Our lack of an African understanding: Part 2

See Part 1 here.
New Zealand, like the rest of the world has much it can contribute to the development of Africa as a continent. Like the world there is also much we can learn from it. And in doing so, we help ourselves and the world New Zealand politicians say that they want to see.

Changing the institutional narrative

But to achieve this, the colonialist idea that Africans are savages must be abolished. There are politicians and bureaucrats in crafting policy based on the aforementioned helicopter research. How many of them have lived experience in a place like Soweto, South Africa or have met Darfur or Rwandan genocide survivors?

A research concept among academics that should be frowned upon is helicopter research. This is the act of visiting a generally poorer nation or community, doing the research and leaving without giving back. It is widespread not just in academia, but also among officials working for central government departments. In foreign policy this often helps to create misleading views of a situation, particularly if no contact has been established with the target area.

Concept	Focus	African reality
Inventing Africa	Post-colonial theory	Frames Africa as the opposite of the West – undeveloped vs developed; uncultured vs culture
Birds eye view research	Global academia	Researchers conduct their research without working alongside locals; seeing a local perspective
Historical context	Geopolitics	Fails to properly weigh lasting consequences of colonialism against post colonial challenges

Contrasting approaches

Whilst New Zealand has not viewed Africa in the same light that many European institutions have, it is not free of blame.

The best example is African nations boycotting the Montreal Olympics of 1976 if New Zealand competed. This was due to race-based rugby tours being conducted by the All Blacks of apartheid-era South Africa. The same issue would come to light again in 1981 with significant violence in the streets of suburban New Zealand. The 1981 Springbok Tour was rocked by violent clashes as protesters tried their best to disrupt matches played by an all-white South African team.

New Zealand’s track record has not been entirely bad though. In 1994, New Zealand diplomats were among the very few who tried desperately to get politicians to take notice of the Rwandan genocide. This was a 100 day period in which 800,000 Tutsis were violently massacred by Hutu.

New Zealand also stood strongly against Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe. However, we could have gone further and asked the Black Caps to cancel their 2005 tour of the country, which the regime used to leverage a view of legitimacy. More recently former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nanaia Mahuta announced aid for Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia to combat drought.

Where to from here?

But there is more that we can do. A general overhaul of our approach to Africa is needed. New Zealand does not need to wait for other western nations to (possibly)get their act together. During the time of Boko Haram in Nigeria, New Zealand could have used its time on the U.N. Security Council for example to get measures enacted to cut off funding and support for the organization.

My suggestion is part of a bigger outline that I have for New Zealand foreign policy. I am of the belief that we should have a dedicated team of researchers on the ground in Africa. Their job would be to embed themselves in local communities and build a rapport with local researchers with common areas of interest like the environment, education, human rights. What they learn gets fed back to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and translated – hopefully – into policy.

Foreign aid, like all other government expenditure, has to be weighed up against the benefits. New Zealand falls down because our politicians tend to think in election cycles and fail to look at the bigger picture. Too many view foreign aid as an expenditure item and not an investment item on the budget sheet. An investment in foreign aid now that is sustained and targeted will benefit later. This will be when New Zealand looks to establish better trade and diplomatic relations.

As a country that believes in a fair go, New Zealand needs to make reciprocal arrangements. This could include inviting delegations from those countries that we do have diplomatic missions in. They visit our schools, hospitals and Parliament. In return New Zealand ministry staff and researchers are able to visit their communities, understand how our aid is working and the challenges going forward.

Africa is a continent that New Zealand has much work do in terms of understanding. Are we prepared to learn from the most misunderstood part of the world? Or will the hubris that defines European geopolitical relations with Africa set the tune here as well?