Missionaries Mercenaries and Misfits: An Anthology

Missionaries Mercenaries and Misfits is a book that will make us re-imagine our world and our place in it and force us to reconsider the value of development and what it really means to the people of Africa. All the contributors to this anthology approach the notion of development through their own worldviews and experiences: many are convinced that it is time to declare the death of development as an idea as an ideology and as an industry. The essays in this book come from various writers most of whom are either based in East Africa or are part of its diaspora or who have worked often as developmentalists in their own way within Africa. Consequently this extremely accessible collection does not attempt the grand sweep raging aimlessly against the development machine with general complaints that fail to hit their mark. Rather it is a focused peep into international regional and local attempts to develop Africa thereby exposing the reader to a much-needed African perspective on the development industry and why it has failed so miserably in lifting millions of people out of poverty.