Seminar: Capitalist Civilisation in Africa: Taking Stock of the Neoliberal Era (København)

Open lecture with Jorg Wiegratz, Lecturer in Political Economy of Global Development at the University of Leeds

In this seminar Jörg Wiegratz argues that the era of neoliberal restructuring in Africa has been about the further expansion, intensification, lock-in and management of capitalist civilisation in Africa.

As a result, a capitalist social order is now fully-fledged, institutionalised, and normalised – including at the cultural level – in a number of ‘adjusted’ societies.

In countries such as Uganda, capitalism has become more

• influential in shaping societal and personal life, especially in urban areas, and
• common sense and taken for granted.

A wide range of local actors embrace, endorse, advance, celebrate and/or defend capitalism.

Second, many African countries can now be categorised as capitalist societies and need to be treated analytically as such.

A number of social phenomena in these countries are typical of contemporary capitalist societies across the world.

This is significant in the larger history of the spread of global capitalism.

The presenter uses data from long-term research in Uganda – one of the most advanced and contentious capitalist market societies on the continent – to illustrate these arguments.

About Jörg Wiegratz

Jörg Wiegratz is Lecturer in Political Economy of Global Development at the University of Leeds.

He researches neoliberalism, moral economy & moral restructuring, and economic fraud & anti-fraud measures.

He has worked as a researcher and consultant in Uganda and has been a Visiting Scholar at the Economic Policy Research Centre, Kampala.

He is author of Neoliberal Moral Economy Capitalism, Socio-Cultural Change and Fraud in Uganda (2016) and co-editor of Uganda: The dynamics of neoliberal transformations (2018) among others.

He has published in New Political Economy, Journal of Agrarian Change, and Review of African Political Economy (ROAPE). He is a ROAPE editor (Briefings and Debates), and co-edits roape.net.

Organizer: Centre of African Studies