An almost holy tradition was put aside Friday afternoon in Leiden, the oldest university town in the Netherlands. Ton Dietz needed special permission to wear a silver tie instead of the traditional black one to deliver his inaugural address at the African Studies Centre.

The silver tie emphasizes his main preoccupation: the need to “silverline” the place once known as the Dark Continent and to look instead at the silver lining around it.

“Silverlining means that you should get away from the gloom and doom story, you should find out where Africa’s enormous energy is coming from and how it translates into what people call emerging Africa" he explains.

Myopic tendency
This is not only a reflection of his personal optimism about a continent he first encountered 35 years ago, but it is based on analysis of long-term empirical data. There is still much afro-pessimism amongst scholars, he says, because of their myopic tendency to look at short-term developments. The demographic figures Professor Dietz likes to present to support his argument are revealing.

"Africa’s demographic recovery is truly remarkable and its demographic weight is still growing: Africa’s share in world population went from 17% in 1650 via 4% in 1900 to 15% now; Europe’s share from the same 17% in 1650 via 25% in 1900 to only 11% now.”

This trend and the fact that Africa has the fastest urbanisation rate and the youngest population of all continents have major implications in his view. Large numbers of eager urban youths can be the basis for great energy and creativity, but also to “enormous tensions in the world”.

Dutch parochialism
His “silverlined” view of Africa includes positive developments such as increased agricultural production, better access to safe drinking water, and increasing life expectancy and literacy rates.

In his inaugural speech as professor of Development in Africa, Ton Dietz discusses the ongoing controversy surrounding Dutch development assistance.

"Some political entrepreneurs are creating an atmosphere of fear and hatred against foreigners, and are successfully fuelling a mentality of Dutch parochialism, of hiding behind the dykes. Development assistance is one of the targets.”

This sentiment is fuelled by doubts about the effectiveness of thus-far generous Dutch development aid budgets.

"Bottom-up" approach
In recent years, Mr. Dietz has been involved in what he considers an innovative, long-term “bottom-up” approach to assessing development programmes in parts of Ghana and Burkina Faso. The studies show that recipients value the long-term commitment and involvement of aid providers, whether local or international. Also revealing is that the aid rarely benefits the poorest of the poor outside urban areas.

“Many of the development initiatives are expected to show positive results in two to four years’ time. As academics, we say that’s complete nonsense. We would like to show the importance of very long historical processes. Understanding any part of the world can only be done in an influential way if you show changes in 30 to 50 to 100 years.”

His hopes
The African Studies Centre of which Ton Dietz has been appointed director is attached to Leiden University in The Netherlands. It is one of the oldest and most prestigious centres for the study of Africa in the world. Because of Africa’s expanding economic footprint, more such centres are opening outside of Europe. China now has six and there are several in India and Brazil, next to a handful in Africa.

He hopes the ASC, soon to mark its 65th anniversary, will intensify ongoing partnerships with African scholars during his tenure and increase the number of scientific journals available online through its library. Priority fields of study will include livelihoods in Africa, mobility and urbanisation, governance, identity and the study of Africa in the world.

More business
There will be an increased interest in business, following the Dutch government’s shift away from development assistance, towards a more prominent role for business and trade. “Until now we had limited relationships with the business community. We had researchers looking at economics, but you can’t avoid looking closely at the Dutch business involvement in Africa. We want to do that better than before.”

A complete interview with Ton Dietz will soon be available in our feature programme Africa in Progress, produced in partnership with local radio stations in Africa.