Meeting Report "Challenging Orthodoxies in Economic Thinking in Africa"

A meeting report detailing a three-day symposium held in Dakar, Senegal, in September 2019, focused on challenging dominant neoclassical economic orthodoxies in Africa. The event, co-hosted by TrustAfrica and the Institute for Economic Justice, brought together academics, policymakers, and activists to analyze the impact of neoliberal policies and develop heterodox, rights-based alternatives for development and economic justice.

• Economic orthodoxy is identified with the neoclassical economic trend, which serves as the matrix for neoliberalism. This orthodoxy is operationalized in Africa through the Washington Consensus and Structural Adjustment Policies (SAPs), which are described as having the most disastrous consequences for the continent.
• The 'Africa Rising' narrative of the 2010s is characterized as a neoliberal myth. While 30 countries saw growth rates over 4% between 2000 and 2010, this is viewed as 'recovery growth' following the end of IMF austerity and a rise in raw material exports, rather than a structural improvement in living conditions.
• The Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) and the project for a single currency are critiqued as 'Afro liberalism.' The CFTA is seen as prioritizing trade exchange over production, while the single currency project is viewed as an imitation of the European Union that dispossesses states of economic policy instruments.
• Orthodox economic thinking is described as 'phallocratic' because it abstracts women's unpaid domestic work from socio-economic indicators like GDP. A proposed alternative is the 'feminist economy' or 'economy of care,' which integrates emotional dimensions and care into economic analysis.
• The informal economy in Africa is presented as a viable alternative to orthodox policies and is described as the 'real economy' where agents operate with logics different from neoclassical ontology.
• Climate change is linked to the 'consumer society' promoted by neoliberal teleology. The report argues that international agreements like the Kyoto Protocol and Paris Agreement fail because they address the manifestations of climate change (temperature) rather than the causes (greenhouse effect).
• To challenge economic orthodoxy, the meeting proposed a multi-pronged strategy involving the creation of an 'epistemic community.' Short-term goals include mapping alternative initiatives and documenting population experiences, while medium-term goals include establishing an African journal and reforming university curricula.
• The report warns that the reaction of the orthodox establishment to heterodox movements may range from 'absorption or neutralization' to the 'marginalization or dis-crediting' of the movement, particularly within universities and government bodies.

APA

Institute for Economic Justice (2019). Meeting Report "Challenging Orthodoxies in Economic Thinking in Africa". https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/report_challenging-orthodoxies-in-economic-thinking-in-africa.pdf

Chicago

Institute for Economic Justice. Meeting Report "Challenging Orthodoxies in Economic Thinking in Africa". 2019. https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/report_challenging-orthodoxies-in-economic-thinking-in-africa.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Institute for Economic Justice |title=Meeting Report "Challenging Orthodoxies in Economic Thinking in Africa" |date=September 2019 |url=https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/report_challenging-orthodoxies-in-economic-thinking-in-africa.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{instituteforeconomicjustice2019meeting, author = {{Institute for Economic Justice}}, title = {{Meeting Report "Challenging Orthodoxies in Economic Thinking in Africa"}}, institution = {Institute for Economic Justice}, year = {2019}, month = sep, url = {https://iej.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/report_challenging-orthodoxies-in-economic-thinking-in-africa.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }