“What is the African Identity? How can it be defined? While this seems a relatively easy question, the responses are as diverse as they come. Some individuals chose the short sighted route and restrict the African identity to the physical landscape, forgetting that Africans are found on all surfaces of the earth…”, Writes Tina Mbachu

“ We are related- you and I.

You from the West Indies,

I from Kentucky.

We are related-you and I.

You from Africa,

I from these States.

We are brothers-you and I” –Langston Hughes.

Fracturing the African Identity

What is the African Identity? How can it be defined? While this seems a relatively easy question, the responses are as diverse as they come. Some individuals chose the short sighted route and restrict the African identity to the physical landscape, forgetting that Africans are found on all surfaces of the earth.

The denial of the African Identity was particularly paramount in the colonial period, a fact which terrified Fanon. As a post-colonial continent, it is easy to blame the loss of identity on the Colonial experience, but rightly so.

The constant reference to our ancestors as “ slaves” in western literature does two things. The first is that it reduces, dehumanizes and distances the individuals from yourself so you do not see “ the human” in the person. Not only that, but you neglect to see that this person or groups of people, had a life before you. Of course this analysis can be contested, but in a post colonial society, referring

Remember your legacy

to a group of people, whether past or present as slaves is inappropriate. This has helped in fracturing the African Identity in terms of historical continuity.

The second aspect to this is that it reduces the guilt that the west is to feel. By dehumanizing Africans continuously, it makes the process that destroyed African identity as a distant history that has no connection with modern time.

The root cause of the “ problem” is known, now given the knowledge of past African society, how can the modern African society be defined? This is a question that has been debated and talked about since the early days of independence, with Nyerere, Senghor as some of the forerunners.

What is known is that the African Identity is beautifully complexed. It is in the music, the food, the language, the tribes, the nations, the people, the customs and the list continues.

Some of these characteristics of being African, are threatened. By what? You might ask. By the western ideas to achieving development, and by the political ideas of the west, specifically Liberalism, as friendly as it might seem. The western ideology is build on the idea of survival, whether its a realist idea, a conservative or a liberal idea. The survival of the nation, of its people and of its cultures. By propagated Liberal ideas to developing nations as the only means to feed oneself, the western world is doing nothing short of looking after its own interest of expanding its own culture and with it, will exert hegemony over the people of other cultures-this gives the west the forefront.

To do this, organizations such as the UN, WB, IMF are established, under the guise of fostering development agendas. The role of these organizations is in effect to “smooth over” those who oppose the system.

How does this help in fracturing the African Identity? The policies. By imposing a certain type of government on the nation as a pre-requisite for loan acceptance. What this does in my views, is the African state now has to adopt ideas that undermines its historical aspect, that undermines its values in order to reach that level of development that has been established–being the mirror image.

Slowly ones own culture becomes anti productive, it becomes a hinderance to climbing the ladder of social acceptance.

Now, if there is one thing that the African leaders should pick up from the west is with regards to Governance-the idea of state survival. Protect your citizens (whether they are on the continent or not), your borders, your economy(!) and your heritage. It will not be necessary to go on an expansionist mission across the globe as is with the Liberal agenda, but if each state is able to do this with collaboration from all members of the African Union, then that leaves less issues to worry about. And with time the shame that some Africans feel when identified as Africans will vanish. After all, in the end the success of the state is not defined only in terms of GDP but also the maintenance of its culture and the pride that it has in itself.

But all is not gloom as i make it out to. As there are Africans who are ashamed to be Africans, there are those who are proud of their heritage in all aspect.

The increasing wave of youth participation in the African renaissance paints a brighter picture, one of cultural pride, historical knowledge, literature and much more.

It is no doubt also this is being facilitated by western technologies, but like Senghor posited, Africa should select what it needs from the west and utilize it for its own interest, then disregard the rest. And on this note, I will leave you to determine, what is being an African to you?

Black to our roots.