As I started working at the Africa Department of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign
Affairs,1
Dutch public debate on Africa was dominated by a book written by a colleague
Roel van der Veen: What went wrong with Africa.
2
This book followed Africa works,
by Chabal & Daloz,3
as a critical analysis of the problems of Africa, which clashed with
politically correct approaches to representing Africa’s problems. For me these books
made uncomfortable reading, initially because the key messages of these books
challenged my youthful idealism. But more importantly, because I realised these books
presented cynical and exaggerated views of the complexities of African reality, which
did not fully correspond with the Africa I thought I knew from earlier visits and field
work in Tanzania, Togo, Ghana, Kenya and Zambia. This spurned me to undertake this
research project, the result of which is now before you.
In the introduction to the doctoral dissertation which Van der Veen wrote to complement
his book, he paints a picture of a formerly elegant African colonial building,
crumbling as a consequence of poor maintenance. What remains is a mere façade, a
skeletal remnant of its former glory. The building has since been appropriated for new
functions. Rooms are occupied by entire families. Extensions have been added, constructed
from crude materials. The veranda is used as a market stall. Trees are growing
through the roof. In short, the building is undergoing a process of Africanisation until
eventually even the façade will crumble away.