Re-thinking Development in Africa

written by Komla Tsey

An Oral History Approach from Botoku, Rural Ghana

In this thought provoking book, Komla Tsey argues that if governments, NGOs, development donor agencies and researchers are serious about development in Africa, they need to get down to ground level, both metaphorically and literally. They must search deep into Africa’s own rich oral traditions by creating space and opportunity for ordinary Africans, whose voices have so far been conspicuously absent in the development discourse, to tell and share their own stories of development. Story-sharing as research methodology acts as a mirror, reflecting the participants’ self-evaluation of where they have come from, where they are now, and how to proceed into the future. They are strategies that can empower and enable individuals and communities of people to be agents of their own change which, in Tsey’s view, is what development is all about.

Komla Tsey

Komla Tsey is a Ghanaian by birth currently Professor of Education for Social Sustainability at the Cairns Institute, James Cook University, Australia. Since the 1990’s Komla has been living in Australia, researching and learning about health and well-being, mainly with Aboriginal organizations and communities. He continues to undertake longitudinal studies of community development projects in Ghana. Komla has written more than 100 academic journal articles and research reports on a wide range of development related topics. He is author of Re-thinking Development in Africa: An Oral History Approach from Botoku, Rural Ghana (Langaa, 2011). Watch Komla talk about his book Re-thinking Development in Africa here.