African nationalism

Last updated
Kenneth Kaunda, a leading Zambian independence activist, pictured at a political rally in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) in 1960. The National Archives UK - CO 1069-124-8.jpg
Kenneth Kaunda, a leading Zambian independence activist, pictured at a political rally in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) in 1960.

African nationalism is an umbrella term which refers to a group of political ideologies in sub-Saharan Africa, which are based on the idea of national self-determination and the creation of nation states. [1] The ideology emerged under European colonial rule during the 19th and 20th centuries and was loosely inspired by nationalist ideas from Europe. [2] Originally, African nationalism was based on demands for self-determination and played an important role in forcing the process of decolonisation of Africa (c. 1957–66). However, the term refers to a broad range of different ideological and political movements and should not be confused with Pan-Africanism which may seek the federation of many or all nation states in Africa. [3]

Contents

History

Nationalist ideas in Africa emerged during the mid-19th century among the emerging black middle classes in West Africa. Early nationalists hoped to overcome ethnic fragmentation by creating nation-states. [4] In its earliest period, it was inspired by African-American and Afro-Caribbean intellectuals from the Back-to-Africa movement who imported nationalist ideals current in Europe and the Americas at the time. [5] The early African nationalists were elitist and believed in the supremacy of Western culture but sought a greater role for themselves in political decision-making. [6] They rejected African traditional religions and tribalism as "primitive" and embraced western ideas of Christianity, modernity, and the nation state. [7] However, one of the challenges faced by nationalists in unifying their nation after European rule were the divisions of tribes and the formation of ethnicism.

Ghanaian nationalists celebrating the 50th anniversary of national independence in 2007 Ghanas 50th Independence Anniversary national parade.jpg
Ghanaian nationalists celebrating the 50th anniversary of national independence in 2007

African nationalism first emerged as a mass movement in the years after World War II as a result of wartime changes in the nature of colonial rule as well as social change in Africa itself. [8] Nationalist political parties were established in almost all African colonies during the 1950s, and their rise was an important reason for the decolonisation of Africa between c.1957 and 1966. However, African nationalism was never a single movement, and political groups considered to be African nationalists varied by economic orientation and degrees of radicalism and violence. [3] Nationalists leaders struggled to find their own social and national identity following the European influence that controlled the political landscape during the colonial occupation.

African nationalism in the colonial era was often framed purely in opposition to colonial rule and was therefore frequently unclear or contradictory about its other objectives. [9] According to historian Robert I. Rotberg, African nationalism would not have emerged without colonialism. [10] Its relation to Pan-Africanism was also ambiguous, with many nationalist leaders professing Pan-African loyalties but still refusing to commit to supranational unions. African nationalists of the period have also been criticised for their continued use of ideas and policies associated with colonial states. [9] In particular, nationalists usually attempted to preserve national frontiers created arbitrarily under colonial rule after independence and create a national sense of national identity among the heterogeneous populations inside them. [10]

Tribalism and ethnic nationalism

African nationalism exists in an uneasy relationship with tribalism and sub-national ethnic nationalism which differ in their conceptions of political allegiance. Many Africans distinguish between their ethnic and national identities. [11] Some nationalists have argued that tribes were a colonial creation. [12]

Women in African nationalism

During the late 1950s and 1960s, scholars of African nationalist struggles primarily focused on the Western-educated male elites who led the nationalist movements and assumed power after independence. The history of studies of women's involvement in African nationalist struggle, mobilization, and party politics can be traced along intellectual and political paths that initially followed, later paralleled, but have seldom deviated from or led the course of Africanist historiography. The goal of these women involved in the African nationalism movement was to recover Africa's past and to celebrate the independent emergence of independent Africa. It was necessary to raise awareness of this cause, calling to the new emerging generation of African women, raised in a better, more stable society. Although the challenges they faced seemed increasingly more significant, they, however, had it better than past generations, allowing them to raise awareness of the African Nationalist moment. Whereas women's historians interested in effecting changes in the process and production of American or European history had to fight their way onto trains that had been moving through centuries on well-worn gauges, the "new" Africanist train had barely left the station in the early '60s. With a few exceptions, scholars have devoted little more than a passing mention of the presence of African women as conscious political actors in African nationalism. Anne McClintock has stressed that "all nationalisms are gendered." [13] Undoubtedly, women played a significant role in arousing national consciousness as well as elevating their own political and social position through African nationalism. [14] It is with this in mind, that both feminism and the research of these women become critical to the re-evaluation of the history of African nationalism. In 1943, a prominent organization called the African National Congress Women's League used its branches throughout the continent to build an international campaign.

Women in national organisations

As leaders and activists, women participated in African nationalism through national organisations. The decade of the 1950s was a landmark because of the significant number of women who were politically involved in the nationalist struggle. A minority of women were incorporated and affiliated into male-dominated national organisations. Founded by women in 1960, The National Council of Sierra Leone was to become, in 1968, the women's section of the ruling All People's Congress and dedicated primarily to the vigorous support of head of state, President Stevens. Women activists extended and conveyed militant behaviours. Nancy Dolly Steele was the organizing secretary and co-founder of the Congress, and has been noted for her militant political and nationalist activities. In the same way, throughout Africa, the influence of trade union movements, in particular, became the spawning ground for women organisers as such. South African women, for instance, emerged as primary catalysts for protests against the Apartheid regime. These women first participated in resistance movements through women's branches of the larger male-dominated liberation organizations, as through the African National Congress (ANC). Nevertheless, in 1943, the ANC adopted a new constitution which included a new position for women to become full members of the national movement. Women also formed their own national organisations, such as the Federation of South African Women in 1954, which boasted a membership of 230,000 women. Though at the time women viewed themselves primarily as mothers and wives, the act of their joining in political organisations illustrated a kind of feminist consciousness. [15]

Women as national leaders

Women were fundamental nationalist leaders in their own right. Under the inspiration of Bibi Titi Mohammed, a former singer in Dar es Salaam who became a Tanganyikan nationalist, Tanzanian women were organised into a Women's Section of the Tanganyikan African National Union. Mohammed, who was semi-illiterate, was an impressive orator and later combined her nationalist work in the 1950s with her political ambitions. She was one of the most visible Tanganyikan nationalists during the struggle against colonialism and imperialism. [16] She was the only nationalist leader, besides Julius Nyerere, who was recognized across the country at the time of Tanzanian independence. Her legacy as a leader, speaker, organiser and activist is testimony to the pivotal role played by many uneducated women in spreading a national consciousness, a political awareness and securing independence from British rule in Tanzania.

Women and Informal Methods of Protest

Whilst some female-oriented initiatives may have been conceived and presented to women by male party-leaders, others were clearly created by women themselves. These women used nationalism as a platform to address their own concerns as wives, mothers, industrial workers, peasants, and as women affiliated to the ANC. The 1940s Anti-tax protest in Tanzania involved the women of Peasant Pare, where women employed methods of direct confrontation, provocative language and physical violence. Explicit use of sexual insult was also central to the powerful Anlu protest of the Cameroon in 1958, where women refused to implement agricultural regulations that would have undermined their farming system. [17] In the same way, women used music, dance and informal methods to convey their solidarity for African nationalism. The production of Tanganyikan nationalism in Tanzania can be seen as “woman’s work,” where women evoked, created and performed nationalism through their dances and songs. [18] Equally, women were considered the best sloganeers, as traditional story-tellers and singers using ideas, images and phrases that appealed to the non-elite population. Market women in coastal Nigeria and Guinea also used their networks to convey anti-government information. [19] ‘Ordinary’ women themselves had transformed "traditional" methods for networking and expressing disapproval against individuals, into mechanisms for challenging and unsettling the local colonial administration. However, although these women contributed to African nationalist politics, they had limited impact as their strategies were concerned with shaming, retaliation, restitution and compensation, and were not directly about radical transformation. This problem was a reflection of the extent to which most African women had already been marginalized politically, economically and educationally under colonial regimes in Africa. [20]

By country

Gambia

In the Gambia, one of the prominent Gambian nationalists and Pan-Africanists during the colonial era was Alieu Ebrima Cham Joof. From the 1950s up to Gambia's independence, Cham Joof (as he is commonly referred to), held a series of campaigns against the British colonial administration. In 1958, he spearheaded the All Party Committee – the purpose of which was for self-governance and to determine the political direction of the Gambia free from European colonialism and neo-colonialism. In 1959, he organised the Bread and Butter demonstration from outside his house in Barthurst now Banjul, and led his followers to Government House to lobby the British colonial administration. Following that demonstration, Cham Joof and his associates Crispin Grey Johnson and M. B. Jones were indicted as "inciting the public to disobey the laws of the land" and charged as political prisoners. [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] ' [27]

South Africa

The African National Congress (ANC) is a political party in South Africa. It originated as a liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid and has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election resulted in Nelson Mandela being elected as President of South Africa.

Founded on 8 January 1912 in Bloemfontein as the South African Native National Congress, the organisation was formed to advocate for the rights of black South Africans. When the National Party government came to power in 1948, the ANC's central purpose became to oppose the new government's policy of institutionalised apartheid.

In the post-apartheid era, the ANC continues to identify itself foremost as a liberation movement, although it is also a registered political party.

See also

Notes

  1. African nationalism Archived 21 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  2. BlackFacts.com. "African nationalism". Blackfacts.com. Retrieved 2020-05-24.
  3. 1 2 Rotberg 1966, p. 33.
  4. Berman, Bruce J. (1998). "Ethnicity, Patronage and the African State: The Politics of Uncivil Nationalism". African Affairs. 97 (388): 305–341. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.afraf.a007947 . JSTOR   723213.
  5. Davidson 1978, p. 165.
  6. Davidson 1978, pp. 166–7.
  7. Davidson 1978, p. 167.
  8. Davidson 1978, p. 202.
  9. 1 2 Davidson 1978, p. 374.
  10. 1 2 Rotberg 1966, p. 37.
  11. Isabirye, Stephen (April 30, 1995). "Tribalism in Africa". hartford-hwp.com.
  12. Southall, Aiden (2010). "The Illusion of Tribe". Perspectives on Africa: A Reader in Culture, History, and Representation (2nd ed.). Chichester: John Wiley & Sons. p. 3. ISBN   978-1-4051-9060-2.
  13. A. McClintock, ‘“No Longer in Future Heaven”: Gender, Race and Nationalism,’ in Dangerous Liaisons: Gender, Nation and Postcolonial Perspectives ed. A. McClintock, A. Mufti, E. Shohat (United States, 1997).
  14. S. Geiger, J.M Allman and N. Musisi, Women in African Colonial Histories (Bloomington, 2002).
  15. L. L. Frates, ‘Women in the South African National Liberation Movement, 1948 – 1960: An Historiographical Overview,’ Ufahamu: A Journal of African Studies Vol. 21, No. 1-2 (1993).
  16. S. Geiger, “Women in Nationalist Struggle: Tanu Activists in Dar es Salaam,” The International Journal of African Historical Studies, Vol. 20, No. 1, (1987), 1 – 26.
  17. Jean O'Barr, ‘African Women in Politics,’ in African Women South of the Sahara, ed. M. J. Hay and S. Stichter (London, 1984).
  18. S. Geiger, ‘Women and African Nationalism,’ Journal of Women's History Vol. 2, No.1 (SAPRING, 1990), 227 – 244.
  19. E. Schmidt, ‘Top Down or Bottom Up? Nationalist Mobilization Reconsidered, with Special Reference to Guinea (French West Africa,’ American Historical Review (October, 2005), 975 – 1014.
  20. S. Geiger, ‘Women and African Nationalism,’ Journal of Women's History Vol. 2, No.1 (SAPRING, 1990), 227 – 244.
  21. Joof, Alh. A. E. Cham. Party Politics in The Gambia (1945–1970), p. 21.
  22. All Africa Gambia: AE Cham Joof Passes Away (4 APRIL 2011)
  23. Joof, Alh. A. E. Cham. The root cause of the bread and butter demonstration. s.n. (1959)
  24. Joof, Alh. A. E. Cham. Party Politics in The Gambia (1945–1970),, pp. 53–56).
  25. Jawara, Dawda Kairaba. Kairaba (2009). p. 200, ISBN   0-9563968-0-1
  26. The Point Newspaper  : "Cham Joof's speech on Pan-Africanism". Archived 2011-11-23 at the Wayback Machine

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">African National Congress</span> Political party in South Africa

The African National Congress (ANC) is a political party in South Africa. It originated as a liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid and has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election resulted in Nelson Mandela being elected as President of South Africa. Cyril Ramaphosa, the incumbent national President, has served as President of the ANC since 18 December 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Organisation of African Unity</span> Defunct African international body

The Organisation of African Unity was an intergovernmental organization established on 25 May 1963 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with 33 signatory governments. One of the main heads for OAU's establishment was Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana. It was disbanded on 9 July 2002 by its last chairman, South African President Thabo Mbeki, and replaced by the African Union (AU). Some of the key aims of the OAU were to encourage political and economic integration among member states, and to eradicate colonialism and neo-colonialism from the African continent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Defiance Campaign</span> Defiance campaign in 1952

The Defiance Campaign against Unjust Laws was presented by the African National Congress (ANC) at a conference held in Bloemfontein, South Africa in December 1951. The Campaign had roots in events leading up the conference. The demonstrations, taking place in 1952, were the first "large-scale, multi-racial political mobilization against apartheid laws under a common leadership."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pan-Africanism</span> Movement to encourage and strengthen bonds between people of African ancestry

Pan-Africanism is a worldwide movement that aims to encourage and strengthen bonds of solidarity between all indigenous peoples and diasporas of African ancestry. Based on a common goal dating back to the Atlantic slave trade, the movement extends beyond continental Africans with a substantial support base among the African diaspora in the Americas and Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Democratic Front (South Africa)</span> 1983–1991 anti-apartheid organisation

The United Democratic Front (UDF) was a South African popular front that existed from 1983 to 1991. The UDF comprised more than 400 public organizations including trade unions, students' unions, women's and parachurch organizations. The UDF's goal was to establish a "non-racial, united South Africa in which segregation is abolished and in which society is freed from institutional and systematic racism." Its slogan was "UDF Unites, Apartheid Divides." The Front was established in 1983 to oppose the introduction of the Tricameral Parliament by the white-dominated National Party government, and dissolved in 1991 during the early stages of the transition to democracy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lionel Bernstein</span>

Lionel "Rusty" Bernstein was a Jewish South African anti-apartheid activist and political prisoner. He played a key role in political organizations such as the South African Communist Party (SACP) and the African National Congress (ANC). He helped form the South African Congress of Democrats to bolster white participation in the ANC, and he brought its allies together to establish a Congress of the People, working closely with Nelson Mandela.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harry Thuku</span> Kenyan politician (1895-1970)

Harry Thuku was a Kenyan born in Kiambu, Mitahato village. As a politician, he was one of the pioneers in the development of modern African nationalism in Kenya. He helped found the Young Kikuyu Association and the East African Association before being arrested and exiled from 1922 to 1931. In 1932 he became President of the Kikuyu Central Association, in 1935 founded the Kikuyu Provincial Association, and in 1944 founded the Kenya African Study Union. Opposed to the Mau Mau movement, he later retired to coffee-farming.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">African National Congress Women's League</span> Political party

The African National Congress Women's League (ANCWL) is an auxiliary women's political organization of the African National Congress (ANC) of South Africa. This organization has its precedent in the Bantu Women's League, and it oscillated from being the Women's Section to the Women's League from its founding, through the exile years, and in a post-apartheid South Africa. After women were allowed to become members of the ANC in 1943, the ANCWL was created as the means by which Black South African women could contribute to the national liberation struggle by channeling Black women's political activity into the ANC by way of the ANCWL.

The Democratic Party was a political party in the Gambia. The party was founded during the pre-independence period in the colony of Bathurst. Ahead of the 1962 general elections, the DP merged with the Muslim Congress Party to form the Democratic Congress Alliance. In 1960, Alieu Ebrima Cham Joof who has been one of the original members was elected at its Social Secretary.

The Bathurst Trade Union (BTU) was the first trade union in The Gambia and the first legally registered trade union in the African continent. Founded by Edward Francis Small in 1929 in Bathurst, the organisation emerged from the Carpenters' and Shipwrights' Society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Internal resistance to apartheid</span> 1950–1994 social movement in South Africa

Internal resistance to apartheid in South Africa originated from several independent sectors of South African society and took forms ranging from social movements and passive resistance to guerrilla warfare. Mass action against the ruling National Party (NP) government, coupled with South Africa's growing international isolation and economic sanctions, were instrumental in leading to negotiations to end apartheid, which began formally in 1990 and ended with South Africa's first multiracial elections under a universal franchise in 1994.

Laba Badara Sosseh; Labba Sosseh or Laba Sosseh was a Senegalese son and salsa singer and composer. According to Abdoulaye Saine of Miami University, Sosseh is regarded as "the greatest salsa singer of his generation and perhaps of all time in Senegambia Major."

Edward Francis Small was a Gambian statesman who has been described as the "trailblazer of Gambian political consciousness." One of the few educated Africans in the Gambia Colony and Protectorate during the early 20th century, Small founded the country's first trade union, the country's first political party, and was the first citizen elected to its legislature. He was also a delegate to and leader of the National Congress of British West Africa (NCBWA).

Racism in South Africa can be traced back to the earliest historical accounts of interactions between African, Asian, and European peoples along the coast of Southern Africa. It has existed throughout several centuries of the history of South Africa, dating back to the Dutch colonization of Southern Africa, which started in 1652. Before universal suffrage was achieved in 1994, White South Africans, especially Afrikaners during the period of Apartheid, enjoyed various legally or socially sanctioned privileges and rights that were denied to the indigenous African peoples. Examples of systematic racism over the course of South Africa's history include forced removals, racial inequality and segregation, uneven resource distribution, and disenfranchisement. Racial controversies and politics remain major phenomena in the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alieu Ebrima Cham Joof</span> Gambian politician

Alieu Ebrima Cham Joof commonly known as Cham Joof or Alhaji Cham Joof, was a Gambian historian, politician, author, trade unionist, broadcaster, radio programme director, scout master, Pan-Africanist, lecturer, columnist, activist and an African nationalist who advocated for the Gambia's independence during the colonial era.

The University of the Gambia (UTG) is an institution of higher education located in Sere Kunda, the largest city in the Gambia.

Pap Cheyassin Secka or Pap Cheyassin Ousman Secka was a Gambian lawyer and politician. He was the minister of justice and the former Attorney General of the Gambia.

Alhaji Bai Modi Joof was a barrister at law from the Gambia, practicing from the mid-1970s to 1993, the year he died. Also known as Alhaji B.M. Joof, B.M. Joof or Lawyer Joof, he was a member of the UK and Gambian Bar, and a barrister and solicitor of the Gambian Supreme Court. He was termed the "champion of free speech" by some quarters of the Gambian press during the administration of president Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara. He was a defense-barrister and came from a Wolof and Serer background of the family Joof. He is not to be confused with his former protégé, Joseph Henry Joof, who is also commonly referred to as Lawyer Joof.

Revolutionary nationalism is a name that has been applied to the political philosophy of many different types of nationalist political movements that wish to achieve their goals through a revolution against the established order. Individuals and organizations described as being revolutionary nationalist include some political currents within the French Revolution, Irish republicans engaged in armed struggle against the British crown, the Cần Vương movement against French rule in Vietnam, the Indian independence movement in the 20th century, some participants in the Mexican Revolution, Benito Mussolini and the Italian Fascists, the Autonomous Government of Khorasan in 1920s Iran, Augusto Cesar Sandino, the Revolutionary Nationalist Movement in Bolivia, black nationalism in the United States, and some African independence movements.

The Gambia National Party was a political party in Gambia. It was formed in 1958 by a group calling itself the Committee of Gentlemen, a grouping of young radicals in Bathurst. The 'Committee of Gentlemen' had four members, included Melville Senami Benoni Jones, Edrissa J. Samba (businessman), Alexander Jobarteh (businessman) and Kebba Wally Foon, with businessman and philanthropist John W. Bidwell-Bright sponsoring the group economically.

References

Further reading