Perspectives on "African Potentials"

Abstract

This paper was originally presented by Professor Sam Moyo at the 5th African Forum of the "African Potentials" project organised at Addis Ababa from October 31 to November 1, 2015. The "African Potentials" project is an international research endeavour funded by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), of which Sam was an active member and a respected mentor.(1) The paper is an early version of the introductory chapter of What Colonialism Ignored: "African Potentials" for Resolving Conflicts in Southern Africa (edited by Sam Moyo & Yoichi Mine, Langaa RPCIG, 2016), a major posthumous work of Sam. At the time of the Addis Ababa Forum, we were still engaged in the rigorous co-writing of the introductory chapter by exchanging e-mails between Harare and Kyoto. Sam then took the lead in editing and reformatting the latest draft into this offshoot paper for the Forum. I think this paper is especially meaningful in two ways. First, this version reflects the elements of the proposition of "African Potentials" that Sam wanted to emphasise in person (though he respected the part of my modest contribution). Second, the last section of this paper contains key initiatives that Sam crafted with care. To nurture and expand trans-regional research networks, he wanted to have these six-point initiatives widely discussed by the next generation African scholars and Japanese/Asian Africanists, and this is why I wanted to publish this version of our writing in African Study Monographs with only technical revisions. Sadly, now, it is not possible to obtain Sam's explicit agreement any more, but I have no doubt that he would be very happy that this document is presented to the public in this form. In the "African Potentials" fora, Sam enjoyed conversation with African and Asian anthropologists and sociologists who then highly appreciated Sam's sharp political-economy interventions with his characteristic wide smile. A luta continua!