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We should redefine our African identity

[ Posted On: 2008-07-18 ]

It is argued that the collapse of African states reveals the lack of vision of politicians and the inheritance of colonial philosophies.

It is also often observed that between colonial rule and the coming into power of the indigenous elite, the most fundamental change is not of structures but personalities. In this sense, the contemporary failures of African nation states point to the errors of rulers and policymakers. Perhaps, that is why it has become fashionable to be critical of nationalism and the ideology that ties land to blood and identity in a seamless narrative.

Indeed the break-up of many national entities in our continent underpins this trend. Therefore, challenge of criticism remains that of sharpening the conceptual tools we have to understand and articulate the reach of those impediments.

The issue of nation building has occupied scholars in a wide range of fields, from the social and political sciences to cultural studies and literature. One of the main issues that concerns those preoccupied with nation building involves the concepts of national identity, ethnic identity and other closely related concepts. This is one of the main concepts because it is undeniable that, in the process of constructing a nation, there is one subjective element that is missing from even thorough investigations. This element is identity — whether national, cultural, or ethnic identity. Every nation has its own identity; every culture has its own identity and every ethnic group has its own identity.

Defining identity is not an easy task. !b>Answering the question, who am I? presupposes interpretative approaches to the study of self and psychological terms. The generally accepted framework for answering this question assumes that an individual is defined in relation to society and through the need to belong to a group. From here, the main concern about "Who am I?" translates into "Who are we?".

The main constitutive elements that help distinguish one group from another are those related to historical continuity and difference. Continuity is important with respect to claims of existence in a specific territory. It lays the foundation for a sense of community of a group transmitted from the past and offers perspectives for the future. Difference is what distinguishes one group from another, what sets the boundaries between ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’. A group that claims strong cultural ties handed down from generation to generation can argue for a specific cultural meaning understandably only to ‘insiders’.

A nation, by definition, requires a certain political and cultural identity that would ensure and justify the existence of the state. One of the fundamental works on national identity is Anthony D Smith’s National Identity, where he treats this concept as a collective cultural phenomenon and links questions of national identity to those of ethnic identity and community. One might argue that national identity is nothing more than ethnic identity writ large, but the truth could not be further from this.

Ethnic identity is indeed a constitutive part of national identity, but it is also a particular and sometimes separate form of expressing the self. In other words, national identity has other constituent elements. Those outlined by Smith are: individual identity, gender, space/territory, social class, religion and language.

People and land

Smith also points out two distinct patterns of conceptualising the nation. One pattern is shaped by Western terminology, with an emphasis on spatial conceptions of people and land. The homeland, the repository of historic past linked to myths — the meaning of which can be deciphered only by nationals, becomes defined economically in terms of the resources available on the land.

The non-Western model places emphasis not on cultural communities united by the law of land, but on membership based on descent — the law of blood. This is the ethnic conception of the nation, its distinguishing feature being the emphasis on a community of birth and native culture. While in the Western model one has a choice in changing nations, in the non-Western model such a change is not possible. In these terms a nation is a closed community of common descent.

In light of these arguments, it is not difficult to understand the predicament of hybridisation that the post-colonial states are facing. One problem is that, while under colonial rule, these formations have been subject to Western patterns of thinking. Little did it matter to Westerners that their ideology was in sharp contrast with the natives’ way of thinking. And that also, they were eradicating entire patterns and modes of thinking and living. The ethnic element of the natives’ mode of being was suppressed by the Western ideology of state and nation.

One of the arguments Smith makes is that all nations, be they Western or not, are formed around one ethnic core, which gives the nation its identity.

It seems it would be easier to create a state on Western models, on pure territorial claims and civic nationalism, but matters are hardly so easy. The states formed after the collapse of the colonial empires are basically a maelstrom of ethnic communities united by mere physical boundaries. The struggle to create some sort of unity must resort ultimately to a reconstruction of the pre-modern ethnic ties that could serve as an ethnic core for any nation.

Frantz Fanon said, "If a man is known by his acts, then we will say that the most urgent thing today for the intellectual is to build up his nation. If this building up is true, then the building of a nation is of necessity accompanied by the discovery and encouragement of universalising values."

It is time that African scholars and intellectuals move out of their comfort zones and give this issue the seriousness it deserves.

Article Source: http://www.afroarticles.com/article-dashboard

About The Author: Maurice Aluda -- is a lecturer at a private university.

| View Profile & All Articles By: Maurice Aluda |

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