The next regular meeting of TransAfrica Forum's Arthur R. Ashe, Jr. Foreign Policy Library Readers' Corner book club will be held on Sunday, January 17, 2010, 3:30 PM to 5:30 PM, featuring the book How Europe Underdeveloped Africa by Walter Rodney (c1972, 1974 Howard University Press)--a special continuation of the December 2009 meeting.

Venue: TransAfrica Forum 1629 K Street, NW, Suite 1100, Washington, DC 20006 (Nearest Metro Station: Farragut North on the Red Line or Farragut West on the Blue/Orange Lines).

Publisher's Description: Africa, the second largest continent on earth, is among the least developed. In a penetrating and perceptive analysis, Walter Rodney examines this phenomenon in How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, delving into the European and African past showing how the present came into being, and what the trends are for the near future.

In simple language, the author illuminates the concept of development and underdevelopment; shows us the growth of Africa before the coming of the Europeans (using concrete examples); then illustrates how Africa contributed to European capitalist development, both in the pre-colonial and colonial periods.

The author avoids the pitfall of treating a continent as a monolithic structure; thus the reader can perceive the varying rates of development in Africa from region to region, and even within regions. Rodney also touches on the subject of the European slave trade, and shows how it was a factor in African underdevelopment and technical stagnation. More...

The book is available at Teaching for Change Bookstore at Busboys and Poets, 2021 14th St. NW, Washington, DC (two blocks from the Cardozo/U Street Metro. Contact: General Manager Don Allen 202.387.POET.

For more information contact TransAfrica Forum Arthur R. Ashe, Jr. Foreign Policy Library: Tel: 202.223.1960 ext. 137 or Fax: 202.223.1966 or email: info@transafricaforum.org; website: www.transafricaforum.org.