1. Introduction
In recent years the concept of “global identity” has been adopted in order to describe the state of affairs concerning the identity of a global community which transcends national and continental boundaries, but might, just as in the case of for example national identity, be described in terms of a common community, a common culture and a common history. However, the comparison between global identity and national identity (i.e. the identity of a nation state) may not be considered an adequate comparison, since the assumed global community underlying “global identity” does not have a distinctive culture or a collective memory of the past (Smith 180). Moreover, whereas one can speak of the national identity of one particular nation state compared to that of another nation state, in the case of global identity as the identity of the global world community such a comparison cannot be made straight away due to the absent of an alternative “global world community”. By referring, however, to institutions such as the United Nations, the “global discourse” related to this global institutes (activities, aims and spirit) has been used to imagine and construct a global world community, despite the absence of a collective memory, a common culture or other symbols (Shinohara 13). Therefore, “global identity” could be defined as the consciousness of an international society or global community transcending national boundaries, without necessarily negating the importance of state, nation or domestic society (Iriye 9-10, Shinohara 1). The development of a supra-national identity in relation to national identity depends on a process of globalisation. In this process the supra-national identity does not eliminate the national identity but adds a new dimension to it by merging one nation state with other nation states across state boundaries. This might lead to an effect of homogenisation of local cultures and ways of live. However, according to Giddens (8) one might form deliberately certain combinations of states and communities within social, economic and cultural areas which cut across boundaries with the intension to prevent globalisation to invade local culture and local context of life.
The concept of “Global African Identity” can be accepted directly as descriptive adequate, because Africa can be compared with other existing geographical areas in the world (e.g. European community), which have given the status of a separate international community with a distinctive culture or collective memory of the past. A Global African Identity should be related to a Common African Community. This global community should consist of both the African community in Africa, consisting of all the communities in the nation states of Africa, i.e. across state boundaries as well as Africans in Diaspora consisting of emigrants from Africa to other parts of the world (especially in 20 th century) and descendants of enslaved people of Africa in especially North America, the Caribbean and South America in the 16 th through 19 th century. In addition the Global African Identity can be related to a global African common culture and a global African collective memory based on its history (common history). Therefore one might envisage an African identity which transcend the national identity of the nation states within the geographical area of Africa . A “Global African Identity” has to be evolved from a new synthesis of identifications which are appropriate to the global African family, i.e. Africans in Africa and in Diaspora
In this paper we would like to discuss the concept of “Global African Identity” by considering not only Africans within the geographical area of Africa but also emigrated Africans and descendants of enslaved Africans living outside the geographical area of Africa (the African Diaspora). In this sense one might adopt the suggestion made by Giddens that new social, economic and cultural areas can be created deliberately, which cut across national boundaries. One may then speak of one African community as a created unity across national boundaries with an Afro-cultural identity (Giddens 8).
In order to accept the possibility for a “Global African Identity”, the nature of three preconditions will be examined. These preconditions are: common community, common history and common culture. This will be done by using two different approaches. The approaches are referred to as backtracking and protract.
By using backtracking, we will move from the position which can be assumed as common African community, common African history or common African culture backwards to a position at which there is a vague notion of commonality in Africa about respectively a global community, a global history or a.. global culture. This initial vague position will be referred to as the root position. With protract as the approach to “Global African Identity” we will move from the position which can be assumed as common African community, common African history or common African culture forward to a position which can be considered an intermediate or final phase of a developmental process which will lead to modernity in a newly created Afro-centric civilization.
The “Global African Identity” will be discussed from the point of view of the African Diaspora. That is to say, that it will be indicated how the three pre-condition for accepting a “Global African Identity” (common community, common history and common culture) should be interpreted from the point of view of the Diaspora.
2. Common African Community
In the last decade a growing number of black people outside Africa has an orientation towards Africa . This has been related to their urging for recognition as descendents of Africans who were forced to leave the continent and as emigrants with a strong tie to this continent. The concept of African Diaspora has been used to stress the global nature of the relationship of these people with Africa . At present a Common African Community is already in the making. The first step towards the development of this community was taken when the African Union (AU) invited the African Diaspora to become “voting members” of the AU (Biekman 4) In so doing the Diaspora became one of the groups participating in activities concerning the unification of the African continent into the Union of African States. The Diaspora has been called the sixth region of Africa; the other five regions are North, South, West, East and Central Africa . In fact the African Diaspora consists of on the one hand descendents of Africans who in the 16 th through 19 th century were taken against their permission from Africa to several parts of the world and forced into slavery and on the other hand African emigrants and refugees who, especially in the 20 th century, have left Africa for Europe, the Americas or Asia. Most of the descendents of the enslaved Africans are located in the Americas : the United States of America , Canada , Caribbean, Central America and South America .
Since the AU would like to have a limited number of representatives from the sixth region to participate together with representatives of the other five regions in meetings concerning the development of Africa, the Diaspora should be organised in such a way that its representatives can take part in these meetings of the AU as members of the Common African Community. That is to say, that the condition of Common African Community will be met when the Diaspora has been organised and able to be represented in AU activities by chosen representatives. The “relational structure” in (1) depicts the relationship of communities when the phase of Common Global Community has been reached.
(1) Root African Community < African Community without Diaspora (five regions of AU) < African Community including Diaspora < Common African Community
In this period the African Diaspora in several parts of the world is busy to organised itself in a democratic way. Different hierarchical structured levels are created starting with organisations at grass roots level through organisations at national and sub-regional level to a single Federation at the level of the sixth region (Kennedy 1). In fact from 2006 onwards several preparatory meetings have already taken place to create these organisations. Unless these organisations are functioning, the Diaspora will not be ready to be added to the African communities which are existing within the geographical area of Africa and together will form one Common African Community with an own “Global African Identity”.
In addition to creating organisations at different levels there is within the Diaspora a growing sense of responsibility to do something for the continent, especially by those who are now in a strategic position within their respective home/host country. They would like to facilitate the process of trans-national activities and networks to help Africa move forward and to act as “bridge builders” between the Diaspora and Africans in Africa (Biekman 6). The activities come down to observing the needs of several nation states of Africa and discussing, at consultative meetings, recommendations which might be transformed into project goals. This state of affairs can be depicted by the “relational structure” in (2). It suggests in the sense of a protract approach that given Cooperative Developmental Projects a kind of responsible interdependence between Africa and the Diaspora can be obtained which will strengthen the Common African Community. This will lay a favourable basis for sharing values despite ethnic (tribal) and national differences. In addition the Common African Community will need advanced global governance supported by global dialog. The World Bank has suggested a number of “Worldwide Governance Indicators”, such as transparency and accountability (Kaufmann, Kraay and Mastruzzi). At global level the AU can adopt some of the requirements of the separate nation states of Africa to exercise good governance as well as to find requirements of a global nature which transcends the responsibility of separate nation states of the continent. Global dialog can be used as the instrument to achieve this.
In Europe Consolidated Outcomes of the Senior Officials and Ministerial Conferences in Johannesburg and Paris will be used to develop Programmes for research and direct activities in Africa .
Projects within these Programmes should be considered “Collaborative projects”. That is to say, that each project should be developed and realized on the basis of a collaborative effort by representative bodies (Governmental and Non-governmental ) organisations in Europe and Africa . These organisations can submit project proposals. In addition to the structuring of projects in hierarchical organised categories, a decision structure have to be defined as well, together with a system to evaluate the project proposals and a funding scheme which will allow for reimbursement of costs related to the realization of these projects. Seven areas have been chosen already on the basis of which observations and recommendations have been formulated (see Consolidated Outcomes of the Conferences: Senior Officials and Ministerial Conferences in Johannesburg as well as the Paris Conference). These areas are: Political Cooperation (Area 1), Socio-economic Cooperation (Area 2), Knowledge Sharing (Area 3), Arts, Culture and Sports (Area 4), Media and Diaspora Image (Area 5), Women, Youth and Vulnerable groups (Area 6), Historical, Socio-cultural and Religious Commonalities (Area 7).
Several kinds of collaborative projects might be distinguished on the basis of the nature of the combination of countries involved ( Campbell 1). One might distinguish the following kinds of combinations:
1. Collaborative projects I: at least two countries in Europe
2. Collaborative projects II: at least one country in Europe and at least one country in Africa .
3. Collaborative projects III: at least one country in Europe and one country from the rest of the 6 th region.
4. Collaborative projects IV: at least one country in Europe, at least one country in Africa and one country from the rest of the 6 th region
• Common African Community < Common African Community including Cooperative Developmental Projects < Common African Community including Interdependency < Strong Common African Community supported by global governance and global dialog.
3. Common African History
From the point of view of the Diaspora the Common African History should be related to the required dominant position of West European regimes leading to colonialism and enslavement of Africans during the Transatlantic Slave Trade (16 th through 19 th century). This is in accordance with our approach of backtracking. African colonialism and enslavement of descendants of Africans reflect the dominant position of western regimes Africans and Africans in Diaspora share. This dominant position has been based on the following strategies:
- military power and submission by force
- persuasive communication
- spreading of Christianity and in so doing finding people who were willing to disengage themselves from the rest of the indigenous or enslaved population. These people joined the invaders who after all had the same Christian faith and by joining the invaders might have a better live.
- Finding collaborators among the Africans, after capturing their country, treating them well and convincing them that by choosing the side of the invaders they and their family (even other relatives also) would benefit from it (i.e. have a better live). Even the enslaved Africans who lived in countries outside Africa (especially the Americas ) were convinced, on the basis of persuasive communication, that they had a better live than when they would remain in Africa .
By applying this strategies, the invaders could use a number of these people to control their brother and sisters in terms of the rules lead down by these invaders. A number of these Africans and Africans in Diaspora were used in higher governmental positions to control the rest of the people in society. The “relational structure” in (3) depicts, as a result of backtracking, the move from the Common African History through the phases of “Common African History reflecting colonisation” as well as “colonisation plus enslavement of Africans” to a vague phase of common African History considered as the root phase .
(3) Root Common African History < Common African History (colonisation plus enslavement) < Common African History (colonization) < Common African History (common memory)
African descendants from enslaved Africans in especially the Americas are willing to share this part of the African history with the Africans in Africa . As sixth region they have already open the discussion concerning “reparation”. The identity and self concept of Africans in the Americas have been influenced directly by the action of enslavement of their ancestors. In the following the effect of enslavement on identity and self-concept is presented briefly.
African men, women and children were forcefully taken from their homes in Africa, placed on overcrowded ships that led to the death of a significant number and sold as slaves to the highest bidder in especially the USA , Caribbean and South America , to fill the need for labourers. These enslaved people were denied the rights of citizens, such as protection of human rights. They were treated very hideously(see also Myrdal , 1944). The justification for this kind of treatment by whites was among others that the African slaves were considered less than human and as an inferior race(Jones, 1972).To the people who were transported to the new world and had to live in Diaspora, their sense of identity was threaten since the external social conditions in which they had to live were altered in such a way that they were afraid of losing their “identity continuity”. This identity crisis has triggered anxiety and as has been stated by Erickson countered by an adaptive reaction. This was either to hold on to (to protect) the already held ego-identity (ideology or culture) or to find a new synthesis of identifications which is appropriate to the situation and its constraints. In general, it could be expected that but for a few cultural features related to their former life, the slaves had to find new identifications, from which they might benefit. Their new ego-identity became such that they have been submissive and not able to develop a positive perspective in life, due to an ideology (total orientation out of a given state of partial knowledge) which was very limited and insecure with respect to the fulfilment of primary needs. The “slave-culture” that emerged during adaptation to the new situation has been reproduced by their children, etc. Even the descendants of these enslaved people have experienced the aftermath of this new adaptation as a result of “identity diffusion”.
By applying the protract approach we can describe the relationship of “dominants- submissiveness” between North Atlantic countries (e.g. Europe and USA ) and Africa at present and in the near future. These North Atlantic countries are using more or less a similar strategy as the European invaders of Africa have used in the past (from 17 th century onwards). The strategy consists of the following components:
- application of economic power by the North Atlantic countries. In accordance with the basic objective of globalisation Western Europe / USA companies are joining forces to form multi-nationals which are using economic power (influences) in economic vulnerable countries (e.g. countries in Africa ).
- persuasive communication. Due to the economic benefit they receive or expect to receive, the economic vulnerable countries are persuaded (promotion as persuasion strategy) to adopt the way of living inserted by Western Europe / USA . This other way of living is based on a standardized version of the European/USA civilization.
In order to resist the effect of this strategy by the North Atlantic countries, the African Union (including the African Diaspora) has to take a number of measures. Firstly, it has to increase the interdependency across ethnic and national boundaries. This is necessary to generate a similar perspective on a wide range of issues. Secondly, it has to face (creating awareness of) the information war and the political manipulations in the context of the North Atlantic mentality which are detrimental to social and economic developments in Africa . Finally, it has to construct its own reality of Africa . The constructed reality by the North Atlantic Civilization is being imposed upon Africa as a result of the complementary relation of dominance (North Atlantic civilization) and submissiveness ( Africa ). Africa should use its own norms to construct an own Afro-centric reality. The consequence of this is that Africa will be able to construct its own history and accept its own cultural heritage (including indigenous languages and religions) as part of the public domain. The “relational structure” in (4) depicts the development towards a Common African History which reflects the required interdependency, awareness of the information war and political manipulations as well as the (re)construction of the own reality.
(4) Common African History < Common African History ( including inter dependency) < Common African History (including/awareness of information war/political manipulations and reconstruction of African reality)
4. Common African Culture
The Common African Community is based on a process of interconnectedness of people across boundaries of ethnic (tribal) and nation states. Within this Common African Community it is important, for at least the feeling of unity of the people in this Common African Community, to be able to refer to a single culture which transcends all the (other) cultures in the Common African Community. Applying the notion of the homogenisation effect of globalisation one of the cultures in the community or a newly created culture should be chosen as the overriding culture of the Common African Community. In Africa, as an economic vulnerable area, the effects of globalisation might lead to a homogenisation of cultures in such a way that the African based cultures might vanish and be replaced by a “standardized version” of the cultures in the mainstream of the flow of capitalism, which are in Western Europe and the United States of America . Therefore the possibility should be examined to strengthen a Common African Culture by developing a collective African culture as a product of a deliberate cultural construction. This should then be developed in such a way that on the one hand it does not fix our life in tradition and on the other it does not lead us into unpredictability which underlie “the runaway world” (Giddens 8). Castells assumed, that “our world and our lives are being shaped by the conflicting trends of globalisation and identity”(Castell 5). The expressions of collective identity related to local or regional culture may offer the necessary resistance to the centrifugal force of capitalist's globalisation. That is, that cultural identity which is a product of a deliberate cultural construction and maintenance by way of both regulatory and the socializing forces of institutions of the state, especially the law, the education system and the media, will generate the necessary resistance to “the runaway world”. Thus we shall examine the possibility of obtaining a Common African Culture which has been derived from the cultures of Africans in Africa and in Diaspora. Each of the two approaches (backtrack and protract) will be used to consider the issue of the choice of a Common African Culture.
In the case of backtracking, as an approach to obtain a Common African Culture, we will consider “the cultural heritage of Africans”, as part of new external social coordinates which contribute to “identity formation”. That is to say, that we assume that the “Global African Identity” of Africans and Africans in Diaspora will develop by incorporating also identifications related to the African cultural heritage. This cultural heritage (performing arts, music, languages, literature, etc.) relates to Africans and Africans in Diaspora. The “relational structure” in (5) depicts the movement from the Common African Culture, to be considered in terms of “cultural heritage”, through intermediate phases of the “culture of separate African ethnic (tribal) groups” and “the culture of separate African nation states” or “separate clusters of similar African tribal cultures” to a basic African Cultural Heritage and an African root . In the Caribbean, part of the sixth region of the AU, an Afro-Caribbean Cultural Heritage might be considered the result of the interconnectedness of the culture of the ethnic groups of people in the various Caribbean countries (nation states) who belong to the descendants of the enslaved Africans during the Atlantic Slave Trade. It can be interpreted as the homogenous culture resulting from a globalisation process which transcends the culture of the separate ethnic groups of enslaved Africans in the countries (nation states) of the Caribbean .
(5) African roots < <African Cultural Heritage < > African Cultural Heritage of separate African nation states or clusters of similar African tribal cultural groups < African Cultural heritage of African ethnic/tribal groups < Common African Culture (Cultural Heritage)
With protract as an approach one should indicate what the further cultural development will be once the Common African Culture has been established. Further developments might be in the direction of an Afro-centric civilization. The development of an Afro-centric Civilization should be considered a development from tradition to modernity. The ““relational structure”” in (6) depicts the possible further development of the Common African Culture from tradition to modernity.
(6) Common African Culture < Common African Culture (modernity) < Common African Culture (Afro-centric Civilization: spirituality, self-respect, self-realisation and freedom).
Tradition should be understood as the way of thinking and living in the past, whereby one has to define the nature of the chosen past. For some people who have accepted the Afro-centric definition of the past, tradition is considered in terms of the “Ancient African Civilization” (Nubian, Egypt ). To others, especially people in the Caribbean, tradition might be related to the time of enslavement of Africans, the emergence of a ”slave-culture” and/or the period of colonisation by the governments of Western Europe. Given the definition of tradition as a starting point, one should describe the development and progress in African communities in such a way, that the path from tradition to modernity can be defined and extrapolated very clearly when we have indicated what modernity should be from an Afro-centric point of view.
Modernity considered from the West European/American perspective refers to technological progress, access to resources, democracy, democratic ideals, personal freedom. In this sense modernity is intrinsically linked with the emerging local culture spread by satellites and jumbo jets and expressed in bad American English (called glinglish). According to Giddens the concept of modernity refers to the abstraction of social and cultural practices from contexts of local particularity and their institutionalisation and regulation across time and space (Giddens 5). The tenet of this kind of modernity (i.e. the West European/American definition of modernity) indicates that nothing is sacred, that every belief is revisable. This interpretation of modernity might not be in line with the interpretation of modernity one would like to give from the point of view of an Afro-centric Civilization. Therefore it is necessary to review African studies from the point of view of an Afro-centric description and/or interpretation of modernity. Moreover, the creation of an Afro-centric Civilization should be depended on the application of a well defined methodology. The Afro-centric civilization should be constructed in such a way that it is adopted to the same generic level of modernity as the West European/American civilization. The difference should be found in the underlying assumptions concerning the developmental process. The Afro-centric Civilization should use African tradition as the basic elements (roots) from which developments into modernity should be derived (followed) phase by phase. The consequence of this might be a difference between the West European/American civilization and the Afro-centric Civilization with respect to the basic points of view and content of the concept of modernity. “Spirituality, self-respect, self-realisation and freedom” might be considered relevant features of the basic elements of the Afro-centric Civilisation.
5. Concluding Remarks
The three pre-conditions (common community, common history and common culture) concerning “Global African Identity” have been met. Therefore the concept of “Global African Identity” can be used to describe the identity of an African community which consists of Africans and Africans in Diaspora world wide. We may speak of “Global African Identity” when we consider the result of identifications by a person in terms of features of the six regions of the African Union, especially political, economic, cultural and social features. Most of these features are related to the areas in which developmental activities are taking place (see paragraph 3). The identity at personal, ethnic (tribal), national and regional level may then be embedded in a larger social context, the Common African Community. It seems that the African Union (AU) would like to use the term “Global African Identity” as a slogan with an underlying mission concerning the development of Africa . Africans and Africans in Diaspora may then be motivated to contribute to this development. The mission may be described in terms of actions and activities related to the past, present and future of Africa . These actions and activities may be related to:
- the past: erase negative image(self-concept) of Africans and Africans in Diaspora which has been developed as a result of colonialism and/or enslavement
- the present: revolt against the aid given to Africa with detrimental effect on the development of Africa
- the future: find a path to modernity as a relevant factor which influences the development of an Afro-centric Civilization
Negative image (self-concept) of Africans and Africans in Diaspora
For many centuries Africans, as a result of colonisation and/or enslavement, have been led to believe that they are not capable of making it on their own. A constant repetition of these negative statements have lead to inferiority feelings among Africans and Africans in Diaspora. Their sense of identity was threaten and this had lead to anxiety of losing their “identity continuity”. This state of affairs was responsible for a low self-esteem of Africans. Also being deprived of their rights to receive proper education, homes and the freedom to explore themselves according to their own potentialities has made them very dependent on foreign countries. Using the notion of “Global African Identity”, the AU might try to increase the self-esteem of Africans by letting members of the Common African Community be aware of their self-concept. Self-concept concerns who and what we consciously and sub-consciously think we are, our physical and psychological traits and our assets and liability. Self-esteem is the evaluative component of self-concept. It allows us to discover our own potentialities. It gives us great self-respect and enables us to respect others. A high self-esteem makes us non-violent, reproachable, loving, caring, understanding and righteous. How do you develop a high self-esteem? You should know who you are, what you can and what you have. You should believe in yourself and know that you have the potentiality to achieve your goals in life. Furthermore, one should visualize his objectives and focus on their implementation.
Helping Africa
All those living in Diaspora, especially the descendants of the African slaves, know that Africa has enough potentiality to survive on its own. Living in the country of the former oppressors (colonizers) gives the diasporas the chance to see and know how the former oppressors (colonizers) operate when it comes to the so-called help (aid) they offer to Africa . The homogenisation effect of globalisation is presented to Africa in terms of the North Atlantic Civilization and its derivatives, especially in the area of economy, sociology and culture. Africa has to generate resistance against this interpretation and application of globalisation. “Global African Identity” should also mean that Africa should preserve what it has and find an own answer regarding its needs. This concerns keeping its local cultures including the indigenous languages and religions. In area of economy own developed small businesses should be stimulated and not be forced into bankruptcy as a consequence of embracing the global products being offered by foreign companies. Inferior cheap chicken meat (“chicken remains”) that has been sold to Africa by foreign companies on the pretext of helping the poor, might have a detrimental effect on the local African economy. Poor farmers, who are trying to survive by selling African chicken meat, might go bankrupt with the consequence that many workers may become unemployed.
Path to modernity
F ind the path to modernity as underlying factor which effects the development of an Afro-centric Civilization. The situation in Africa must change. But how do we do that? The history of Africa can't easily be erased, but Africans must try to overcome the past and take matters into their own hands. Africa should manage its own development with emphasis on an own Afro-centric Civilization. The perspective of an Afro-centric Civilization should be related to the concepts of African spirituality and African cultural heritage. Modernity should be the final goal of the extrapolation into our time of the “Ancient African Civilization”. It should be an Afro-centric definition of modernity. Africans and Africans in Diaspora have not yet found a suitable answer to the question regarding what they would consider their kind of Afro-centric Civilization as well as their kind of modernity, i.e. an own definition of modernity. The self-awareness that only Africans are responsible for the future of Africa is essential.
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