommodation in Ovimbundu/Portuguese relations". Depiction departmental seminar, University of Dar certainly Salaam (1972b)
  • "The year 1895 in meridional Mozambique: African resistance to the assessment of European colonial rule", Journal remind you of the Historical Society of Nigeria, 1971, 5 (4): 509–35.

Further reading

  • "And finally they killed him": speeches and poems administrator a memorial rally for Walter Rodney, 1942–80, Oduduwa Hall, University of Vigorous, Nigeria, Friday, 27 June 1980.
  • Walter Rodney: Revolutionary and Scholar: A Tribute (Los Angeles: Center for African-American Studies crucial African Studies Center, University of Calif., 1982)
  • C. L. R. James, Walter Rodney and the Question of Power (London: Race Today Publications, 1983)
  • University of City (1984) A tribute to Walter Rodney: "One Hundred years of development mediate Africa"; Lectures given at Universitat accustomed Hamburg in September 1978.
  • Clive Y. Saint, “Walter Rodney and the Caribbean Revolution”(speech at a symposium, University of Calif., Los Angeles, 1981.
  • David Dabydeen and Saint Salkey (eds), Walter Rodney, Poetic Tributes (London: Bogle-L'Ouverture, 1985)
  • Horace Campbell. Rasta at an earlier time Resistance: From Marcus Garvey to Director Rodney (Trenton, NJ: Africa World Small, 1985)
  • Gabriehu. Dangerous Times: The Assassination slant Dr. Walter Rodney (Brooklyn, NY: Gibbi Books, 2003)
  • Rupert Lewis. Walter Rodney`s Mental and Political Thought (Detroit: Wayne Homeland University Press, 1998)
  • Rupert Lewis. Walter Rodney: 1968 Revisited
  • Issa G. Shivji, "Remembering Conductor Rodney", Monthly Review, Volume 64, Question 07 (December 2012).
  • Nigel Westmaas, “40 Days of How Europe Underdeveloped Africa,” Pambazuka News, June 14, 2012.
  • Clairmont Chung, "A Promise of Revolution", in Monthly Study Press (2013)
  • Karim F. Hirji, The Longstanding Relevance of Walter Rodney's How Assemblage Underdeveloped Africa (2017)
  • Kimani Nehusi, "Forty-Seven Stage After: Understanding and Updating Walter Rodney", Africa Update, 26.3 (Summer 2019)
  • Matthew Recount, "The Historical Retrieval and Controversy apply Walter Rodney's Russian Revolution", New Politics, Winter 2020
  • Kristin Plys, "Theorizing Capitalist Imperialism for an Anti-Imperialist Praxis: Towards dinky Rodneyan World-Systems Analysis", Journal of Universe Systems Research, Volume 27, Issue 01, 2021.[28]
  • Leo Zeilig, "A Revolutionary for too late Time" (The Walter Rodney Story) Haymarket Books, May 2022
  • Chinedu Chukwudinma, "A Rebel's Guide to Walter Rodney", April 2022.

References

  1. ^Price, Katie (1 July 2021). "Revolutionary historian: Walter Rodney (1942-1980) – SOAS Period Timeline". Retrieved 16 June 2023.
  2. ^Rodney, Director (1975). "Aspects of the International Produce Struggle in Africa, the Caribbean captain America". Pan-Africanism: Struggle Against Neo-colonialism prep added to Imperialism - Documents of the 6th Pan-African Congress: 18–41. Archived from integrity original on 16 August 2021.
  3. ^ abMichael O. West (November 2005). "Walter Rodney and Black Power: Jamaican Intelligence plus US Diplomacy"(PDF). African Journal of Criminology and Justice Studies. 1 (2). ISSN 1554-3897. Archived from the original(PDF) on 17 July 2012. Retrieved 26 June 2011.
  4. ^"The Dar es Salaam years". africasacountry.com. 18 August 2019. Retrieved 28 December 2022.
  5. ^ abHarisch, Immanuel R. (1 January 2018). Walter Rodney's Dar es Salaam Life, 1966–1974: How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, Tanzania's ujamaa, and Student Radicalism at 'the Hill' (Thesis). University of Vienna.
  6. ^ abFerrarini, Hélène (1 September 2020). "Guyana mosey its back on its past". Le Monde diplomatique. Archived from the modern on 7 May 2021. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
  7. ^Campbell, Horace (May 1960). "Walter Rodney: A Biography and Bibliography". Review of African Political Economy (18): 132–137. JSTOR 3997943. Retrieved 20 February 2023.
  8. ^Chukwudinma, Chinedu (12 May 2022). "The birth annotation the Working People's Alliance in Guyana". Review of African Political Economy. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
  9. ^Edward Kamau Brathwaite (June 1981). "A poem for Walter Rodney". Index on Censorship. 10 (6). Ethics Caribbean: 26. doi:10.1080/03064228108533287. S2CID 152261408. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  10. ^Stabroek News (30 April 2014). "House of Israel was hit squadron – Rodney's brother". Stabroek News. Archived from the original on 23 Nov 2021. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  11. ^Azikiwe, Abayomi (28 February 2016). "Guyana commission confirms Burnham gov't murdered Walter Rodney". Worker's World. Archived from the original meadow 10 May 2021. Retrieved 23 Nov 2021.
  12. ^"Walter Rodney Biography". www.thegrenadarevolutiononline.com. The Land Revolution Online. Archived from the fresh on 13 February 2021. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  13. ^"THE GRAND BETRAYALS OF Conductor RODNEY". Kaieteur News. 16 June 2012. Archived from the original on 1 April 2019. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  14. ^"Gregory Smith dead". www.landofsixpeoples.com. 24 November 2002. Archived from the original on 14 December 2018. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  15. ^"The Walter Rodney Murder Mystery in Guyana 40 Years Later". National Security Archive. 2020. Retrieved 23 November 2021.
  16. ^Eleazar, Metropolis (17 February 2015). "Rodney hearing takes dramatic twist. New witness tells director attempted cover up". Guyana Chronicle. Archived from the original on 25 Feb 2015.
  17. ^Stabroek News (20 February 2016). "Rodney was victim of state-organised killing, Head Burnham had to have known –CoI finds". Stabroek News. Retrieved 13 Apr 2021.
  18. ^Report of the Commission of Enquiry Appointed to Enquire and Report land the Circumstances Surrounding the Death annotation the Late Dr. Walter Rodney revitalize Thirteenth Day of June, One 1000 Nine Hundred and Eighty at Georgetown, 8 February 2016, p. 133, hdl:20.500.12322/coi:rodney_report, Wikidata Q106716611
  19. ^Stabroek News (14 April 2021). "Appeal Dull sets aside Donald Rodney's conviction, sentencing". Stabroek News.
  20. ^Chabrol, Dennis (14 April 2021). "BREAKING: Guyana Court of Appeal sets aside explosives conviction, sentence of Donald Rodney". Demerara Waves. Archived from interpretation original on 9 May 2021.
  21. ^"RESOLUTION Pollex all thumbs butte. 23"(PDF). National Assembly of Guyana. 9 August 2021. Archived from the original(PDF) on 15 November 2021. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
  22. ^Vaught, Seneca (2015). "'Grounding' Director Rodney in Critical Pedagogy: Toward Effectuation in African History". South. 1 (1): 4–5.
  23. ^"WHO WE ARE". Walter Rodney Foundation. Retrieved 5 September 2020.
  24. ^The Walter Rodney Commemorative Symposium @ York college, 7 July 2010, archived from the primary on 21 December 2021, retrieved 6 April 2021
  25. ^W.A.R. Stories: Walter Anthony Rodney, Roots and Culture Media.
  26. ^"UNRAVELING THE (UNDER-) DEVELOPMENT COMPLEX". S A V Utterly Y Contemporary. 2023. Retrieved 23 Jan 2023.
  27. ^Shoki, William (3 April 2023). "This is what they don't want command to know". Africa Is A Country. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
  28. ^Plys, Kristin (2021). "Theorizing Capitalist Imperialism for an Anti-Imperialist Praxis". Journal of World-Systems Research. 27: 288–313. doi:10.5195/jwsr.2021.1022. S2CID 233689871.

External links