Routledge Handbook of Pan-Africanism

Reiland Rabaka, Reiland Rabaka

• Éditeur: Routledge
• Année: 2020
• ISBN:
  9780429670626
• Édition: 1
• Sujet: Histoire
• Sous-sujet: Histoire du monde

The Routledge Handbook of Pan-Africanism provides an international, intersectional, and interdisciplinary overview of, and approach to, Pan-Africanism, making an invaluable contribution to the ongoing evolution of Pan-Africanism and demonstrating its continued significance in the 21st century.

The handbook features expert introductions to, and critical explorations of, the most important historic and current subjects, theories, and controversies of Pan-Africanism and the evolution of black internationalism. Pan-Africanism is explored and critically engaged from different disciplinary points of view, emphasizing the multiplicity of perspectives and foregrounding an intersectional approach. The contributors provide erudite discussions of black internationalism, black feminism, African feminism, and queer Pan-Africanism alongside surveys of black nationalism, black consciousness, and Caribbean Pan-Africanism. Chapters on neo-colonialism, decolonization, and Africanization give way to chapters on African social movements, the African Union, and the African Renaissance. Pan-African aesthetics are probed via literature and music, illustrating the black internationalist impulse in myriad continental and diasporan artists' work.

Including 36 chapters by acclaimed established and emerging scholars, the handbook is organized into seven parts, each centered around a comprehensive theme:

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• Intellectual origins, historical evolution, and radical politics of Pan-Africanism

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• Pan-Africanist theories

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• Pan-Africanism in the African diaspora

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• Pan-Africanism in Africa

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• Literary Pan-Africanism

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• Musical Pan-Africanism

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• The contemporary and continued relevance of Pan-Africanism in the 21st century

The Routledge Handbook of Pan-Africanism is an indispensable source for scholars and students with research interests in continental and diasporan African history, sociology, politics, economics, and aesthetics. It will also be a very valuable resource for those working in interdisciplinary fields, such as African studies, African American studies, Caribbean studies, decolonial studies, postcolonial studies, women and gender studies, and queer studies.

Part I
Intellectual origins, historical evolution, and radical politics of Pan-Africanism

1
The origins and evolution of Pan-Africanism^*

Mark Malisa and Thelma Quardey Missedja

Introduction

Our chapter examines the place of Pan-Africanism as an educational, political, and cultural movement that had a lasting impact on the liberation of people of African descent. We also show Pan-Africanism’s evolution, beginning with formerly enslaved Africans in the Americas, to the colonial borders of the 1884 Berlin Conference, the rise of the independence movements in Africa from 1957–1975, and the 21st century African Renaissance. Within the studies of origins, we argue that Pan-Africanism should be understood as a quest for Africa’s self-understanding and self-knowledge through historical, philosophical, and political narratives.¹

In giving a somewhat chronological development of Pan-Africanism, we acknowledge how writing about origins is also a narration about a people’s history and genealogy. Our sources include historical documents, policy statements, and proceedings from conferences. We are aware of the existence of oral history, especially within the African tradition. In oral cultures, griots preserved a people’s history through story-telling, or biographical narratives. Schulz observes that it was not uncommon for griots to recast historical narratives so that “the current situation is presented as the outcome of a never specified past.”² While griots were at times beholden to the court, ultimately, the best ones owed allegiance to truth and justice, resisting the lure of power and material rewards. At the same time, it is important to point out that narrations of origins told by different people rarely have the same story, as each gives their version.³

It is also important to note that the narration of history, even in oral cultures, was shared by both men and women. Others contend that genealogy or origins should be considered as part of history, and in the making of history, women play an important role, especially within the Pan-African Movement. Readers familiar with Roots will likely be aware of the role of griots in recounting a people’s history, their origins of how African Americans came to be in the present condition.⁴ Origin and evolution generally ends with an examination of the present condition based on a remembrance of the past and a future that is yet to be born.

* A version of this paper was published in Genealogy 2, no. 3 (2018)

Within the context of this chapter, Pan-Africanism refers to a philosophy (or philosophies) that sought to promote ideas of a united Africa. Over different historical periods, the philosophies evolved, but the focus on the unity or oneness of Africa stayed consistent. Partly because some of the evolution of Pan-Africanism took place in universities, we also examine Pan-Africanism’s development as an intellectual movement tied to the aspirations of people of African descent in different parts of the world. In addition to being a philosophical, economic, cultural, and intellectual movement, Pan-Africanism is also a political movement or organization whose goal was the liberation and unity of Africa, especially after slavery and the encounter with modernity.⁵ We also use Black and African interchangeably, for that is how the concept operated within Pan-Africanism.

For formerly enslaved Africans, Pan-Africanism was an idea that helped them see their commonalities as victims of racism.⁶ That is, they realized that they were enslaved because they came from the same continent and shared the same racial heritage. The early articulations and manifestations of Pan-Africanism took place outside Africa, mainly in North America and the Caribbean. Pan-Africanists associated the continent of Africa with freedom. The partitioning of Africa at the Berlin Conference (colonialism) created pseudo-nation states out of what was initially seen as an undivided continent.⁷ Pan-Africanism provided an ideology for rallying Africans at home and abroad against colonialism, and the creation of colonial nation-states did not erase the idea of a united Africa.

As different African nations gained political independence, they took it upon themselves to support those countries fighting for their independence. Many African countries drew inspiration from the nations in the Caribbean, including Cuba. The belief, then, was that as long as one African nation was not free, the continent could not be viewed as free. The existence of nation-states did not imply the negation of Pan-Africanism. The political ideas examined include those of Marcus Garvey, W.E.B. Du Bois, Kwame Nkrumah, Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela, and Thabo Mbeki. Pan-Africanism, as it were, has shaped how many people understand the history of Africa and of African people.

Throughout generations, Pan-Africanism promoted a consciousness of Africa as the ancestral home for Black people, and a desire to work for its liberation. At its core was the understanding that people of African heritage had similar experiences, regardless of their location in the world. Among such experiences included colonialism, racial oppression, and slavery. For a significant part of the 20th century, Addis Ababa was viewed as headquarters of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), indicative of the hope of a united Africa. It should be noted though, that different countries hosted the regular meetings of the OAU. However, even before the first Pan-African Congress in London, Blacks had envisioned the formation of a United States of Africa.⁸

Days of slavery and after

Although the word Pan-Africanism came into popular use in the 1950s, there are some who argue that the philosophy of Pan-Africanism was present and manifested itself not only in the protests and resistance to slavery, but the desire to return to Africa. Formerly enslaved Africans sought to return to Africa, and even when a physical return was impossible, they kept the idea of Africa alive. In many ways, enslavement did not remove a sense of longing or belonging to a wider African community, or even a return to Africa.⁹

In the 18th and 19th centuries, there were many efforts to repatriate formerly enslaved Africans, and some left from the US to Sierra Leone and Liberia. While some returned on a voluntary basis, others did so at the urging of European Americans with the support of the US government. While abolitionists in the United States were keen to end slavery, some were not enamored of having Blacks live among them and encouraged them to relocate to Africa.¹⁰ Consequently, some were shipped from Jamaica and the Caribbean so as to make those countries free and safe for Europeans.

Many of the formerly enslaved Africans returning to Africa saw their mission as that of advancing Africa through means similar to what was happening in North America and Europe. The new things they sought included new forms of commerce and new religions, including Christianity.¹¹ For Crummel, it was a fusion of capitalism and Christianity, or Anglophilia that could lead to a transformation of Africa.¹²

The return to Africa, or the promise and premise of Pan-Africanism was predicated on a vision of a triumphant or victorious Africa, one free of slavery and foreign domination. But the appearances of the abolition of slavery did not lead to a significant emancipation of Africans in the Diaspora or in Africa itself. The abolition of slavery was followed by the “dismemberment of Africa at the 1885 Berlin Conference, a process much like the butchering of a huge elephant for sharing among jubilant hunter kin.”¹³ The Berlin Conference and the subsequent partitioning of Africa laid the foundation for the colonization of Africa. To a great extent, at the Berlin Conference “European society found the principle of resource theft perfectly acceptable, indeed, inevitable … formalized this acceptance of brutality as good governance for Africa.”¹⁴ Africa and Africans belonged to Europeans, and Germany played a central role in the partitioning of Africa.

The Berlin conference

The partitioning of Africa at the Berlin Conference not only led to the theft of resources, but to the creation of borders where previously there had been none, and the making of pseudo-states administered by Europeans using European legal systems. According to Ngugi Wa Thiongo, the “Berlin Conference of 1884 literally fragmented and reconstituted Africa into British, French, Portuguese, German, Belgian, and Spanish Africa.”¹⁵ Political, cultural, and economic independence were lost in the process of colonialism. But, instead of a vacuum, Europe used the colonial experience to impose its cultural memory in ways that would radically alter the course of African history and identity, as well as the potential unification of Africa. With the partitioning of Africa, what had been previously one whole, suddenly became a landmass of several nation states and colonially imposed geographical boundaries.

As a result of the Berlin Conference, Germany had German West Africa (Namibia) and German East Africa (Tanzania, Rwanda, and Burundi) as well as Togo and Cameroon. France, on the other hand, took possession of over ten territories, including the Ivory Coast, Senegal, Niger, Gambia, Morocco, Gabon, Algeria, and Tunisia. To Britain went Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, South Africa, Egypt, Northern Rhodesia (Zambia), Botswana, Lesotho, and Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) among others. Even Portugal colonized Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, and Guinea-Bissau.¹⁶ All in all, delegates from fourteen (14) European countries convened and decided the fate of Africa and its people.

In addition to dividing Africa among themselves, European nations also divided Africans from each other. This division was mostly evident with the making of colonial borders. But the colonial borders also quickly became religious and cultural borders, as colonialism was quickly followed by the imposition of different religious traditions, including variations of Christianity. A byproduct of the division of Africa was the creation in the European imaginary, culture, and scholarship of Egypt and parts of North Africa as separate from the rest of Africa, especially what is now called Africa South of the Sahara. European cartography defined Africa’s geographical and political identity. The Berlin Conference, in many ways, created pseudo-nation states beholden to colonial powers. The conference formed the foundation for the continued destruction of African history, culture, and unity.¹⁷

However, from Europe and North America as well as the Caribbean, people of African descent strove for maintaining the unity of Africa. Among the many platforms through which this was done included the Pan-African Congresses.

Pan-African Congresses

Notwithstanding the concerted effort by Europeans at disuniting Africa as a result of the Berlin Conference, leading activists and intellectuals in the Diaspora sought ways for advocating for the unity of Africa and people of African descent. Those in the Diaspora organized conferences and congresses to deliberate on the present and future of Africa. Pan-Africanism can be understood as a practical and philosophical approach to a unity of people of African heritage, especially those in North America, the Caribbean, Europe, and Africa. The Pan-African Congresses, especially those during the time of Du Bois and Padmore, became places for defining the goals and vision for Africa.¹⁸

The First Pan-African Congress was held in London in 1900. It was organized by Williams of Trinidad and explored, among other topics, the independence of Africa, and the rights of Black people in the Diaspora. In many ways, Pan-Africanism made it possible to view the future of Africa through a different lens. A generational and ideological shift was apparent, especially when compared with those of the days immediately after slavery.¹⁹ Christianity was no longer viewed as essential to the ideological and material revival of Africa.

The Second Pan-African Congress took place in 1919 and was again overwhelmingly dominated by Blacks from the Diaspora. As with the First Congress, it also took place in Europe, and among those present included W.E.B. Du Bois. Du Bois played a leading role in many of the Pan-African Congresses. What eventually came into play was the question of who was to lead Africa out of European domination, and in what political and ideological direction.

During this era, Marcus Garvey and W.E.B. Du Bois played a leading role in shaping the direction or path toward the future of Africa. For Garvey, it was important for Africans to think in terms of race first, and in this case, the Black race. Du Bois had already written and published on the contributions of Black people in world ...