At the outset of the twenty-first century, Afropessimism permeates both the scholarly and popular literatures on Africa. In the dominant discourses, Africa is constructed as "hopeless," "hemmed in," on the periphery, and even as "left out" of the global economy and community of nations. This interdisciplinary volume interrogates these interpretations and offers a probing critique of neoliberal globalization and its uneven impact on Africa. The essays debate the constraints and opportunities for Africa’s political economy, civil societies, and cultural production in the current era of intensifying globalization.

Each acre of US cotton farmland attracts a subsidy of US $230 – equivalent to the average annual income in Burkina Faso. In 2001-2002, America’s 25 000 cotton farmers reaped a bumper subsidy harvest of US $3.9bn – a sum larger than Burkina Faso’s GDP and three times the total USAID budget for Africa. The largest 10 per cent of producers receive three-quarters of total payments. Oxfam estimates that the income lost to African producers is equivalent to the value of a third of total US aid to Africa. Mali received US $37m in US aid in 2001 but lost US $43m as a result of lower cotton export earnings. US subsidies cost Mali 1.7 per cent of GDP and 8 per cent of export earnings.