In Dreams for Lesotho: Independence, Foreign Assistance, and Development, John Aerni-Flessner studies the post-independence emergence of Lesotho as an example of the uneven ways in which people experienced development at the end of colonialism in Africa. The book posits that development became the language through which Basotho (the people of Lesotho) conceived of the dream of independence, both before and after the 1966 transfer of power.
While many studies of development have focused on the perspectives of funding governments and agencies, Aerni-Flessner approaches development as an African-driven process in Lesotho. The book examines why both political leaders and ordinary people put their faith in development, even when projects regularly failed to alleviate poverty. He argues that the potential promise of development helped make independence real for Africans.
The book utilizes government archives in four countries, but also relies heavily on newspapers, oral histories, and the archives of multilateral organizations like the World Bank. It will interest scholars of decolonization, development, empire, and African and South African history.
Tabela de Conteúdo
Captions
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Political Changes and Basotho Responses: 1950s to Independence
2. Development Efforts in the Colonial Period and the Rhetorical Consensus around Development
3. Working for Development: Centralization, Youth Groups, and the Physical Infrastructure of Independence, 1960-1968
4. The Internationalization of Lesotho’s Development Around the 1970 Coup
5. Authoritarianism, Aid Increases, and the Anti-Politics Machine, 1970-1975
6. The Road to Development
Bibliography
Index
Sobre o autor
John Aerni-Flessner is an assistant professor in the Residential College in the Arts and Humanities at Michigan State University.
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