A Conversation on Dependency Theory

4:17 AM Vicky: baby!! mwah

4:18 AM me: hey love

Vicky: how has your morning been so far besides stiff waking up?

4:19 AM me: class was good

4:20 AM we(i) got a ton of handouts to read

and you know how i love my reading

its rare to have things to read here because resources are so low

so i'm quite happy

4:21 AM and us international students get special treatment when it comes to those sorts of things(which is nice for me) probably so the school can get good PR

4:24 AM Vicky: hehe ah yes I know your first - reading material. That is good! I bet that made your day! oh special treatment for obruni's. Yeah no doubt..it actually does help their PR

I mean I know u're first LOVE - your reading material...oh and what are the readings about?

4:25 AM me: your my first love

but the readings are about history of ghana

Vicky: aww baby!!

mwah!!!

me: and then a couple of others on more widespread african history

4:26 AM Vicky: ooo i see...u are going to be an expert on everything when u get back. Have you been reading a lot apart from class?

4:27 AM me: 'ive read some

but the only place to get books is the library and i always forget to bring my ID card

4:28 AM i really only get onto campus on Mondays

so its a small window of opportunity

4:29 AM Vicky: oh i see

4:31 AM me: but, i should also get a lot of great readings from my development studies class, because that's one is run through CIEE

4:32 AM and they can print plenty of copies without killing their budget

there was one i read last week(from that class)

4:33 AM it was so good

it was about dependency theory

Vicky: ooo do explain...

me: which i had learned about before (the general 'how the west underdevelops the rest of the world' sort of stuff)

4:34 AM but it was just so diffreent to read about it while i'm here

Vicky: oh i see..is it because you saw exactly what they were talking a bout in the reading?

me: because for everything they wrote about, i could think of real life examples proving that it was all true

yep

4:35 AM Vicky: oh yeah..wow..that must have been an emotional read

how do u feel about dependency theory generally?

me: it was crazy just how true it was

4:36 AM well i think that what africa's experiencing right now is due in part to dependency and in part to bad governance

they did have some horrible leaders

4:37 AM Vicky: yeah

true

4:38 AM I think most problems with places like Africa is double - folded like u said

4:39 AM its because of its infrastructure. It seems easy to infiltrate, mess up and weaken

4:43 AM me: the was that the article was teaching it, they were showing that the way the global economic structure is set up, the only time the developing world is developing is in reflection of expansion made in the rich countries

so they do move upwards but only to the extent that we allow them to facilitate our expansion

4:44 AM Vicky: hmm i see

me: and did you know that Ghana has no factories?

4:45 AM they don't actually make anything

other then hand crafts

Vicky: no...

are u serious?

wow..thats no good

4:46 AM me: in order to receive foreign aid they have to aggree to spend it on on things like roads, shopping centers, offices, housing, education

and never investing into their economic infrastructure unless other wise told so

4:47 AM they have to send all their unprocessed goods to the places we tell them to

Vicky: that is horrible! its like all a ploy to keep them dependent

4:48 AM me: then after we're finished manufacturing/processing... we ship it back to them and sell them the finished products

so ghana has to import everything

Vicky: omg...omg...that is so upsetting

4:49 AM wow..I mean u hear of these things..but it has never been broken down to me the way u just h ave

me: and the port here is gigantic

its like the size of a city

and out on the coast line all you see is cargo ships waiting to enter

4:50 AM and of course finished goods cost a lot more than raw materials

so we make a huge profit

4:51 AM keeping us rich and them poor

4:52 AM Vicky: :(

we need to get into politics so we can help change this

4:53 AM me: plus they have to work so hard to make enough raw materials to sell to us, so that they can afford the finished products

4:54 AM but the good side is that they have tons of the goods that are necessary to survive

4:55 AM so they won't starve or anything

the country produces so much food and such that its ridiculously cheap to live here

4:56 AM but if you want any of the finished goods(like a tv or a car or computer) you have to save up money for a really long time

Vicky: boo...

4:57 AM it's just so wrong. we already owe them so much

and yet we continue taking from them...

don't we get that enough damage has already been done

4:58 AM people and labor land resources like anything else..can eventually be depleted...

and then what will we do...?

5:00 AM me: i don't think people will ever be depleted

there are always ways to make labor more efficient

5:01 AM with proper technology one person can increase in efficiency indeffinitly

5:02 AM and as long as we are able to find countries to sell the excess goods to... then the system will prosper

Vicky: boo

5:03 AM me: add to that the trend of disposability (where people replace functioning things so that they can have something slightly better) and you'll never run out of paying customers

5:05 AM Vicky: sigh, u're right. The africans should just refuse to go by the system and develop their own economies. These people have been exploiting them the same way since the begining. We learned about it. this is exactly what happened and what lead up to the slave trade

but yeah I know they need someone to trade with and I know they need cash and and credit but can't Africa as a whole do that within themselves?

5:06 AM just like they did in the tran-saharan trade

me: they can as long as they don't want any complex goods

5:07 AM Vicky: i mean not every aspect of Africa was very very colonized and suffered from imperialism. there has to be enough wealthy to get them to our level . It just has to be distributed better

me: it takes a lot of money to set up a factory, especially if you want it to be efficient enough to compete with established firms

5:08 AM because if they start building things and selling them amongst them selves

someone is going to figure out that they can buy the chinese version of it for half the price and sell it in africa to their compatriates at a nice profit

5:09 AM or if that doesn't happen then everyone has to deal with huge inflation

and they won't be ableto afford anything

Vicky: boo...!

5:10 AM thats why I think all of us should move back there and contribute out wealth, labor and mind to everything there...of us blacks I mean

then they could tax us and everything

me: but since jobs pay so little

Vicky: its ok..we will just have to live off of much less for a time

me: very few want to be here

5:11 AM all the educated in ghana(and most poor places) move to the western world to make their moeny

same thing happens in Jamaica and Dominica

5:12 AM Vicky: :(

5:13 AM Vicky: people just need to have more pride. They need to get educated and come back to help where they've come from

5:25 AM me: i'm totally cool with moving out here
but i have to get a western style pay grade in order to pay off my student loans.
but once thats done, i'd love to help out

and move to a developing country

Vicky: :)

I would too

5:26 AM specifically Africa and or a spanish speaking country

but def western Africa

me: or a spanish african country... like madagascar?

Vicky: :)

oooo

me: i love that place

5:27 AM Vicky: yeah

that would be two dreams wrapped up in none

*one

why do u love that place?

me: i don't know if the people there actualy speak spanish or if that died when they stopped being a colony

they have great wild life

that's why i love it

5:28 AM Vicky: oh hehe...oh west coasters

me: its a very natural, unpoluted country

Vicky: u can take a person out of Portland but you can't take Portland out of someone

hehe

5:31 AM me: of course