ROAPE Publications Ltd.Darwins Nightmare A Critical As.docx

ROAPE Publications Ltd.
'Darwin's Nightmare': A Critical Assessment
Darwin's Nightmare by Hubert Sauper
Review by: Thomas Molony, Lisa Ann Richey and Stefano
Ponte
Review of African Political Economy, Vol. 34, No. 113,
Imperial, Neo-Liberal Africa? (Sep.,
2007), pp. 598-608
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.
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598 Review of African Political Economy
tained in the book. The Conclusion to
Voices of Protest brings together many of
the themes discussed throughout the
book, and also touches on the issues of
theory building and the implications of
social movement activism on democracy
and development. While the editors'
analysis is thought-provoking, multiple
research questions emerge from this final
chapter. For example: to what extent are
the social movements capable of creating
and implementing an alternative socio
economic political project in South Af
rica (or beyond)? Do they need to capture
the state, or can a sustainable political
project be constructed outside of the
state? And what is the relationship
between the various social movements
and the traditional 'left' forces within the
Tripartite Alliance? Perhaps the mark of
an outstanding book is its ability to
stimulate further discussion and re
search. This collection will almost cer
tainly do just that, as it provides a
comprehensive, intelligent, and engag
ing assessment of social movements in

South Africa.
'Darwin's Nightmare': A
Critical Assessment
Thomas Molony, Lisa Ann Richey &
Stefano Pontel
Introduction: Sauper's 'Heart of
Darkness'
'Darwin's Nightmare' (Hubert Sauper;
2004, France/Austria/Belgium,107 min)
is a documentary film about the Nile
perch fishing industry around Lake Vic
toria in Tanzania. Since its release in
2004, it continues to generate accolades
and criticisms that fall outside of con
ventional ideological boundaries fa
voured by globalisation's fans and its
discontents. The film's director, Hubert
Sauper has been embraced and rebuked
by those claiming to promote the inter
ests of the film's subjects. Yet the film has
not yet been taken seriously as a discur
sive construction of particular ideologies
of development, nor has it been subjected
to the scrutiny necessary in order to
understand the film's power to confirm,
for a popular audience, much of what
they think they know is 'true' about
Africa and how such a representation
can be both problematic and dangerous.
In the film, lawless 'fish cities' have
mushroomed around the filleting facto
ries, peopled by fishermen, prostitutes

and feral, glue-sniffing children. Factory
owners have grown relatively rich on the
proceeds of a thriving export industry,
while the locals eat the dried leftovers.
AIDS ravages the fishing settlements
and, when the dying fishermen limp
home to be comforted by their relatives,
AIDS destroys the inland villages as
well. Fish are responsible for all of
modernity's ills, including the crashing
of cargo planes around Mwanza airport
because they are too heavily laden with
Nile perch fillets for the European dinner
table.
Book/Film Reviews 599
While we are not averse to relevant
criticisms of globalisation, international
trade, African gender relations, geo
politics and biopolitics, we argue here
that such a totalising vision of Tanzania,
Africa and international development
reduces gender relations, sexuality, socio
economic change, homelessness, pov
erty and complicated vectors of disease
transmission into stale tropes associated
with Afro-pessimism. We contend that
'Darwin's Nightmare' is an ethically
dubious piece of journalism that exploits
the power imbalances it claims to cri
tique.
Social Darwinism

The film harks back to the late nineteenth
century sweep of 'social Darwinism' - a
popular corruption of Darwin's theory
of evolution by natural selection. Some
whites predicted on this basis that the
'Negro' race (the term used at the time)
would be extinct by 1900. Their idea was
that Darwin's 'survival of the fittest'
implied a competition between races that
the 'Negroes' would lose. (It is worth
noting that 'survival of the fittest' was
first used by a philosopher, Herbert
Spencer; and it bears repeating that
'social Darwinism' is a misconception
and misapplication of Darwin's actual
theory). This popular belief was shared
by some white physicians, who thought
that it was confirmed by 'defects' in
black peoples' anatomy, and therefore
became obsessed with the details of such
presumed imperfections. Although com
parable defects in white patients went
unreported, those in black patients were
described in great detail in medical
journals and became the basis for sweep
ing conclusions, for example, that geni
tal and brain development were said to
vary inversely. Social competition was
assumed to be the essential characteris
tic of human nature understood through
biological reality.2 'Darwin's Nightmare'
is meant to refer to the pariah Nile perch
fish (Lates niloticus) that feeds on the
very social fabric of Mwanza, Tanza

nia's most populated region. It can also
refer to the nightmare perpetuated by
this film of social Darwinism, where
nature and global trade relations are
portrayed as red in tooth and claw. This
is not a new perspective on African
development issues but a reiteration of
nineteenth century pseudo-science. The
implication seems to be that Africans
will annihilate themselves because they
are not fit enough to negotiate in the
European's modern world.
As we all know, 'globalisation' and
'modernisation' are contentious, jagged
amalgamations of contradictory compo
nents. Some of the forces that perpetuate
the spread of HIV are the same ones
responsible for 'empowerment' of women
within families, families within commu
nities and communities as part of a
global vision of 'development'. More
money can indeed mean more prostitu
tion, family disintegration and disease
spread as implied in this film, but less
money can also mean the same.3 This
film perpetuates a common patronising
belief among the elite that when the poor
get money they will spend it on the
wrong things, like the Mwanza fisher
men indulging themselves in purchases
of beer and sex.
Representation, Sources &
Credibility

Indian feminist Uma Narayan argues
that representation of 'other' cultures in
the mainstream Western media is not a
problem of omission, but instead that
Western representations have been
deeply involved in perpetuating nega
tive stereotypes and imputations of cul
tural inferiority (Narayan, 1997).4 Hubert
Sauper's film, produced under the guise
of a documentary (and categorised as
such, and not 'fiction'), uses the Tanza
nia subject as a reflecting pool for a
meditation on the big, bad West. This is
executed in such a way that viewers are
blinded by the incredible whiteness of
being, under the guise of 'progressive
politics' 'a la Michael Moore.5 In spite of
the fact that the authors of this article
and the maker of the film are all Europe
based white people speaking about Af
rica, this does not imply that we have one
voice or that we speak with the same
credibility, accountability or bias. Such
issues are frequently raised in internet
discussions about the film, where vitu
perative remarks are regularly exchanged
between those who laud the director for
exposing the evils of a 'system' largely
supported by outsiders, and those who
contest Sauper's evidence and question
his methods.6

The film exploits the perception that
'Africans know everything about Africa'
in ways that pervert notions of perspec
tive or authenticity. For example, the film
relies on Raphael (whose surname is
variously reported as Luchikio or
Tukiko), the night watchman of the
Fisheries Research Institute in Mwanza,
to provide the appropriate assessment
and analysis of the impact of interna
tional trade and fishing on Tanzania's
local communities. Instead of speaking
for his own condition, perhaps noting
that he himself earns a salary, meagre as
it is, from the fishing industry, he is
cajoled into playing amateur social sci
entist for a filmmaker eager to 'indigenise'
his own voice. Staged in darkened foot
age as the 'savage', the night watchman
is armed with only a bow and poisoned
arrows and describes how he does not
fear war and must be 'ready for fights'.7
Yet his arsenal is clearly not depicted as
prepared for 'modern' battles. As a per
formance of 'local knowledge', he is
hired to read aloud from an article in The
East African newspaper.
Similarly, the impact of HIV/AIDS on a
local fishing community is assessed by
the village pastor, his subjective demog
raphy of slightly confusing statistics ('45
to 50 fishermen dead in the lake', and '10
to 15 dead every month in his area') is
followed by questioning in the film that

makes him appear, at best, impractical in
his solutions to HIV/AIDS devastation.
Yet why should a documentary ask a
pastor if he teaches about condom us
age? This makes no more sense than
asking the local clinic staff if they pre
scribe prayer as the medical cure for sin.
What it does achieve is to privilege his
perspective on how AIDS is affecting his
village and then invalidate his own
beliefs about his religious interpretation
of the disease. Jonathan, supposedly 'the
only painter in town' is given a similar
role to play, assessing the realities of
street children and abuse.
Local voices that could be in contrast to
the film's ideological path are consist
ently absent. Where are the interviews
with the men and women who work in
the fish factory? How can the selection of
three sex workers (who appear intoxi
cated as they are questioned over drinks
at the New Mwanza Hotel) and five
street children (shown high on glue) be
considered representative of the local
'stakeholders' in the international fish
ing industry? And of the other destitute
children shown cooking and fighting
over food, Richard Mgamba (the journal
ist who helped Sauper after being told
the film planned 'to market Lake Victoria
and the fishing industry to the rest of the

globe'), reports that they
were paid between Tshs 1,000/- and Tshs
5,000/- by the producers of the film and
the[n] directed [to] do what they are
doing, paving the way for my guest tofilm
what they termed 'striking images'.8
This account is supported by the painter
Jonathan and others such as Mangeu
and Matekere who recall that, in ex
change for cash, they were directed by
Sauper on how he wanted them to act.9
Sauper's claim that he and his crew 'had
to be very close to our "characters" and
follow their lives over long periods'10
should therefore be interrogated. Yet,
glowing reviews in the popular press
praise the director's 'admirable facility
for getting close enough to his remark
ably unguarded subjects' in a film 'en
riched by the candor and dignity of its
shockingly deprived interview subjects.'
Not that Sauper demonstrated a pen
chant for getting his facts right. His
depiction of hapless 'scientists' discuss
ing resource management issues in a
local workshop was fairly indicative.
But this time, the 'other' talked back. The
Lake Victoria Fisheries Organisation and

IUCN, The World Conservation Union,
replied to Sauper in their poignant pub
lic letter, dated 8 December 2005:
What you have titled as the 'IUCN
Ecological Congress' was in fact the
'International Workshop on Community
Participation in Fisheries Management on
Lake Victoria', organised jointly by the
Lake Victoria Fisheries Organization and
The World Conservation Union (IUCN).
Had you stayed in the workshop for more
than 15 minutes, you would have realised
that the workshop was in fact defining
ways to devolve some of the responsibili
ties and rewards offisheries management
to local communities. While community
empowerment does not translate into
poverty alleviation overnight, it is a
critical initial step to improve the lives of
communities. The government ministers,
scientists, industry and community rep
resentatives at that meeting would have
gladly informed you about the purpose of
the workshop, and their view of the impact
of the Lake Victoria fisheries on fishing
communities in Tanzania, had you asked.12
Fish Exports Hurt Local
Economies?
One of the main claims that the film
makes is that Nile perch exports are
'bad' for Tanzania. This comes through
most forcefully when images of packed

fish fillets are loaded on Ilyushin cargo
planes, while news of food scarcity in the
country, due to drought, is broadcast on
the radio.
The view that the multiplier effect of
exporting Nile perch'3 is what could be
actually needed in such a situation is
never entertained. Food emergency sys
tems in case of shortages are based on
dry grains, in Tanzania, mostly maize.
These grains are easy to store and trans
port, readily available in the global mar
ket, relatively cheap, and a preferred
food staple in Tanzania (although rice
would be a locally-preferred food around
Lake Victoria). The oily sangala/sangara
(as Nile perch is known in Tanzania)'4 is
not a locally-preferred food; it is an exotic
species that was introduced in the lake
by British colonial officers in the 1950s. It
is also very difficult to handle for local
food distribution - to be eaten fresh, it
needs a cold chain that would make it
unaffordable to most Tanzanians who
may be in need of food supplies; it is a
large fish, difficult and expensive to dry,
smoke and/or fry, the only forms it can
be traded without a cold chain.'5 In other
words, despite what Sauper implies, it
can not be used to alleviate food short
ages in Tanzania. Not catching and
exporting it would likely mean more
households without income who would
add to the count of the food deficient
population. The film fosters a view of

hunger as lack of food, as opposed to
lack of access to food - pace Amartya
Sen.16
A second misrepresentation that the
documentary carries out is that the coast
line is totally dependent on fish exports.
First, there is a substantial fishing indus
try that caters for local and regional
markets; this handles tilapia and dagaa,
a dry or fried sardine-type fish that
constitutes the bulk of regional fish
trade.'7 The local market for Nile perch
heads and bones is actually quite small
in comparison to these other markets. It
is also decreasing in importance, as
some fish factories have been making
more use of left-overs on the frame to
manufacture fish fillets and burgers and
for animal feed,'8 and others have been
exporting the fish products to the Demo
cratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Malawi
and Zambia."9 Second, the fish export
industry in Tanzania is not a 'multi
billion dollar' industry as the documen
tary claims; Nile perch exports from
Tanzania amount to less than $100
million annually. Third, the regions that
surround Lake Victoria in Tanzania are

not 'totally dependent on fish' as is
claimed in the film. Such an assertion is
incorrect and has led a respected BBC
film reviewer to tell his audience that
the inhabitants of the lake [presumably
local Mwanzans, and not thefish] are now
impoverished, and the only industry left to
them consists of processing the Nile perch
and selling it off to Europe.20
There is substantial rice and cotton
cultivation and large mining investments,
not to speak of commercial and service
activities in Mwanza. Yet it would ap
pear from this film that prostitution
services is all that Tanzania's fastest
growing city has to offer. The documen
tary also claims two plane-loads a day
(between 90 and 130 tons of fish fillets
altogether, depending on the type of
aircraft) translate into '2 million white
people eat[ing] Victoria-fish every day.'
That would mean a fish portion of 4
grams per 'white person' per day. The
preferred fish fillet size in European
supermarkets is somewhere between 200
and 500 grams, for preparations for 2 to 4
people.
A third twist that the documentary does
is to forcefully link fishing to all things
that are wrong with Tanzanian society.
One of the film's opening scenes is of a
sex worker singing 'Tanzania, Tanza
nia, nakupenda kwa moyo wote ...' (Tanza

nia, I love you with all of my heart) while
a rude European pilot mocks her. This is
not translated, and so to a foreign audi
ence means nothing. To a Swahili speaker,
on the other hand, the scene also shows a
powerful portrait of a woman whose
pride of place and identity remain intact,
even under the assaults of the brutish
'johns'.21 Her words appear to be lost on
Sauper, or at least are left untranslated so
to depersonalise the sex worker and
reveal yet another heart of darkness.
Further, while we do not want to make
light of the conditions of street children
in Mwanza, their plight is not funda
mentally different to that of those in other
cities, where the fishing industry is not
operating. Subtle omissions are replaced
by a blatantly skewed translation in one
of the film's rare daylight scenes when a
Tanzanian working for the film inter
views a group of street children by the
lake. He asks one of the street children in
clearly audible Swahili, Baba yako,
anafanya kazi gani? ('What work does
your father do?'), to which the child says
Wanalima ('They farm') - translated with
the subtitle 'He is on the water.' The
child repeats, Wanalima. A second child
is then asked, 'Is your dad also a fisher
man?' The child says, 'My dad is dead.'
Then the interviewer returns to the first

child (whose father is not a fisherman,
but was misleadingly translated into
saying that he was) and asks: 'Do you
want to be a fisherman like your dad?'
and the child says, Sitaki ('I don't want
to'). Such clear manipulation of the
subtitles to make this appear to be a
group of street children abandoned by
their parents at the will of the global fish
industry is the epitome of poor journal
ism. That it presumably comes from
'good' or 'progressive' intentions does
nothing for the cause of any genuine
anti-capitalist critique.
Research-based evidence shows that fish
ing households have on average higher
incomes than purely farming house
holds on Lake Victoria.22 Fishing can
help raise cash to get access to agricul
tural inputs and hired labour (i.e., for
cotton cultivation in the hinterlands of
Mwanza) and is thus likely to increase
productivity and income in farms. We
are not arguing here that higher incomes
necessarily entail better welfare of house
holds and communities. However, we
take stance against the documentary

when it portrays how fishermen with
cash 'squander' their money on drink
and prostitutes. The equation for Sauper
is: no cash = poverty; cash = perdition.
Mwanza, Famous or Infamous
for Street Children & HIV/AIDS?
Mwanza is in fact well-known among
researchers on issues of both HIV/AIDS
and street children for two reasons,
neither of which is acknowledged in the
film. Mwanza is home to one of the oldest
and most successful grassroots NGOs
dealing with problems of street children
in Africa. Named from a Swahili word
meaning 'to nurture one another', Kuleana
has been a Tanzanian-led centre for
housing street children and for advocat
ing for the rights of all children since
1992. The problem of homeless children
is severe in Mwanza town, but if the film
had explored the actual problem, instead
of its archetype as globalisation's repug
nance, Kuleana could have provided some
perspective.
Mwanza is also the site of the first
definitive medical research linking treat
ment of sexually-transmitted diseases
with prevention of HIV transmission. In
the late 1990s, the now famous 'Mwanza
study' conducted by an international
team of public health experts showed
that treating sexually-transmitted dis

eases could reduce rates of HIV trans
mission.23 This study has provided useful
data for advocates of better primary
health care provision and increased at
tention to sexual and reproductive health
as a matter of life and death. While the
level of health care provision in Mwanza
remains in need of improvement, there
are anti-retroviral drugs for the treatment
of AIDS at the regional hospital, funds
from the US President's Emergency Plan
for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), and mobile
health clinics funded by the Clinton
Foundation. AIDS clearly is a devastat
ing disease in the Lake Victoria commu
nities as the film depicts. Nevertheless,
this should be placed in the perspective
that the area is better-equipped than
most of sub-Saharan Africa to deal with
the situation.
Fish for Arms?
Could 'awakening' the European con
sumers of Nile perch to the negative
externalities of the industry stop them
from consuming the fish? This may
already have started if the BBC's Nick
Fraser is correct; that Darwin's Night
mare - 'one of the most shocking films
made in recent years' - has ensured that
Nile perch has been removed from French
supermarkets.24 If so, would this possi
bly make the lives any better for the

fishing communities in Mwanza?
Perhaps a focus on the fishing industry
is missing the point of the film. The
trailer to the film (in French) concentrates
exclusively on what could only be de
scribed as his fish-for-arms 'specula
tion', where Nile perch is flown to the
West in huge cargo planes that appar
ently return to Tanzania with weapons
to fuel Africa's conflicts.25 This idea was
born during Sauper's 'research' on an
other of his documentaries, Kisangani
Diary, that follows Rwandese refugees of
the Congolese rebellion. He recalls on the
official 'Darwin's Nightmare' website
that,
... it turned out that the rescue planes
with yellow peas also carried arms to the
same destinations, so that the same refu
gees that were benefitingfrom the yellow
peas could be shot at later during the
nights ... First hand knowledge of the
story of such a cynical reality became the
triggerfor 'Darwin's Nightmare'.
Sauper's use of the word 'trigger' is no
accident. The French-language advertis
ing poster for Le Cauchemar de Darwin
(and the cover of the DVD in widest
circulation in Tanzania) is of three white
images against a black background: the
first, a sketch of a fish.

The second, the skeleton of a fish with
the anal fins replaced by the trigger and
magazine of an assault rifle; the third, an
assault rifle. The implication is that the
film will show how fish somehow turn
in to, or are exchanged for, weapons. If
there is any doubt, then the Spanish
language poster for 'La Pesa-dilla de
Darwin' is more striking still, with the
black background contrasting against
the blood-red stencil of a fish that has the
butt of an assault rifle for a tail.26 Review
ers have taken the bait, and have pro
vided prospective film viewers with
predictably Afro-pessimistic appraisals:
To make the journey profitable, the planes
that collect thefish now comefilled up with
arms. In addition to destroying the envi
ronment, the West has also increased the
likelihood of conflict in Africa,
reads the review by BBC's film critic for
'Storyville'.27 The film critic for the New
York Post is even briefer in his prognosis:
'Africa starves because corrupt govern
ments own the natural resources and
export them to buy weapons to keep their
people at bay.'28

This has irked the Government of Tanza
nia, a country that has welcomed refu
gees from neighbouring countries and
for many years worked hard to negotiate
peace in the Great Lakes region. Presi
dent Julius Nyerere, known as 'the father
of the nation', gained the reputation as
an international statesman in part for his
efforts to these ends. His successors,
particularly the current president, Jakaya
Kikwete, have taken a key role in these
negotiations. In a televised address from
the Bank of Tanzania Institute in
Mwanza on 31 July 2006, a visibly angry
Mr. Kikwete argued that the film had
failed to provide specific evidence link
ing fish exports to the arms trade: 'One of
the biggest lies in thefilm is that the planes
that are coming to pickfishfrom Mwanza
bring weapons that are used to destabilise
the Great Lakes region.29
President Kikwete asked Sauper to pro
vide evidence linking fish exports to the
arms trade, because there is none in the
film.30 Several times in the film, Sauper
asks his informants, 'What do the air
craft bring into Tanzania? Do they come
empty?' No evidence is provided and at
times the director is laughed at by those
he asks. Still, he continues throughout
the film, persistently quizzing pilots and
also grilling, as James Christopher of the
New York Times puts it, 'the factory

managers, the fishermen, the urchins
and the prostitutes.'31 Nobody entertains
Sauper's hypothesis until finally an air
man confesses to having had 'two flights
from Europe to Angola with big ma
chines like tanks'. Yet the airman makes
no mention of having stopped in Mwanza
or anywhere else in Tanzania.
The omission of a date line for these
events is also significant. Angola's
bloody civil war ran for 27 years from
1975, and of course weapons were deliv
ered to Angola because government
troops and UNITA rebel forces were
fighting each other and needed arms and
ammunition to do so. While there is no
direct suggestion in the film that Tanza
nia assisted in the supply of weapons for
the Angola conflict, this does seem to be
implied. This is most obvious in refer
ences to the article by Richard Mgamba
which suggests that Mwanza has been
used for the delivery of arms en route to
other countries.32 Since Mgamba wrote
his report there have been allegations
linking Tanzania to illegal arms traffick
ing, the most forceful being a report by
Mwanakijiji that uses evidence from
United States intelligence, among other
sources.33 The article also refers to a UN
report on arms smuggling and traffick
ing with the Democratic Republic of
Congo which reveals that Mwanza air

port allows flights that do not comply
with international civil aviation rules,
and provides photographs of 'suspi
cious airplanes sighted by the Group of
Experts on 16 November 2005 at Mwanza
airport.'34 The film fails to comment on
any such evidence, nor is Sauper able to
provide any evidence of his own.
The Embassy of the United Republic of
Tanzania in France concluded that
Sauper stumbled upon the perch theme
because of his lack evidence about weap
ons being flown into Mwanza.35 On the
official website's page entitled 'Filming
in the Heart of Darkness', and with
remarkable similarities to Conrad's work,
Sauper describes:
Forced idleness became a dull routine. We
would sit in the merciless equatorial sun
surrounded by a million Nile Perch
skeletons, the local's food, trying not to go
mad.36
Under such conditions one might specu
late that Sauper was tempted to look
even harder for the weapons he had
heard about years ago when working in
another country on 'Kisangani Diary'.
The outcome is a film that, as the New

York Times film reviewer A. 0. Scott puts
it, 'turns the fugitive, mundane facts that
are any documentary's raw materials
into the stuff of tragedy and prophecy.'37
Tanzania's Nightmare, Sauper's
Dream
Undoubtedly Sauper and his promoters'
sensationalisation of the 'fish-for-arms'
boosted sales and has helped advertise
their film. President Kikwete, by devot
ing his entire nationwide month-end
address to 'Darwin's Nightmare', un
wittingly handed Sauper the best public
ity he could have hoped for. While few
Tanzanians still appear to have watched
the film, the national media discussed it
at length. The Daily News supported the
government (predictably, some might
say),38 while Uwazi, a Swahili-language
tabloid, was forced to make an uncondi
tional public apology to the National
Assembly for publishing a cartoon that
allegedly belittled a Member of Parlia
ment's condemnation of the film.39 Coun
terfeit DVDs of the Filamu ya Mapanki, as
it became known, began to be sold on the
streets, presumably to make a profit from
those who might want to see for them
selves what all the fuss was about.40
Internationally 'Darwin's Nightmare'
had become more than Sauper could
have dreamt of in terms of publicity.

Domestically it had turned into what one
commentator has termed 'a parliamen
tary nightmare'.4' The nightmare per
petuated when the Government of
Tanzania apparently reacted with what
Sauper described as a 'campaign of
intimidation' against people who spoke
out against the film.42 According to the
Economist Intelligence Unit, the govern
ment threatened to deport some of the
journalists who were interviewed in the
film:
Richard Mgamba of The Citizen newspa
per was apparently harassed by the
authorities and threatened with deporta
tion to Kenya, even though he is a
Tanzanian citizen. Hefled Mwanza, ow
ing tofears that a demonstration against
thefilm - organised by the local authorities
and held in early August [2006] - would
spiral out of control.43
A website entitled 'The Otherside of this
Documentary: Know the truth about this
documentary film'44 has appeared in a
bid to defend 'Brand Tanzania' on the
international stage. There are no formal
acknowledgements that the site is sup
ported by the government, but it is likely
that it is the product of a resolution
passed by Parliament that, '[t]o cleanse
the country's name ... recommended the
production of a documentary that will
counter the allegations by giving a true

picture of Nile Perch business in Lake
Victoria'.45 It offers a gallery of photos
(mostly fish, but a couple of doctored
images of Sauper posing with Saddam
Hussein and Osama bin Laden) and an
opportunity to send articles to the
webmaster. As with visitors' comments
in the discussion pages, all the articles
are unified in their condemnation of the
film. One article by the Ministry of
Natural Resources systematically attacks
the film with clarifications pointing out,
for example, that the aircraft used to
transport the fish are contracted by com
panies in Europe, not the Tanzanian
processors.46 Another official statement,
from the Embassy of the United Republic
of Tanzania in France, contests the film's
assertion that globalisation has forced
Tanzania to 'condemn the majority of its
population to ... slavery, prostitution,
and drug addiction.'47
The site's piece de resistance are video
clips of interviews with people working
in the fish industry and with some of the
young 'actors' featured in the film. Ac
counts of the events leading up to the
'Otherside' interviews are anecdotal, and
it is not difficult to identify who commis

sioned them, given the Parliamentary
resolution mentioned earlier. Yet it is
unclear what pressure, if any, the inter
viewees who had featured in the film
were under to speak out about how the
film research and filming took place.
Speaking from the safety of Europe,
Sauper expressed his concern that,
[the very last thing you want as a film
maker isfor the people you left behind to be
in danger.
By the time the 'Otherside' interviews
took place the young men who feature in
the film would have quickly realised
how Sauper manipulated their words
and deeds to fit his own agenda. Under
questioning, they tell viewers the 'truth'
about this documentary film and the
actions of the director who shunned his
responsibilities to vulnerable people. One
of Sauper's comments during an inter
view on the ethics of free trade and
filmmaking is more accurate, and perti
nent, than the director intended and
provides a fitting coda to this review:
'There isn't anything new in my movie.
It's all known.'48
Endnotes
1. Thomas Molony is Research Fellow, Centre of
African Studies, University of Edinburgh. and
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, School of
Geography, Archaeology and Environmental
Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, South

Africa. Lisa Ann Richey is Associate Professor
of International Development Studies, Institute
for Society and Globalisation, Roskilde Univer
sity, Denmark. Stefano Ponte is Senior Researcher,
Danish Institute for International Studies. We
are thankful to Ben Jones for constructive
criticism and feedback.
2. See Eric B. Ross (1998), The Malthus Factor:
Poverty, Politics and Population in Capitalist
Development, London: Zed, 1998.
3. For examples from Mwanza, see K. Coen
Flynn (2005), Food, Culture, and Survival in an
African City, New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
4. U. Narayan (1997), Dislocating Cultures:
Identities, traditions, and Third-World feminism,
New York: Routledge.
5. Sauper is so persuasive at this that his film
was nominated under the 'Best Documentary
Features' category at the 2006 Academy Awards.
Other hopefuls were 'Enron: The Smartest Guys
in the Room', 'Murderball' and 'Street Fight'. His
film was not awarded an Oscar.
6. For example, see discussion fora on
<www.imdb.com> or <www.darwins night
mare.net>, postings on <http: / /mettyz
bongoland-reflections.blogspot.com/> and
podcasts on <http://mwanakijiji.podomatic.
com/>.
7. Bows and arrows have a number of important

resonances in the culture of the Nyamwezi and
Sukuma (whose power base is in Mwanza),
where they serve as major symbols of paternal
ancestry and male identity; R. Abrahams,
'Sungusungu: Village vigilante groups in
Tanzania', African Affairs 86 343 (1987), pp.
179-96.
8. R. Mgamba, 'Reporting Africa in Western
Media Style', n.d., <http://www.darwins
nightmare.net/REPORTINGAFRICA.html> 20
February 2007.
9. darwinsnightmare.net, 'Mwanza fish industry
video', n.d., <http://www.darwins nightmare.
net/FishIndustryVideo.html> 20 February
2007.
10. <http: / /www.darwinsnightmare.com/
darwin/html/startset.htm>
11. D. Rooney, 'Variety magazine film review
[of Darwin's Nightmare]', 23 September 2004,
<http: / /www.variety.com / awardcentral_
review/VE1117924973.html?nav=r eviewsO7&
categoryid=1986&cs=1> 1 March 2007.
12. 'Open letter to Hubert Sauper from the Lake
Victoria Fisheries Organization and The World
Conservation Union (IUCN)', T. Maembe & A.

K. Kaudia, Jinja/Nairobi, 8 December 2005. One
of the authors of the letter confirmed with us
that they never received a response from Sauper.
13. 'Socio-economic effects of the evolution of
Nile perch fisheries in Lake Victoria: A review', J.
E. Reynolds, D.F. Greboval, FAO, Rome, 1988.
14. Lates niloticus is also known in Tanzania as
chengu and mkombozi ('saviour').
15. See S. Ponte, 'Bans, tests and alchemy: Food
safety standards and the Ugandan export fish
industry', Agriculture and Human Values 24:179
193, 2007.
16. A. Sen, A. (1981), Poverty and Famines: An
essay on entitlement and deprivation, Oxford:
Clarendon Press.
17. On Uganda, see Fisheries Resources Research
Institute (FIRRI) 'Survey of the regional fish
trade', Research report for the Lake Victoria
Environmental Management Project and the Lake
Victoria Fisheries Research Project, FIRRI: Jinja,
2003.
18. 'Jacob Masele - Vic Fish Factory Manager',
2006, <http: / /www.darwinsnightmare.net/
JackobMasele.html> 20 February 2007; see also
S. Ponte, 'Bans, tests and alchemy'.
19. Daily News, 'Mwanza fish industry creates
over 100,000 jobs', 24 August 2006.
20. N. Fraser, 'BBC Storyville film review [of

Darwin's Nightnare]', 2006, <http:/ /www.bbc.
co.uk /bbcfour / documentaries / storyville /
darwins-nightmare.shtml> 15 June 2006.
21. P. Bjerk, 'Review article of 'Darwin's
Nightmare', Tanzanian Affairs 85 (2006), pp. 42
43.
22. Among others, see 0. K. Odgonkara, 'Poverty
in the fisheries: Indicators, causes and
interventions', FIRRI Technical Document, FIRRI,
Jinja, 2002 and Fisheries Resources Research
Institute (FIRRI) 'Globalisation and fish
utilization and marketing study', FIRRI, Jinja,
2003.
23. See for example, H. Grosskurth et al. (1995),
'Impact of improved treatment of sexually
transmitted diseases on HIV infection in rural
Tanzania: randomized controlled trial', The
Lancet, 346:530-36.
24. Fraser, BBC Storyville review.
25. cinemovies.fr: Le magazine du cinema, 'Le
Cauchemar de Darwin (French language film
links)', 2 March 2006, <http://www.cine
movies.fr/fiche multimedia.php?ID film=
7615> 20 February 2007.
26. Carteles de cine, 'La Pesadilla de Darwin
(Spanish language film review)', 19 December
2006, <http://www.carteles.metropoli global.
com/paginas/ficha.php?qsec=peli&qid= 29228
35413> 25 February 2007.

27. Fraser, BBC Storyville review; the film was
broadcasted on BBC 2 on 23 May 2006.
28. K. Smith, 'Darwin's Nightmare (film review)',
3 August 2005, <http: / /pqasb.pq archiver.
com/nypost/access/876920931. html? dids=
876920931: 876920931& FMT=ABS& FMTS=
ABS:FT& date=Aug +3%2C+2005& author=
&pub=New+York +Post&edition= &startpage=
050&desc= ODDBALL+ FAMILY+ AFFAIR>
24 February 2007.
29. 'Economist Intelligence Unit: Country Profile,
Tanzania, September 2006', EIU, London, 2006,
p. 17; see also Tanzania Daima, 'Mti unaozaa
matunda matamu hupondwa kwa mawe', 20
September 2006.
30. Sauper claims that he introduced himself to
the President at a dinner party in Paris and 'he
did not ask me any questions'. Mr. Kikwete had
not seen the film at that stage. M. Mwanakijiji,
'A KLH News interview with director H. Sauper
of "Darwin's Nightmare"', 13 August 2006,
<http: / /mwanakijiji.podomatic.com/enclo
sure/2006-08-13T21_08_06-07_00.mp3> 3
March 2007. President Kikwete made a two-day
working visit to France in May 2006, attending a
dinner hosted by Brigitte Girardin, Minister
Delegate for Cooperation, Development and
Francophony, on 15 May.
31. The Times (London), 'Family feud for
thought', 5 May 2005.

32. The East African, 'Dar officials accused of
abetting arms racket', 24 June 2002.
33. M. Mwanakijiji, 'Tracing reports of Tan
zania's illegal arms trafficking in the Great Lakes
region 1997-2006', 2006, <http://www.
blog.co.tz/rom/friends/> 3 March 2007.
34. 'Letter dated 26 January 2006 from the
Chairman of the Security Council Committee
established pursuant to the resolution 1533
(2004) concerning the Democratic Republic of
the Congo addressed to the President of the
Security Council', United Nations Security
Council, New York, 27 January 2006.
35. 'Le Cauchemar de Darwin: A Response from
the Embassy of the United Republic of Tanzania
in France' (Embassy of the United Republic of
Tanzania in France, Paris, 2006). There is some
speculation <http: / /imdb.com/title/ttO42
4024/board/nest/37248219> that Sauper was
influenced on the Nile perch theme after reading
T. Goldschmidt (1998), Darwin's Dreampond:
Drama in Lake Victoria, Cambridge: MIT Press, a
semi-autobiographical account by a scientist on
the effects of the foreign fish on the lake's
ecosystem.
36. In constant, introspective musings, the Heart

of Darkness protagonist Marlow describes the
effects of the jungle on the ivory trading Kurtz
using remarkably similar language: 'But his soul
was mad. Being alone in the wilderness, it had
looked within itself, and, by heavens! I tell you,
it had gone mad'; J. Conrad (1995), Heart of
Darkness, London: Penguin (1902), p. 107.
37. New York Times, 'Feeding Europe, Starving
At Home (Review)', 3 August 2005.
38. Daily News, 'Sauper's lost war', 10 August
2006. The same article poured scorn on bloggers'
criticism of those involved in 'resource
mismanagement'.
39. Tanzania Daima, 'Gazeti la Uwazi latakiwa
kuomba radhi', 17 August 2006; Daily News,
'Bunge winds up session, demands apology from
tabloid', 17 August 2006; The Daily News also
reports that the resolution 'advised the
government to follow up some of the allegations
made especially of using the planes to import
firearms, which are allegedly used to perpetuate
conflicts in the Great Lakes region.'
40. 'Filamu ya mapanki' translates to 'Film about
the [fish] off-cuts'.
41. Sunday Observer, 'Fish heads consumption
and the making of a parliamentary nightmare',
20 August 2006. Nimi Mweta's article led to
online discussion in late August 2006 on <http:/
/www.jamboforums.com>.
42. International Freedom of Expression

eXchange, 'Chantage a la citoyennet6 contre un
journaliste qui a particip& au documentaire le
"Cauchemar de Darwin" (Journalist who
appeared in film "Darwin's Nightmare" is
threatened with deportation)', 21 August 2006,
<http: / /www.ifex.org/alerts/layout/set/
print/layout/set/print/content/view/full/
76481> 7 July 2006.
43. Economist Intelligence Unit, Tanzania, p.
17.
44. <http://www.darwinsnightmare.net>
45. Daily News, 'Bunge rebukes 'Darwin's
Nightmare' filmmaker', 12 August 2006.
46. Truth On Hubert Sauper's 'Darwin's
Nightmare', URT.
47. Le Cauchemar de Darwin, Embassy of URT
in France.
48. J. Land, 'Darwin's director Hubert Sauper
on the ethics of free trade and filmmaking', 2
August 2005, <http: / /www.villagevoice.com/
film/0531,voiceover,66468,20.html> 3 March
2007.
Article Contentsp. 598p. 599p. 600p. 601p. 602p. 603p. 604p.
605p. 606p. 607p. 608Issue Table of ContentsReview of African
Political Economy, Vol. 34, No. 113, Imperial, Neo-Liberal
Africa? (Sep., 2007), pp. 417-608Front MatterEditorial:
Imperial, Neo-Liberal Africa? [pp. 417-422]D. R. Congo:
Explaining Peace Building Failures, 2003-2006 [pp. 423-
441]The Print Media in South Africa: Paving the Way for
'Privatisation' [pp. 443-460]Somaliland: A New Democracy in

the Horn of Africa? [pp. 461-476]Poverty, Petroleum &Policy
Intervention: Lessons from the Chad-Cameroon Pipeline [pp.
477-496]DebatesEmerging Spaces for Debating Africa &the
Global South [pp. 497-505]Pro-Poor Budgeting &South Africa's
'Developmental State': The 2007-08 National Budget [pp. 505-
513]With Us or against Us? South Africa's Position in the 'War
against Terror' [pp. 513-520]BriefingsKikuyus Muscle in on
Security &Politics: Kenya's Righteous Youth Militia [pp. 521-
526]Mungiki, 'Neo-Mau Mau' &the Prospects for Democracy in
Kenya [pp. 526-531]Profiles of Courage: Ramogi Achieng'
Oneko [pp. 531-535]Darfur: Stop! Confrontational Rhetoric [pp.
535-540]Nigeria: Contested Elections &an Unstable Democracy
[pp. 540-548]Verdicts on Nigerian 2007 General Election:
Motive vs. Judgement [pp. 549-555]The Ogaden National
Liberation Front (ONLF): The Dilemma of Its Struggle in
Ethiopia [pp. 556-562]Africa: Green Revolution or Rainbow
Evolution? [pp. 562-565]Somalia: Amidst the Rubble, a Vibrant
Telecommunications Infrastructure [pp. 565-572]Desperate
Days in Zimbabwe [pp. 573-580]Trading Guns for Gold:
Pakistani Peacekeepers in the Congo [pp. 580-588]US Silence
as Sahara Military Base Gathers Dust [pp. 588-590]Book/Film
ReviewsReview: untitled [pp. 591-593]Review: untitled [pp.
593-594]Review: untitled [pp. 594-595]Review: untitled [pp.
595-596]Review: untitled [pp. 597-598]'Darwin's Nightmare': A
Critical Assessment [pp. 598-608]Back Matter
Q1
Intel’s phenomenal achievement was built on the
microprocessors, buyers power of Intel was under the computers
& phones consider medium , manufacturing companies example
: HP, Samsung , Dell, Nokia & alcatel, having such a diverse set
of buyers gave Intel an advantage since it was hard for these IT
companies to collaborate & set the price , however companies
now a days companies such as Toshiba & Samsung are
manufacturing their own processors so they can demand for a

lower price, barging power of suppliers the main ingredient for
the semiconductor is silicon base which is made of sand that is
available in nature with generous amounts & metal and plastic
giving Intel the advantage to work with different suppliers at a
very competitive price Intel can offered to have many suppliers
, different suppliers , other technologies not only computers
relay on processers therefor the power is low for suppliers to set
the price , the revelry is another forces that affected Intel, since
it has a large share of the market with very low competition, in
mobile and PC processors and their customers such as Hp, Dell ,
Samsung & Nokia are loyal to the supplier. We can notice as
well the difference in Quality is high & expensive costs to
switch between processers, threat of subsections of Intel is very
low all computers & mobile devices relay on processor to
function, however with new innovation in technology Intel
processors could be one day absolute and the new big thing can
gain big share of the market, finally, threat of new is high if we
can imagine the threat of advance technologically products that
could threat Intel processors, although this is not likely in the
near future since there is a huge existing loyalty to intel Dram
industry , high fixed cost for developing and manufacturing
new processor company , its not easy to create a processor that
is capable with other IT industry buyers .
Q2
Intel is so far considered as the most successful microprocessor
manufacturing company that has captured a significant
percentage of the market share by producing quality and
Technology for its customers. Implementing the VRIO
Framework used by Intel to create value for its technological
innovations, by capturing the a major chunk of the market &
made it possible for Intel always to stay one step ahead of their
competitors in the industry, by allowing its employees to be
creative in their work area, and also even make mistakes, to
come up with better technological innovation. This is just one

of Intel’s strategies. However, how employees are treated will
influence the company’s performance in the long run.
Employees who are well treated tend to be motivated and
creative.
The financial stability of Intel as a company makes it possible
for the company to be able to invest in their research and
development team, the products of Intel aren’t rare, there is a
few competitors competing in this industry that have the
technological advancements and manufactured. Competitive
parity
The creation of processors by Intel is as a result of their
investment in Research and Development, which has led to the
company’s sustained strength and growth.
Intel has also shown its ability to be organized as well as
planning ahead for the future of the company, by investing
strongly in technology, on its management team and also in its
Research and Development projects, showing their passion for
innovation.
The secret to beating your competitors who are producing
similar products is by coming up with a strategy that will
differentiate your products from that of your competitors.
Product differentiation is all about being unique. Therefore,
Intel has been able to differentiate their products by adding
extra features and making them affordable for all its customers
with signs of differentiation focus something that are different
from what other competitors offer in the market. An example of
Intel competitors is the AMD.
Intel ability to make quality and differentiated products for
their customers has made it possible for the company to be able
to receive feedback loop from its clients with high satisfaction.
Already having captured a larger market share, its customers are
aware of Intel logo in all their products such as PC, mobiles and
other Intel products. These products have been seen to be fast in
speed and have durable processors, making Intel as a company
to have a competitive advantage and always stay ahead of the

competition.
1)What actions did Intel take to create an industry standard in
microprocessors?
Intel successfully changed their business from manufacturing
memory to processors and led the market with their innovative
products that allowed them to hold a competitive advantage.
Intel successfully signed a contract with IBM, providing them
with the microprocessors for its PC, which became the standard.
Since Intel had patents to be the only company to produce
standard microprocessors, they had right to sue companies that
try to copy its microcode, they manufactured enough
microprocessors and eliminated many licenses, which increased
profits by a great percentage. Intel’s customers such as
Samsung, Nokia Dell, and HP have medium buying power since
they can’t bargain much on the price from lack of knowledge
about the costs of production for processors. Moreover, there is
a large pool of customers and limited processor producing
companies, which limits the buyers to only a few companies.
Nevertheless, companies such as Samsung are making their own
processors and can increase the competition in the market. Intel
has high bargaining power with their suppliers since the
material used to manufacture the system are abundant such as
silicon, metal and plastic, allowing Intel to work with several
suppliers at the price and quality that is seen best. Since many
computers, mobile phones, and other high-tech devices rely on
processors in order to function, the threat of substitutes is low.
But due to the advancements in technology, the processors that
Intel is producing for the existing products may be obsolete and

other companies in the market can replace these processors in
future products. On that note, the threat of new entrants is high
due to the technologically advanced products that would
compete with Intel’s processors, but medium/low if these
entering companies are trying to enter the existing processor
market since they would need a high capital investment,
advanced technology, and eventually would barriers of patents
that cover Intel’s developments. Lastly, the competition of
rivalry is low since Intel has the largest share of the market in
PC and mobile processors and their customers such as Samsung,
Dell, HP, and Nokia are loyal to their supplier. The number of
competitors in the processor industry is low and the quality
difference is high, baring in mind the high costs to switch.
2) Why was Intel so successful in microprocessors? How did it
achieve a sustainable competitive advantage?
Intel has proven itself to be the most successful
microprocessor manufacturing company capturing a vast
percentage of the market share with their top-notch products
and quality. Using the VRIO Framework, Intel is has value in
its technological innovations allowing them to stay one step
ahead at all times, and as well as the support and positive
attitude of their management who were encouraged to express
their creativity, and make mistakes in order to invent
breakthrough technologies. Intel is financially capable of
investing in their valuable research and development team and
flexible for any alterations. The product that they were
developing was not rare since there were few companies that
had the technological advancements and manufactured similar
products as Intel. The management’s behavior was based on
how they were treated, and many companies were financially
capable to invest in research and development and created
similar processor products such as Intel. With regards to
Inimitability, the company’s only sustained strength is their
valuable and exclusive research and development that has been
accumulating since before Intel’s creation of processors. The

technological advancements, management skills, and financial
abilities are easy to copy. As the large company they are, Intel
finds a way to stay organized in their company and planned
ahead for the future. They have strong investments in
technology, management, and further research and development
in order to continue to prove their passion for innovation with
the support of their management. Intel has proven signs of
differentiation focus providing their customers with
technologically innovated products that are manufactured with
speed in a unique way. Intel charges a premium for their
products, since they provide their customers with extra features
the competition does not offer, that enable them to increase
revenue, and gain a larger share of the market. Intel remained
unique in the microprocessor market with their act of secrecy
and patented innovations that prevented direct competition.
Although Intel and AMD are competition in the same market
with similar products, Intel gains experience, research and
development, and knowledge in their products, which allows
them to innovate on a quicker pace and differentiate themselves
with newer products, at a cheaper price. I believe the feedback
loop that Intel receives from its customers is the satisfaction of
the end users once they see the Intel logo on the start up of their
computer, knowing that the PC, mobile, or technology devices
have the best quality, fast speed and durable processors. Intel’s
inimitable research and development and advanced
manufacturing allow it to sustain a competitive advantage by
regularly innovating their processors and always staying ahead
of the competition.
'Darwin's Nightmare'
One fish sparks a chain of social ills.
By Kenneth Turan, Times Staff Writer

"Darwin's Nightmare" starts slowly, hypnotically, like a cobra
with all the time in the world to strike. It immerses you in its
reality one toe at a time, until suddenly you are in over your
head, gasping for air as the horror of the situation reveals itself
in all its savage devastation.
The most impressive of the five documentaries nominated for
the Academy Award, "Darwin's Nightmare" details the specific
kind of horror that seems to happen only in Africa, the
perennial ground zero of the West's zeal for undeveloped
natural resources. Written and directed by Hubert Sauper, the
film offers an unblinking picture of societal collapse caused by
the insidious effects of state-sanctioned predatory capitalism as
it plays out in the African nation of Tanzania.
Yet for all its unapologetic passion, "Darwin's Nightmare" does
not bang you over the head, choosing instead to let its story be
discovered. Filmmaker Sauper, who also did his own
photography, takes the time to talk to what at first seems like a
random collection of marginal people, showing us life as it's
lived around Tanzania's Lake Victoria from a multitude of
interwoven points of view.
The nightmare of the title, we are told, began in a similarly soft
way. "It was just one man who brought the fish with one bucket
on one afternoon and poured it in the lake," an eyewitness
recounts. "That was it, all scientific discussion was over, the
fish was there." The fish was the Nile perch, a voracious
nonnative predator that can grow to enormous size. Once
inserted in the lake some time in the 1960s, it ate everything in
sight, decimating 213 separate species, destroying thousands of
years of evolution (hence the film's title) and turning the
world's largest tropical lake into a barren sinkhole.
Yet the first time we hear about this invasive presence we are
told, by owners of factories on the lake's shore, how good the

fish's presence is for the country's economy. Hundreds of
millions of tons of the perch, reduced by those factories to
plastic-wrapped filets, feed millions of diners in Europe and
Japan and account for 25% of Tanzania's exports overseas.
The reality on the ground, however, tells a different story. The
lake turns out to be ringed by settlements characterized by
poverty and disease; everything that the fish touches
impoverishes and destroys the culture that it lives off.
It's not just that salaries are negligible, which would be sad
enough, but that a famine is ravaging Tanzania while all this
fish is being exported. Nile perch is simply too expensive for
the local people to afford; they have to make do, as vivid
footage makes unforgettable, with picking among something
like a million maggoty fish skeletons for whatever sustenance
they can provide.
Everywhere "Darwin's Nightmare" turns, it sees aspects of
societal disintegration, aspects that connect to each other in a
chilling chain of causality.
Because the perch is so enormous, fishing on the lake is quite
dangerous. This is especially true for divers employed to herd
the fish into nets, who are at risk from crocodile attacks. When
the men die from these and other causes, their wives often turn
to prostitution, where they both contract and pass on AIDS, an
even more major cause of local death. The insistence of pastors
that condoms are forbidden for moral reasons simply makes the
deaths more prevalent.
All this mortality means that local cities are overrun by
brawling, begging gangs of orphaned street kids. These urchins
are often incapacitated and made vulnerable to sexual assault
because of their habit of inhaling glue fumes. Fumes, it turns
out, that come from the melting down of discarded fish factory

material.
Everywhere "Darwin's Nightmare" turns, this kind of fatal
interconnection, these links in a process of exploitation and
fatality, are observed. The Russian pilots who fly in enormous
but empty Ilyushin planes help create a thriving market for local
prostitution, one of the many occupations that spoil dreams,
waste lives and lead to the high likelihood of early death. And
exactly why those planes fly in empty, a revelation that the film
leaves until the end, is yet another link in the chain.
To see "Darwin's Nightmare" unfold all these relationships in
its quiet, unassuming way is to be totally devastated. Filmmaker
Sauper put himself in harm's way numerous times to get so
inside the situation, and the intimacy of his technique, his
willingness to avoid hectoring voice-overs and simply talk
quietly with his subjects, adds compelling believability. The
title of "Darwin's Nightmare," we finally come to understand,
has more than one meaning. It refers not just to the destruction
of the lake but to what happens when the notion of survival of
the fittest is applied to human society. Unregulated capitalism's
appeal to human greed, its willingness to put profit above
everything else, may be strong enough to defeat all comers, but
can be a poisonous system to live under and a difficult one to
escape.
"Darwin's Nightmare"
MPAA rating: Unrated.
Source:
'Darwin's Nightmare' - MOVIE REVIEW - Los Angeles Times
...

Short Essay #1 (10%): Darwin’s Nightmare
The first short essay assignment is a reaction paper requiring
viewing of and reflection on the documentary film Darwin’s
Nightmare by Hubert Sauper (2004).
Instructions
Three weeks into the course, we have been exposed to several
readings that comment on (Africa’s) development or
underdevelopment. We have also, during week 2, screened
Sauper’s documentary, Darwin’s Nightmare, that seems to
associate poverty with development and underdevelopment.
This assignment requires you to reflect on that film, and the
discussion which followed the screening, to write a three-page
reaction paper based on the film.
Please select one of the five issues under “Issues to consider”
and write a 700-word reaction paper that addresses the
questions and issues therein and, conforms to the guidelines
provided in the “Handy-Dandy Guide to Writing a Reaction
Paper” and, addresses your issue(s).
Issues to consider
1. In a world (i.e., global space) where poverty and
development, or the lack of development, are frequently
associated/conflated, one might observe a number of
“nightmares” in Darwin’s nightmare. Considering Moss’
“narrowest economic definition” of development, what
“development nightmares” did you see in Sauper’s
documentary? Please explain.
2. Flying into Mwanza airport apparently is a nightmare, given
evidence of aircraft wreckage around the airport and, the stated
unscheduled nature of air traffic in to Mwanza airport. Yet, the

Russian pilots appear willing to take the risk and fly into
Mwanza. What do you think is in it for them? Work and
money? Weapons or arms for Africa’s wars? Please explain.
3. According to the LA Times review, One Fish Sparks A Chain
of Social Ills, "It was just one man who brought the fish with
one bucket on one afternoon and poured it in the lake … That
was it, all scientific discussion was over, the fish was there."
What happened? And, what resulted from the one afternoon?
Please explain.
4. A take on Sauper’s Darwin’s nightmare, based on readings of
Myrdal or Hugo Slim (see D2L) and the social issues around
Lake Victoria, is that it shows how fish processing plants are
inappropriate for Mwanza and Tanzania. What do you think? Is
Mwanza ready for the global trade in fish, as presented in
Suaper’s documentary? Why or why not? Please explain.
5. According to the LA Times review, One Fish Sparks a Chain
of Social Ills, Darwin’s Nightmare “starts slowly, hypnotically,
like a cobra with all the time in the world to strike. It immerses
you in its reality one toe at a time, until suddenly you are in
over your head, gasping for air as the horror of the situation
reveals itself in all its savage devastation.” What are they
talking about? Agree or disagree? Please explain.
Fall 2016

ROAPE Publications Ltd.Darwins Nightmare A Critical As.docx

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ROAPE Publications Ltd.Darwins Nightmare A Critical As.docx