Visions Of African Unity

This collection of essays analyzes different iterations of African unity, exploring the political and cultural visions that informed projects aimed at African unification. It explores the cultural, economic and non-state aspects of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) as the principal institution dedicated to the cooperation of African states, from its establishment in 1963 to its transformation into the African Union (AU) in 2000, as well as how ideas of African unity shaped the Cold War and African liberation struggles. Bringing together contributors from a diverse range of disciplinary backgrounds across Africa, Europe and the US, this book investigates the ideological origins and historiography of Pan-African and unification projects, and considers how African intellectuals, leaders and populations engaged with these ideas.

This collection of essays analyzes different iterations of African unity, exploring the political and cultural visions that informed projects aimed at African unification. It explores the cultural, economic and non-state aspects of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) as the principal institution dedicated to the cooperation of African states, from its establishment in 1963 to its transformation into the African Union (AU) in 2000, as well as how ideas of African unity shaped the Cold War and African liberation struggles. Bringing together contributors from a diverse range of disciplinary backgrounds across Africa, Europe and the US, this book investigates the ideological origins and historiography of Pan-African and unification projects, and considers how African intellectuals, leaders and populations engaged with these ideas.--

“If in the past the Sahara divided us, now it unites us,” Kwame Nkrumah declared more than half a century ago. Keenly aware of Africa’s many artificial divides, Nkrumah was determined to lead a revolution that would bridge them. One way to achieve this goal, Nkrumah proposed, was a continental pan-African government, which would provide the African people with the opportunity to pool and marshal their enormous real and potential economic, human and natural resources for the optimal development of their continent. A continental union government, Nkrumah was convinced, would ensure that Africa ended the divisions created by the trilogy of the enslavement, colonization and neo-colonization of Africans. Nkrumah was concerned by other divisions as well, specifically those created by time, history, nature, and, above all, Africans themselves, such as ethnic, racial and religious discrimination, classism, sexism, and ageism, as well as atavistic and backward traditional practices, including “tribalism” and patriarchy. Africa’s Many Divides and Africa’s Future: Pursuing Nkrumah’s Vision of Pan-Africanism in an Era of Globalization is a collection of papers presented at the first and second Kwame Nkrumah International Conferences. This volume contextualizes Nkrumah’s pan-Africanist agenda within the neo-liberal global project and against the backdrop of the current global economic and political ferment.

This collection of essays analyzes different iterations of African unity, exploring the political and cultural visions that informed projects aimed at African unification. It explores the cultural, economic and non-state aspects of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) as the principal institution dedicated to the cooperation of African states, from its establishment in 1963 to its transformation into the African Union (AU) in 2000, as well as how ideas of African unity shaped the Cold War and African liberation struggles. Bringing together contributors from a diverse range of disciplinary backgrounds across Africa, Europe and the US, this book investigates the ideological origins and historiography of Pan-African and unification projects, and considers how African intellectuals, leaders and populations engaged with these ideas.

Does Africa have a future? What are the visions, hopes, ambitions and fears of young Africans for the future of the world, the continent, their nation, and their communities? How do they envision this world and their roles within it? These issues have not previously been explored collectively by Africans because of the enormous challenges and the preoccupation with the present. But Africa must not allow the enormity of the problems to blind it to its past and future. Africa must chart its own vision of a desirable future, and therefore young Africans, born just before or after independence, were challenged to reflect on the future of the continent. This book presents the response to that challenge. In this book, the voices of a new generation of Africa are heard exploring the future from personal and diverse perspectives. The authors have enumerated the ills of Africa, analyzed the problems and explored the opportunities. Remarkably, despite the daunting nature of the challenges, they were all hopeful about the future. They provided their visions of the future, suggest numerous ideas on how to build a new Africa, and implored Africans to take responsibility for the transformation of the continent. Given the current emphasis on African renaissance and union, the ideas presented here could become the basis for a truly shared vision for the continent.

This work looks at the shared vision Julius Nyerere and Kwame Nkrumah had about the future of Africa. It looks at their quest for continental unity and the different paths they took to achieve the same goal; how they tried to transform their countries into socialist societies, emphasising the imperative need for socialism as the basis for development not only for their countries but for the continent as a whole; and what Africa's place should be in the global community. Other subjects covered include the political awakening of Nkrumah when he was a student in the United States and the influence people of African descent in the diaspora had on him; the ties Shirley Graham Du Bois, the widow of Dr. W.E. B. Du Bois, had with Nkrumah and Nyerere and how the military coup against Nkrumah affected her life including her decision to become a citizen of Tanzania after she was forced to leave Ghana following Nkrumah's ouster; as well as a number of other subjects about Africa which linked Nkrumah and Nyerere when both leaders were in power and even after Nkrumah was overthrown. Written by a Tanzanian who witnessed some of the major events which took place on the continent in the sixties when African countries were emerging from colonial rule and when the liberation struggle in the countries of southern Africa was most intense during the seventies and even in the eighties in the case of Namibia and apartheid South Africa, the book is also a reflection of the spirit of the times when Africans saw themselves as one, united in their desire to see their continent free even if they did not identify themselves as Pan-Africanists and did not know exactly what the term Pan-Africanism meant. What mattered was the spirit: We are all Africans, united as one people and determined to see Africa free.

Historical account of the evolution of the pan-African politico-social movement - covers resistance to the dominating attitude and the role of developed countries, racial discrimination, forced labour, political problems, the conflict between the nationalist and pan-african movements, international relations, etc. Bibliography pp. 380 to 393, maps and references.