This SEPHIS lecture underscores the importance of the study of history, particularly in the present period, for those in the South concerned with economic development, to better understand the present and anticipate the future. In particular, it stresses the study of the economic dimensions of imperialism, and the need for a better understanding and appreciation of contemporary economic imperialism and its consequences.

The lecture laments the simplistic and un-useful ways in which the understandings of globalization have been polarized and urges deconstruction of the discourse. It concludes by warning that the stakes in the struggle for history are high, and that the failure to recognize history, and the forces that underlie historical phenomena, outcomes and trends, will risk the possibility of sliding further into neo-imperial farce. Knowledge of history is vital in supporting aspirations for development of people in the South in order to understand the significance of what has happened and is happening.