A substantial work on the question of unity of African states, containing essays from twenty-four scholars from universities throughout Africa. The papers revolve around four main subjects. The first examines the colonial origins of the African state, neo-colonial constraints on post-colonial regimes, and the nature of the post-colonial political elite. The second subject under discussion is regional integration as a vehicle for the realisation of the African Union. Dani Wadaba Nabudere contributes an overview chapter on African unity in historical perspective; and many contributors consider the complicating phenomenon of globalisation alongside regional integration. The next part examines the extent to which problems of peace and security impact upon the integration project; and the effectiveness of existing regional and continental conflict prevention and resolution mechanisms. Xavier Renou analyses the present roles of France and America on the continent as an obstacle to peace and unity in a chapter entitled 'The New Franco-American Cold-War'. Finally, three contributors address the need for an approach to African unity for development better grounded in civil society and to a lesser extent centred around the role of the state.

The hope and despair surrounding the Afro-Arab Spring in North Africa has only begun to be played out in regional and global politics. And the call for an African renaissance that followed the miraculous political transition in South Africa is, twenty years later, viewed with similar ambiguity. What is clear is that current developments in Africa, north and south, promise something markedly different from what has prevailed at any point since the dawn of the African independence movements of the 1950s and 60s. But the continent's own identity remains unresolved, posing the question whether and how its multiple and divergent experiences can be understood and perhaps woven into a basis for unity. Contributors to this volume explore whether or not events north of the Sahara and on the southern tip of Africa can be catalysts for change in other parts of the continent. Chapters assesses the nature of political resistance, revolution, and transition in North and Southern Africa, addressing critical factors--economics, culture, gender, theology--that reveal the promises and perils of African reform. Includes a foreword by former South African president Thabo Mbeki.

The Routledge Handbook of Pan-Africanism provides an international, intersectional, and interdisciplinary overview of, and approach to, Pan-Africanism, making an invaluable contribution to the ongoing evolution of Pan-Africanism and demonstrating its continued significance in the 21st century. The handbook features expert introductions to, and critical explorations of, the most important historic and current subjects, theories, and controversies of Pan-Africanism and the evolution of black internationalism. Pan-Africanism is explored and critically engaged from different disciplinary points of view, emphasizing the multiplicity of perspectives and foregrounding an intersectional approach. The contributors provide erudite discussions of black internationalism, black feminism, African feminism, and queer Pan-Africanism alongside surveys of black nationalism, black consciousness, and Caribbean Pan-Africanism. Chapters on neo-colonialism, decolonization, and Africanization give way to chapters on African social movements, the African Union, and the African Renaissance. Pan-African aesthetics are probed via literature and music, illustrating the black internationalist impulse in myriad continental and diasporan artists’ work. Including 36 chapters by acclaimed established and emerging scholars, the handbook is organized into seven parts, each centered around a comprehensive theme: Intellectual origins, historical evolution, and radical politics of Pan-Africanism Pan-Africanist theories Pan-Africanism in the African diaspora Pan-Africanism in Africa Literary Pan-Africanism Musical Pan-Africanism The contemporary and continued relevance of Pan-Africanism in the 21st century The Routledge Handbook of Pan-Africanism is an indispensable source for scholars and students with research interests in continental and diasporan African history, sociology, politics, economics, and aesthetics. It will also be a very valuable resource for those working in interdisciplinary fields, such as African studies, African American studies, Caribbean studies, decolonial studies, postcolonial studies, women and gender studies, and queer studies.

This volume explores what it means to be an African in a political context in which such people are called upon to re-assert the value of identifying as African in order to counter the effects of neo-colonialism. This includes affirming visions of what Africanness can offer in terms of people’s being-in-the-world. The book also discusses the benefits associated with working together as people of African ancestry, as well as the evocation of Ubuntu. It focuses on the possibility of revisiting the urge for African rebirth, and shows how the idea of Pan-Africanism helps to keep this dream alive. It engages with a range of ideas that build on the Pan-African philosophy for grounding African cultural and political rebirth, and will contribute to debunking the mindset that prompts many African youths and adults to risk it all for an apparently better life on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.

The first survey of the Pan-African movement this century, this book provides a history of the individuals and organisations that have sought the unity of all those of African origin as the basis for advancement and liberation. Initially an idea and movement that took root among the African Diaspora, in more recent times Pan-Africanism has been embodied in the African Union, the organisation of African states which includes the entire African Diaspora as its 'sixth region'. Hakim Adi covers many of the key political figures of the 20th century, including Du Bois, Garvey, Malcolm X, Nkrumah and Gaddafi, as well as Pan-African culture expression from Négritude to the wearing of the Afro hair style and the music of Bob Marley.

In An Afrocentric Pan Africanist Vision: Afrocentric Essays, Molefi Kete Asante, engages the age-old debate on Pan Africanism by providing an innovative orientation to the established discourse developed during the twentieth century. Asante opens an interrogation of the Padmorian tradition of a socialist Pan Africanism by suggesting that a deeper entry into the histories and narratives of the literary, economic, social, and spiritual values of the thousands of African societies scattered throughout the world could sustain a different agency analysis of Pan Africanism without grafting an external idea on the unity of Africa. Using his vast knowledge of the history of Africa, Asante suggests that the African renaissance cannot take place unless there is a commitment to creating an African community conscious of its own myths, origins, and economic, cultural, and philosophical traditions.

Following on the heels of the Harlem Renaissance, the Chicago Renaissance was a resonant flourishing of African American arts, literature, theater, music, and intellectualism, from 1930 to 1955. Anne Meis Knupfer's The Chicago Black Renaissance and Women's Activism demonstrates the complexity of black women's many vital contributions to this unique cultural flowering. The book examines various groups of black female activists, including writers and actresses, social workers, artists, school teachers, and women's club members to document the impact of social class, gender, nativity, educational attainment, and professional affiliations on their activism. Together, these women worked to sponsor black history and literature, to protest overcrowded schools, and to act as a force for improved South Side housing and employment opportunities. Knupfer also reveals the crucial role these women played in founding and sustaining black cultural institutions, such as the first African American art museum in the country; the first African American library in Chicago; and various African American literary journals and newspapers. As a point of contrast, Knupfer also examines the overlooked activism of working-class and poor women in the Ida B. Wells and Altgeld Gardens housing projects.

It has been long overdue to address the principal problems that Africa continues to have. How to bring real African solutions to these problems remains unresolved. Palaeontologists have discovered that Africa is the origin of humanity. Africa has also experienced the commodification of its humanity through slavery, colonialism and apartheid. The African continent has been influenced by a melange of races, cultures, religions, ethnic nationalities making the project of how the differences can be managed to forestall conflict and promote the unity of the current 54 states to turn the cacophony of noises into a single voice that can protect Africa a di? cult challenge. This book on Regenerating Africa: Bringing African Solutions to African Problems addresses why Africans must come together and try to address their own problems. They must look back to the spiritual, struggle and knowledge heritage to re-imagine and innovate a new Africa with leadership, governance, systems and institutions that can address the security and well-being, the employment, social inclusion, poverty eradication and the equality of the people. In fact the key problem to find a solution is how to Africanise those that originated from Africa and those that became settlers with different racial, cultural, religious, linguistic and ethnic variations. How to manage inter-African relations? How the settlers from the colonial legacy, the apartheid legacy, the Arabs in Africa and the varied tribes within Africans can all share being Africanised above all else is a real challenge to bring lasting solutions to Africa's enduring problems. This book is one of the few books that addresses the real problems Africa continues to face by suggesting solutions which policy makers and all Africans must learn and never ignore but use to advance a free, united, renascent, proud and dignified independent Africa in this unpredictable time the world is going through. The contributors address in the book how African solutions to African problems in the current global context to create a sustainable African future can be thought, designed and engineered to advance the well-being of people and nature for all. The African Unity for Renaissance series of conferences that over 10 partners contributed to run is the true source for generating the quality papers that have been peer reviewed to constitute the contributions in the book to make African solutions to African problems in reality and not just in talk.