Breathing new life into pan-Africanism
Pan-Africanism is defined as the effort to promote the political, socioeconomic and cultural unity and self-reliance of Africa and its diaspora. It is a much underresearched topic.
To correct this gap, the newly established Institute for Pan-African Thought and Conversation at the University of Johannesburg will host a three-day public conference next weekend on The Pan-African Pantheon.
The meeting will commemorate the Soweto youth uprising of June 16 1976 against apartheid education, during which 176 protesting pupils were killed.
It is also a concrete contribution to efforts to decolonise SA’s academic curriculum, and to ensure that its epistemology reflects its African context. The seminar will adopt an interdisciplinary approach that focuses on history, politics, sociology, economics, philosophy, literature and music.
It also represents an effort to create a Johannesburg school of pan-Africanism that can help revive pan-Africanism as a civilsociety movement linking actors from Africa and its diaspora to move the concept beyond the sterile initiatives of largely rhetorical state-led efforts. The pan-African solidarity forged in the crucible of the anti-apartheid struggle with the Congressional Black Caucus, TransAfrica and other civic groups in the US, Canada, the Caribbean and Europe, has all but disappeared.
Pan-Africanism is in need of urgent revival. This is particularly ironic during an era in which Barack Obama — the first black president of the US with African roots – was the most powerful individual in the world.
Prominent African and diaspora scholars will present on topics such as: reparations; the rise, fall, and potential revival of pan-Africanism; pioneers of pan-Africanism; politicians and activists; political scientists; sociologists; historians; economists; philosophers; the literati; and musical activists.
The intellectual thinking and contributions of 36 key historical and contemporary figures will be assessed during the meeting including Edward Blyden, WEB du Bois, Pixley Seme, Marcus Garvey, Amy Ashwood Garvey, George Padmore, Kwame Nkrumah, Dudley Thompson, Robert Sobukwe, Thabo Mbeki, Maya Angelou, Malcolm X, CLR James, Walter Rodney, Stuart Hall, Ali Mazrui, Angela Davis, Arthur Lewis, Samir Amin, Adebayo Adedeji, Ruth First, Thandika Mkandawire, Frantz Fanon, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Kwame Anthony Appiah, Steve Biko, Wole Soyinka, Derek Walcott, Léopold Senghor, Chimamanda Adichie, Miriam Makeba, Bob Marley, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, and Harry Belafonte.
The essays presented at the conference will not just be celebratory, but also critical where their subjects may have fallen short of their ideals. It is important to present a balanced picture of historical and contemporary pan-African figures. An edited volume will be produced from the meeting that can be used for courses across Africa and its diaspora.
The meeting also seeks to build bridges with institutions in all five African subregions, as well as key diaspora intellectual communities.
One of the early champions of African democracy was the only black Nobel prize winner in economics, Arthur Lewis, who advised Nkrumah: ironically one of the early pioneers of one-party rule.
The influential idea of an African renaissance was championed by Seme, Nnamdi Azikiwe, and Cheikh Anta Diop. Another South African struggle icon, Robert Sobukwe, championed nonracialism, with his ideas influencing Biko’s Black Consciousness Movement.
The issue of cultural pan-Africanism will also be tackled. This idea represented the reaction by the black African diaspora to the indignities that black people had suffered in the West. Writers such as Césaire and Senghor developed the idea of négritude, which glorified black culture. Soyinka and Walcott are Nobel literature laureates whose work will be assessed, while the musical activism of Marley, Anikulapo-Kuti, Makeba and Belafonte will also be discussed.