Representations of the West in Al-Tahtawi, Al-Hakim, and Awad (Published)
The paper investigates the representations of the West in three Egyptian texts written in Arabic. These are Rifa’a al-Tahtawi’s A Paris Profile, Tawfiq al-Hakim’s A Sparrow from the East, and Louis Awad’s Memoirs of a Scholarship Student within the framework of the Postcolonial theories of Franz Fanon, Edward Said, and Homi Bhabha. Instead of a confrontation between the West and the East along the lines of Fanon and Said, the three texts reveal the possibility of a dialogue, enriching the attempt at introducing Modernity along European lines in Egypt which was made by Muhammad Ali in the early years of the nineteenth century. The dialogue, however, rests upon paradigms other than Bhabha’s notion of Third Space. Hence, the three texts challenge the dichotomy devised by Fanon, the stereotypes identified by Said and the fluidity and vagueness of identity propagated by Bhabha.
Keywords: Modernization, al-Hakim; Awad, al-Tahtawi, postcolonial theory; East/West relations, third space
Theoretical Approaches to the Understanding of African Politics and the Challenges of Development (Published)
The paper discusses conceptual and theoretical approaches to African politics such as the Modernization School; Marxian School; and the Statist School of thought vis-à-vis development and underdevelopment paradigm. The paper uncovers critical argument in various schools of thought, the variables that have caused relative development and severe-underdevelopment in African society at present and in the past respectively. Using Nigeria as a point of departure and melting-point, it will critically and objectively identify the problems and challenges of development in Africa and offer suggestions that will move Africa further along the path of development. However, the paper concluded with statist school of thought attributing underdevelopment (poverty, unemployment, communal clashes, the rise of ethnic militia and militancy and so no) due to the problem of corruption and failure of governmental policies implementation in African, in a phrase bad leadership.
Keywords: Development, Marxian, Modernization, Statist And Corruption, Underdevelopment