Em "Como a Europa subdesenvolveu a África," Walter Rodney analisa minuciosamente as fundações históricas e socioeconômicas da atual situação do continente, apresentando uma argumentação convincente que desafia as narrativas convencionais sobre o subdesenvolvimento da África. Por meio de uma análise penetrante, Rodney revela as políticas deliberadas e os mecanismos exploratórios empregados pelas potências europeias durante a era colonial, que despojaram sistematicamente a África de seus recursos, limitaram seu potencial econômico e distorceram sua trajetória de desenvolvimento. Ao entrelaçar rigor histórico com defesa apaixonada, Rodney não apenas elucida as desigualdades profundas forjadas no crisol colonial, mas também questiona a ordem global existente. Esta obra seminal é mais do que um relato histórico; é um exposé socioeconômico que urge os leitores a reconsiderar os legados entrincheirados do colonialismo e a refletir sobre o caminho para uma verdadeira libertação e desenvolvimento para a África. Mergulhe na narrativa reveladora de Rodney para entender como a história moldou o presente e considere o que deve ser feito para reivindicar o futuro.

The decisiveness of the short period of colonialism and its negative consequences for Africa spring mainly from the fact that Africa lost power. Power is the ultimate determinant in human society, being basic to the relations within any group and between groups. It implies the ability to defend one's interests and if necessary to impose one’s will by any means available. In relations between peoples, the question of power determines maneuverability in bargaining, the extent to which a people survive as a physical and cultural entity. When one society finds itself forced to relinquish power entirely to another society, that in itself is a form of underdevelopment.

Before a bomb ended his life in the summer of 1980, Walter Rodney had created a powerful legacy. This pivotal work, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa , had already brought a new perspective to the question of underdevelopment in Africa. his Marxist analysis went far beyond the heretofore accepted approach in the study of Third World underdevelopment.

How Europe Underdeveloped Africa is an excellent introductory study for the student who wishes to better understand the dynamics of Africa’s contemporary relations with the West.

A previously unpublished collection of Rodney's essays on Marxism, spanning his engagement with of Black Power, Ujamaa Villages, and the everyday people who put an end to a colonial era Early in life, Walter Rodney became a major revolutionary figure in a dizzying range of locales that traversed the breadth of the Black diaspora: in North America and Europe, in the Caribbean, and on the African continent. He was not only a witness of a Pan-African and socialist internationalism; in his efforts to build mass organizations, catalyze rebellious ferment, and theorize an anti-colonial path to self-emancipation, he can be counted among its prime authors. In drawing together pages where he elaborates on the nexus of race and class, offers his reflections on radical pedagogy, outlines programs for newly independent nation-states, considers the challenges of anti-colonial historiography, and produces balance sheets for a dozen wars for national liberation, this volume captures something of the range and power of Rodney's output. But it also demonstrates the unbending consistency that unites his life and work: the ongoing reinvention of living conception of Marxism, and a respect for the still untapped potential of mass self-rule.

Como a Europa subdesenvolveu a África, do historiador e líder teórico do pan-africanismo Walter Rodney, detalha o impacto da escravidão e do colonialismo na história da África. Escrita em 1972 e publicada agora pela primeira vez em língua portuguesa, a obra, considerada uma obra-prima da economia política, argumenta que o inabalável “subdesenvolvimento” africano não é um fenômeno natural, e sim um produto da exploração imperial do continente, prática que continua até hoje.