Nsuo a edo wo na eko w’ahina mu
In the Akan language of Twi, “Only the water that was meant for you, enters your pot.”
The consensus in Africa has been that the allocation of power, resources, and attention has been misfocused in the past few decades. But how could things be any different for humanity’s homeland? When narratives pre-dominate politics and dictate decision-making, the construction of societies, the imagination of nations, and the arousal of culture are hampered. Many speak of the African Renaissance; a handful celebrates it. Yet, in the excitement, scholars and activists seem to forget the complexity of African history and dangerously mislabel Africa’s historiography into three periods centralized around colonization. For the sake of its culture and its moral sovereignty, Africans should expunge the epithet of pre-colonial and banish it from all aspects of African studies. The notion of ‘pre-coloniality’, in any context, is pernicious, for it is not merely a concealer of truth but an obfuscator of understanding. It not only hides but obscures, rendering any semblance of enlightenment nigh impossible to attain.
The fallacy of “pre-colonial” Africa can be traced back to the misguided mind of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. In the early 19th century, Hegel presented the theory that civilizations on the continent existed outside the realm of time and were excluded from the ebb and flow of history. The “pre”, in pre-colonial, mythologizes the imposition of European colonialism and the indelibleness of its impact rather than scoping it within the rich antiquity of the continent. By committing such a historical reduction, it denigrates the rich tapestry of diverse colonialisms throughout the continent. The annals of African history are replete with other periods of social control, such as the Moors’ millennia-long occupation of Morocco, the Omani dominion of the Swahili Coast, and the late-Egyptian society’s crusades led by Ali, which conquered lands stretching from Nubia to the Euphrates river. However, in the study of African politics, these feats of strength and weakness are reduced to pre-colonial and, therefore, unimportant to the modern conception of the ‘African state’. As Fanon so astutely observed, the violent rupture of Africa with its Northern neighbours is an inescapable component of their existential philosophy. Let us, therefore, celebrate methodological independence from the European frieze.
To ensure significance in the dissociation of African history with the concept of pre-colonial, it would be worth highlighting the steps certain African civilizations undertook in state-building and social formations. To do otherwise would be to perpetuate the damning narrative, so frequently persistent, one that emphasizes the region’s past as a monolithic entity. After all, Africa cultivated societies that belong to the ages. From the grandeur of the Ethiopian empire to the innocence of Congolese pygmies, the diversity of communities within and throughout the region has been unappreciated historically. For example, the Empire of Addis Ababa encompassed literate feudal Amharic noblemen, humble Galla pastoralists, and Kaffa agriculturers. In Western Sudan, modern Mandinga townsmen and Bozo fishermen all conglomerated in an empire vaster than any nation in current West Africa. Yet culture continues despite the European eclipse. It would be a fruitless endeavour to attempt to draw parallels between the disparate expressions of the world, for who possesses the objective acumen to exact the relative superiority of the “Austrian waltz” to the “Makonde Ngoma?” The cultural contributions of pre-colonial Africa, as they say, remain invaluable to humanity’s collective inheritance of aesthetic truth.
“When the colonized intellectual writing for his people uses the past, he must do so with the intention of opening up the future, spurring them into action and fostering hope.” (Fanon)
The Sankofa principle, which emphasizes the inextricable link between moving forward and looking back, has gained widespread acclaim. Rooted in Akan culture, it has since permeated beyond the confines of Ghana, encapsulating the universal human experience of considering history as a means to move forward. Now that the African potpourri of Empires and Kingdoms has been established, how does this royal DNA translate to current legitimacy and social welfare issues throughout its nation-states? It is evident that the Scramble of Africa and the arbitrary division of Africa into plots of resources for European ‘gold rush miners,’ had significant consequences for the independent African state. This led to the state inheriting institutions designed to be extractive. It is also ineluctable to consider Nunn’s argument that the Transatlantic Slave Trade saccaged African empires of their labour. Both are true. Both are considerable. However, neither is all-encompassing. The sad reality of the African mindset is the misguided belief that for their institutions to be deemed legitimate, they must be preserved in a state of arrested development. Culture becomes distorted into a spectacle, marketed for the pleasure of the “dollar-wielding Euro-American tourist.” A prime example of this absurdity is the recent trend of Nigerians celebrating Black History Month. To appreciate the past does not entail walking with one’s eyes arrested by it.
A plenitude of African politicians, idealists and intellectuals are paralyzed by the West’s perception and thus espouse the idea that authenticity as Africans necessitates rejecting modernity. The inclination towards an adherence to this supposed authenticity, born of the illusory belief of plain Africa, has fuelled the vehement rejection of Western support and ideology. Apparently, by embracing elements of Western modernity, African purity is sullied, a misconception that proliferates performative celebrations and defensive posture towards constructive criticism. The constant preoccupation with how the West perceives Africa engenders a limiting self-consciousness among African policymakers and scholars, often provoking a “paroxysm of protests.”
As we navigate this complex terrain, let us consider the myriad paths carefully. The question of African agency, mired in the quagmire of colonial history and the trappings of Western influence, remains a pressing and poignant one. The answer, as Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò presents late in his article Looking Back, Facing Forward, is simple: be modern! This is not a call to romanticize a nebulous pre-colonial era but to engage in a comprehensive study of the past. From the process of self-discovery that Africans should undergo, they will emerge empowered and transcend the provincialism of their current paradigm. Only by accepting its place in history and expressing its regal codon can Africa chart its course and situate itself on the global stage.
Edited by Isaac Yong
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