The Underdevelopment Theory: a Case-Study from Tanzania

Dean E. McHenry Jr

doi:10.1017/S0022278X00053738

The Underdevelopment Theory: a Case-Study from Tanzania

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 November 2008

Dean E. McHenry Jr

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The frustrated aspirations of most Africans for a significantly better life following independence have evoked considerable attention. A growing number of scholars are accounting for the situation in terms of a set of loosely connected propositions contained in the ‘underdevelopment theory’,, at the core of which is the idea that colonialist/neocolonialist countries have created the conditions of underdevelopment by:

(i) encouraging the entry of foreign investment which extracted/extracts a significant proportion of the surplus produced;

(ii) fostering a commercial bourgeoisie which failed/fails to use its profits for productive investment purposes; and

(iii) promoting an indigenous class which acted/acts in the interest of the imperial power to perpetuate the condition of underdevelopment.

Type: Articles
Information: The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 14 , Issue 4 , December 1976 , pp. 621 - 636

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022278X00053738 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1976

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^{page 621 note 1} For example, Amin, Samir, Accumulation on a World Scale: a critique of the theory of under-development (New York, 1974)Google Scholar; Frank, André Gunder, Lumpenbourgeoisie: lumpendevelopment (New York, 1972)Google Scholar; Kay, Geoffrey, Development and Underdevelopment: a Marxist analysis (London, 1975)Google Scholar; Rodney, Walter, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (Dar es Salaam and London, 1972)Google Scholar; Leys, Colin, Underdevelopment in Kenya: the political economy of neo-colonialism, 1964–1971 (London, 1975)Google Scholar; and Brett, E. A., Colonialism and Underdevelopment in East Africa: the politics of economic change,1919–1939 (London, 1973)Google Scholar.

^{page 621 note 2} ‘Underdevelopment’ is used in the literature to refer to both the condition of Third-World countries – whose characteristics include relative poverty, low productivity, backward technology, a class structure inhibiting change for the bulk of the population – and the historical process of reaching this state of affairs through contact with Europe and, later, North America, i.e. the metropole, centre, imperialist, or colonialist/neo-colonialist countries.

^{page 622 note 1} Prices for 1937 and 1942 are from the Letter of 31 July 1945 from the District Commissioner, Kigoma, to the Provincial Commissioner, Tabora; T.N.A., 180/F2/2. The 1952 figure is from the Letter of 11 June 1952 from P. Rogers, Colonial Office, to D. Malcolm, Secretariat; T.N.A., 25181, Vol. II. The most recent prices are from personal observation.

^{page 622 note 2} Marketing data are from ‘Statistics of Dagaa at Kigoma’, in T.N.A., 25181, Vol. 1 for 1937, and the Annual Agricultural Report, 1970, Kigoma Region, Appendix iv for 1970.

^{page 624 note 1} Letter of 11 August 1937 from F. J. Bagshawe, Provincial Commissioner, Western Province, to the Chief Secretary; Tanganyika National Archives, 180/F2/2.

^{page 624 note 2} Letter of 25 August 1945 from the District Commissioner, Kigoma, to the Provincial Commissioner; ibid.

^{page 624 note 3} Letter of 17 July 1946 from R. W. Varian, Acting Provincial Commissioner, to the Chief Secretary; T.N.A. 25181, Vol. I.

^{page 625 note 1} Comments on meeting with representatives of Northern Fisheries on 7 July 1947; ibid.

^{page 625 note 2} Notes on a meeting between the Acting Administrative Secretary, the Director of Agricultural Production, and the Deputy Financial Secretary to discuss fishery matters, August 1947; ibid.

^{page 625 note 3} Undated draft despatch from the Governor to the Secretary of State for the Colonies; ibid.

^{page 625 note 4} Letter of November 1947 from the Provincial Commissioner, Tabora, to the Chief Secretary; ibid.

^{page 625 note 5} Minute of 22 December 1947 to the Chief Secretary; ibid.

^{page 626 note 1} Letter of 24 February 1948 from the Scientific Secretary, Office of the Conference of East African Governors, Nairobi, to the Member for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Dar es Salaam; ibid.

^{page 626 note 2} Letter of 2 April 1948 from the Member for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Dar es Salaam, to Ellis and Company, Ndola, Northern Rhodesia; ibid.

^{page 626 note 3} Letter of 19 April 1951 from the District Commissioner, Kigoma, to the Provincial Commissioner, Tabora; T.N.A. 180/A2/47.

^{page 626 note 4} By way of contrast, European fishermen and companies were allowed in Zambian and Burundi waters.

^{page 626 note 5} See Kay, op. cit. especially pp. 95–6; also Coulson, A. C., ‘Contradictions of Merchant Capital in East Africa’, East African Universities Social Science Conference, Nairobi, 12 1975Google Scholar.

^{page 627 note 1} See Shivji, Issa, Class Struggles in Tanzania (Dar es Salaam, 1975), pp. 45–8Google Scholar.

^{page 627 note 2} Data for 1953 and 1954 were calculated from railway consignment notes; T.N.A. 180/L6/15.

^{page 627 note 3} The Tanganyika African Fishers and Traders Association was founded in 1950. Ujiji Fisheries existed under a variety of names, including the African Fishermen Association, Ujiji Fisheries African Cooperative Association, and Lake Tanganyika Fisheries Cooperative. It had also been founded in 1950, but remained dormant until it was reactivated by S. A. Kandoro in 1954. See his Mwito wa Uhuru (Dar es Salaam, 1961).

^{page 627 note 4} Letter of 9 June 1950 from the Fisheries Officer, Kigoma, to the District Commissioner, Kigoma; T.N.A. 180/A6/9.

^{page 628 note 1} Letter of 20 June 1959 from the District Commissioner, Kigoma, to the District Commissioner, Sumbawanga; T.N.A. 180/A2/47.

^{page 628 note 2} Recorded on 19 August 1954 by Daudi Amri, later Senior Superintendent of Police.

^{page 628 note 3} Letter of 26 April 1957 from Robin Risley, Department of Co-operative Development, to the District Commissioner, Kigoma; T.N.A. 180/C5/6, Vol. II.

^{page 628 note 4} Ibid.

^{page 628 note 5} Interview with Kandoro, S. A. in Bagamoyo, 13 11 1968.Google Scholar

^{page 629 note 1} Letter of 9 May 1957 from the District Commissioner, Kigoma, to the Provincial Commissioner, Western Province; T.N.A. 180/C5/6, Vol. II.

^{page 629 note 2} Letter of 11 December 1963 from the Senior Co-operative Inspector, Kigoma, to the Registrar, Dar es Salaam; R.C.O. B/21, Kigoma.

^{page 629 note 3} Interviews with Hamisi, Madua in Ujiji, 15 05 1969Google Scholar; Nyanda, Co-operative Inspector, in Ujiji, 30 May 1969; Jafali Mbonye in Ujiji, 3 June 1969; Mushi, R. S., Co-operative Inspector, in Tabora, 6 06 1969; Issa Kitenge and Hamisi Zaidi at Bangwe, 24 May 1969.Google Scholar

^{page 629 note 4} Interview with Issa Kitenge and Hamisi Zaidi at Bangwe, 24 May 1969.

^{page 629 note 5} See, for example, Jaleel, J. A. and Lumby, B. J., ‘Report on the Possibility of One- Channel Marketing of Dagaa Fish Caught in Tanzanian Waters of Lake Tanganyika’, 1967.Google Scholar

^{page 629 note 6} Ibid.

^{page 629 note 7} Correspondence and discussions with Murtaza Ramzanali Jivraj, 1968–76, which have greatly helped the author in his general understanding of business in Kigoma.

^{page 630 note 1} Data for 1968 and 1969 are based on information supplied by Kamuntu, J., Fisheries Officer, Kigoma, 19 01 1970, and included only the months of January, April, July and October.Google Scholar

^{page 630 note 2} Letter of 21 July 1948 from W. Macmillan, District Commissioner, Kigoma, to the Provincial Commissioner, Tabora; T.N.A. 25181, Vol. II.

^{page 631 note 1} Shivji, op. cit. pp. 109–10.

^{page 631 note 2} Letter of 19 September 1938 from the District Officer, Kigcma, to the Provincial Commissioner, Tabora; T.N.A. 63/960.

^{page 631 note 3} Note of 7 October 1943 from Political, Kigoma, to Secretariat, Dar es Salaam; T.N.A. 180/F2/2.

^{page 631 note 4} Letter of 31 July 1946 from B. W. Savory to C. F. Hickling, and report on ‘The Fisheries of Lake Tanganyika’ by Hickling; ibid.

^{page 632 note 1} Letter of 3 October 1949 from the Director of Economic Control to the Provincial Commissioner, Tabora; T.N.A. 180/E2/12.

^{page 632 note 2} The imposition of the cess was authorised by the Governor on 25 November 1953 under the African Produce (Cess) Ordinance, No. 57 of 1952; T.N.A. 32847/4.

^{page 632 note 3} Data for 1965–4 from ‘Report on Investigation by W. L. Dolougan and R. M. Sturgeon into the Marketing and Distribution of Dagaa from the Tanzanian Coast of Lake Tanganyika’, 1965, and for 1966–8 from the Treasurer, Kigoma District Council, 12 May 1969.

^{page 632 note 4} In March 1947 the price of cut wood was reported to be Shs. 2/50 per load; in August 1949 it was Shs. 15/-, and later reached Shs. 40/-. Letter of 13 March 1947 from the Provincial Commissioner, Western Province, to the Chief Secretary in T.N.A. 25181, Vol. I; Letter of 18 August 1949 from Popplewell, District Commissioner, to the Fisheries Officer, Kigoma, in T.N.A. 180/F2/2; and interview with Jafali Mbonye, 30 April 1969, respectively.

^{page 632 note 5} Tanganyika, , Department of Agriculture Annual Report, 1954 (Dar es Salaam), pt. I, p. 37Google Scholar.

^{page 632 note 6} Letter of 30 December 1953 from G. J. Lockley, Fisheries Officer, Kigoma, to the Director of Agriculture, Dar es Salaam; T.N.A. 25181.

^{page 633 note 1} Hickling report, op.cit. p. 4. See also Letter of 17 November 1942 from the District Commissioner, Kigoma, to the P.C., Western Province, and Letter of 20 November 1951 from the Fisheries Officer, Kigoma, to the B.E.A. Corporation, Nairobi; T.N.A. 180/F2/2.

^{page 633 note 2} Department of Agriculture Annual Report, 1957, pt. I, p. 31.

^{page 633 note 3} Monthly (Agricultural) Report – Kigoma District, March 1959; T.N.A. 180/A3/22, Vol. III.

^{page 633 note 4} Ibid. April and May 1959.

^{page 633 note 5} Letter of 10 February 1960 from J. B. Clegg, Provincial Agricultural Officer, to the Director of Agriculture, Dar es Salaam; T.N.A. 180/D3/5, Vol. III.

^{page 634 note 1} Only between 600 and 700 ever joined the L.T.F.C.S. according to the registration books; Fisheries Office, Kigoma.

^{page 635 note 1} Jafali Mbonye, a fisherman and assistant secretary in the Society, went through the list of members and was able to provide information on 151. Although his sample was not entirely representative, it may be taken as an approximation.

^{page 635 note 2} Interviews with Co-operative and Fisheries Officers, Kigoma, May 1975.

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