By Meg Foley Yoder
Professor Célestin Monga explores how philosophy, economics, and personal experience shape Africa’s struggle to define its future.
When Harvard Kennedy School Professor Célestin Monga joined Mathias Risse, director of the Carr–Ryan Center for Human Rights, the conversation began with a question of distance: what does it mean to live and lead in Africa when one’s career unfolds across continents?
The event, part of the Carr–Ryan Conversations series, centered on Monga’s recent book Nihilism and Negritude: Ways of Living in Africa. In a lively discussion, Risse guided Monga through his intellectual journey, from his upbringing in Cameroon to his work in global development and academia. Together they explored how philosophy, economics, and personal experience intersect in understanding Africa’s future.
A Life Between Continents
Asked how he manages to teach at Harvard, the Sorbonne, and Peking University, Monga smiled and admitted, “I don’t manage.” The remark led to reflection on what it means to build a career abroad while remaining accountable to one’s roots. Although his professional life has taken him far from Cameroon, Monga said he still feels deeply indebted to the people whose taxes paid for his early education. “They made incredible sacrifices,” he explained, describing himself as one of many educated Africans expected to “go out, learn something, and come back to help.”
That sense of obligation, he suggested, remains largely unmet. Many in the African diaspora find comfort in sending money home, a practice he called the “Western Union syndrome,” but such support, he argued, has little impact on structural change. “I’ve been doing that for 30 years,” he said. “It hasn’t changed anything.”
Generations and Leadership
Risse next asked about Monga’s home country and its political continuity under longtime President Paul Biya. The question opened a broader discussion of leadership across Africa, where the world’s youngest populations often live under some of its oldest governments. Monga was quick to clarify that age itself is not the problem. “There are young leaders with very old ideas,” he said. The deeper issue, in his view, lies in the quality of leadership—both among those in power and among the opposition, which too often mirrors the same behaviors.
“What is lacking is mostly the right policies to create jobs for young people who don’t have skills.”
He warned that a rapidly growing young population without education or opportunity poses significant risks. “The young population could have been an opportunity,” he said, “but it’s becoming a threat.” The key, he argued, is to focus on employment and skills. “What is lacking is mostly the right policies to create jobs for young people who don’t have skills.”
Examples and Possibilities
Despite his critique, Monga highlighted countries that have managed steady progress. Mauritius, Namibia, Botswana, Morocco, and Rwanda, he said, demonstrate what is possible with consistent governance and sound economic planning. Mauritius in particular, once dismissed by economists as a “basket case,” is now a high-income economy. “If Mauritius could do it, any African country could do it,” he said.
For Monga, inclusive employment policy remains decisive. Drawing lessons from East Asia and Latin America, he emphasized how those regions invested in opportunities for low-skilled workers. “People with degrees can always leave,” he observed. “The problem is those who don’t have the skills, and they are the majority.”
Nihilism and Negritude
Turning to Monga’s book, Risse asked why he chose to frame African life through two philosophical concepts: nihilism and negritude. Monga explained that Nihilism and Negritude began as a personal reflection rather than an academic study. He wanted to write about everyday realities—food, funerals, and social rituals—and what they reveal about values and priorities. Over time, he found that the notion of nihilism helped him describe a sense of meaninglessness that often arises in conditions of hardship. “Nihilism is the idea that life has no meaning, no real purpose, except what humans give to it,” he said.
Negritude, by contrast, offered a vocabulary of dignity. First coined by Black intellectuals in 1930s Paris, the concept has evolved in Monga’s hands into a modern question about belonging. “What does it mean to be an African person,” he asked, “and beyond Africa, to be an African in Boston?”
Lessons from History and Partners Abroad
The discussion continued with questions from the audience. A student from Kenya asked how African countries could overcome the “sins of their founding fathers.” Monga replied that while history is important, present responsibility matters more. “You need to go home and fix your country,” he said. “You cannot expect somebody else to do it.”
“You need to go home and fix your country. You cannot expect somebody else to do it.”
Another student asked about China’s growing influence on the continent. Monga acknowledged that China has played a long-term role in African development, pointing to the TAZARA railway between Tanzania and Zambia, built in the 1970s when China was still poorer than both nations. Yet he expressed concern about the lack of transparency in more recent projects, such as Kenya’s Nairobi–Mombasa railway. “Greater openness,” he said, “is essential if these deals are to serve citizens rather than elites.”
A further exchange focused on the relationship between politics and economics. Some participants argued that Africa’s challenges are primarily political. Monga agreed that leadership is central but added that integrity alone is not enough. He cited Tanzania’s Julius Nyerere as an example of a principled leader whose economic policies failed to deliver growth. “You can have great leaders,” he said, “but with wrong ideas, you’re not going anywhere.”
A Call to Return and Rebuild
As the conversation drew to a close, Monga reflected on a familiar question from African students abroad: what should we do? His answer was pragmatic. Change, he said, begins with participation. He recalled advice from a mentor at the World Bank who told him that “it’s very easy to be a famous African professor outside of Africa. It serves zero purpose.” Even when working with difficult governments, he said, those committed to development must find ways to influence decisions from within. “You have to use your brain to find the right way,” he said, “to help them do the right thing.”
The discussion ended on a note of challenge and hope. Through reflections on nihilism, leadership, and belonging, Monga offered not despair but direction: a belief that Africa’s transformation depends on those willing to turn ideas into action.
Kyle Faneuff | Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights
