This book is a compilation of eighteen papers presented at the first “Public Scholars in Africana Studies International Conference,” which took place in October 2009 on the campus of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). The theme, “Rethinking Economic Development in the Context of Globalization: Entrepreneurship, the Knowledge Economy and Sustainable Development,” explains the content of the papers and is a much broader and better title than the one chosen for the book.

The editors have grouped the papers into four subthemes, which are a bit awkward in that some of the papers do not exactly fit and some of them discuss Africa only tangentially. They are all well written and informative, with extensive notes at the end of each one, but the reader needs to choose carefully those chapters of greatest interest since the subjects covered are varied.

Part 1, “Globalization and Development,” starts with the general theoretical argument that globalization is a positive force, and that the African countries that have not taken advantage of globalization are poor and marginalized. The next chapter examines variables of trade and globalization, and finds that Africa is far behind in almost every category of the World Development Indicators. (Readers should note that there is an error in the statistics presented on p. 52.)

The third chapter argues that Africa’s salvation may lie in collective self-reliance and “regional poles.” Regional economic communities have been tried in Africa, but ethnic and national divisions have prevented success. In chapter 4, the author suggests that Africans need to eliminate misconceptions and stereotypes about the continent and improve education, governance, and self-reliance for Africa to partake in globalization. The final chapter argues that Africa needs to adopt the “migration development model,” as was done in Europe and Asia. It suggests that Africans in the diaspora need to work on sustainable energy (photovoltaics, solar, and biomass) and return to their countries to become “sustainable entrepreneurs,” which will enable Africa to take the lead in those technologies.

Part 2, “Localities, Nations and Globalization,” includes four chapters. The first is a theoretical argument that globalization has made goods, services, capital, and ideas mobile, but that labor, which is restricted, should be allowed similar mobility without limitations. The content is repetitive and the chapter lacks a substantial discussion of Africa. The next two chapters examine female entrepreneurs in Ghana and Zimbabwe who have dealt with changing historical economic events. The women have contributed to economic development, but it is unclear whether they have had any connection to globalization. The final chapter, written by the founder and general director of the Web site Kachile.com explains the plan to sell African artifacts from Grand Bassam in Côte d’Ivoire directly to buyers worldwide. The site, which is dedicated, according to its mission statement, “to professionalizing the artisanal sector in West Africa and commercializing its products in Europe and the United States,” is functioning and is an entry into the global marketing system.

Part 3, “Industrial and Financial Networking,” includes five chapters. The first presents the theoretical argument that African countries need convertible currencies to participate in the global system and suggests that they form currency unions or adopt dollarization—that is, the use of foreign currency instead of or along with domestic currency. The author refers to the EU as a model, but the recent EU euro crisis calls this into question. Several Latin American countries have had huge problems with dollarization, so that model is not a sure solution either. The next chapter, also by the author who runs Kachile.com, examines the decline of Côte d’Ivoire by pointing out all the problems the country has recently encountered and by examining foreign direct investment from many countries.

The last three chapters deal with Nigeria. Chapter 12 uses statistical analysis to examine Nigeria’s industrial development, which has low capacity utilization and is unable to compete in the world market. The author, using his own “economic globalization” index ranging from 0 to 100, finds that Nigeria was at 38.5 in the period 1998–2006. He attributes Nigeria’s industrial failure primarily to the government’s policies of liberalization, privatization, and deregulation. The next chapter deals with foreign direct investment (FDI) and indirect investment in Nigeria. The authors outline all the reasons why Nigeria has not attracted more foreign investment: an unstable, irresponsible, and opaque government; poor security; bureaucracy and corruption. All of these ideas are reemphasized in the next chapter, “Why Nigeria Does Not Work,” which also suggests other reasons: poor infrastructure, inadequate health and educational facilities, and environmental problems. The excellent summary tables in this chapter (301–5) list the problems and recommended actions that Nigeria could take to improve entrepreneurship and FDI. The author notes that after ships offload imports in Nigeria there are no goods to fill the containers, so ships leave empty!

The final section, “Insecurity and Conflicts,” begins with a theoretical discussion of how globalization leads to security and peace and concludes that African countries could become more peaceful if they were more global. The next chapter presents the “resource curse” argument, discussing in great detail the groups that control the resources and their history of arming themselves and attacking other ethnic groups and governments. Chapter 17 examines the environmental degradation and lack of development in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria, which have led to violence and rebellion. The focus is mostly on the men involved, but the author outlines how the conflict has affected women as well. The final chapter argues that West African Islam is nonviolent and therefore AFRICOM (the U.S. Africa Command), which assumes all Muslims in West Africa are susceptible to terrorism, is unnecessary. It states that poverty does not lead to terrorism and that a distinction needs to be made between violence and terrorism.

Overall, this book is an interesting collection of theoretical and empirical studies of globalization, development, and Africa. But be warned: reading the entire book is like attending every session of a conference, whether or not every panel is interesting.