As someone who has continually asked the question, ‘what does it mean to be a white person in Africa?’ I found this quote both amusing and helpful.
Taken by Adrienne Mickler @ Apartheid Museusm
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Wait! Does this mean I too am African! Sweet relief!
[I know I know, I'll shut my * mouth.]
Indeed you are, you can breathe easy! Keep up the comments!
Africans of the blood….and Africans of the soil
.
This is my first contribution to your blog – these are interesting and stimulating issues to talk or converse about – I really appreciate your thoughtful and practical inputs. Also, thank you very much for creating this space, for a “generative dialogue”. I was drawn by an interesting comment you made about humanity, particularly African identity; in other words, or rather to put it in a question form: who is an African? This subject of being an African, is a very interesting one, many people argue, that being an African is to be “black”, some on the other hand say; being African is staying in Africa and being a citizen of a country in Africa, as our South African constitution preamble states;”…South Africa belongs to all who live in it, united in our diversity”.
We need to continue, asking ourselves this very same question: who is an “African”? Does everyone in Africa (or in South Africa really feel they belong) part of this continent or embrace Africanism? My use of both the words “part of” and “belong” carries in it a sense of responsibility, pride and ownership.
I came across an article in the City Press Newspaper two weeks (15/03/2009), written by a world-renowned Professor Ali Mazrui a Ghanaian political scientist, scholar and writer. I have personally read many works of Prof. Mazrui and confidently believe that he is a prophetic voice to African renaissance, seconded by Prof. Shadrack Gutto from Unisa, both these gentlemen take seriously the issues of Africa – I am always marvelled by their works and contributions to an African conversation. Prof. Ali Mazrui’s article titled: “Africans of the blood … and Africans of the soil”, explains being an African this way:
“September this year marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah, the great pioneer of postcolonial pan-Africanism. September 2009 also marks the 40th anniversary of the Libyan Revolution under Muammar al-Gaddafi, heir to Nkrumah’s legacy of continental pan-Africanism. By a remarkable coincidence these two anniversaries were implicitly celebrated last month when Gaddafi was elected the presiding head of the African Union at a summit meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Both Nkrumah and Gaddafi are historic sons of Africa but are they “Africans” in the same sense”?
This is an interesting and provocative question that needs focused patience and great love as we wrestle with it. Mazrui continues in saying; “This is where we distinguish between Africans of the blood and Africans of the soil”. Notice the use of allegorical language that depicts and explains African identity.
•Africans of the blood are defined in racial and genealogical terms. They are identified with the black race.
•Africans of the soil are defined in geographical terms. They are identified with the African continental in nationality and ancestral location.
“Most North Africans are Africans of the soil but not necessarily of the blood. Most communities of enslaved Africans in the US, the Caribbean or Brazil are Africans of the blood but not of the soil. On the other hand, Ghanaians, Nigerians or Ugandans are Africans of the blood, genealogically belonging to the black race, and Africans of the soil, belonging to the continent”.
Some of you might know Boutros Boutros-Ghali and Kofi Annan; both were UN secretary-generals in different period of time and both are “Africans”. Boutros was an African of the soil but since he was descended from the Copts he was as indigenous to Africa as Annan. Boutros-Ghali was not an immigrant Arab but an Arabised descendent of ancient Pharaonic Egyptians. However, Boutros-Ghali did not qualify as an African of the blood since he was not racially black. Annan, on the other hand, was the first black secretary-general (even though Boutros-Ghali was Annan’s predecessor). Annan is a black Ghanaian and is both an African of the blood and of the soil. The question here is; who was the first African secretary-general of the UN (even though Boutros-Ghali was Annan’s predecessor)?
While Boutros-Ghali and Muammar Gaddafi are Africans of the soil by ancestry, white South Africans are Africans of the soil by adoption. This also applies to East African Indians and Pakistanis; they are Africans of the soil by adoption. So what about Barack Obama? Here we need to make a further distinction, one between African-Americans and American-Africans. I will continue to elaborate on what it means to be African-American or American-African and extend to Afro-Arab (Afrabianism) on my next comment. The big question we are asking here is: what/which African are you? Let’s keep the conversation going. Chat to you next time, Amahoro!
(For further reading on Prof. Ali Mazrui’s article, you can visit his web-site – just type his name and title of his article).
Mzwandile Nkutha
this is profound stuff. I am going to do a whole post on what you have written. Really insightful and well articulated. Thanks so much man I think this is a great gift to people wrestling with these questions.
[...] good friend Mzi has posted a truly beautiful and insightful comment on this question (read here http://curtisamongfriends.wordpress.com/2009/03/06/everyone-is-african/#comment-16). Mzi is someone who has taken the time to understand the identity struggle many young (and old?) [...]
Dear Mzwandile Nkutha,
If you still read postings on this site (as I see your entry was way back last year and I just stumbled on this site today) permit me to say that it is nice to see that there are quite a few of us who spend time being rational and passionate about the issues of Africa and its diverse peoples…keep it up as that is what we need! Thinking and acting together no matter how far and wide apart we may be will contribute towards future positive change for Africa and it’s peoples.
Now back to the write up: Firstly, permit me to state, though I personally do not care about it as the defining African borders are colonial legacies anyway) I think Professor Ali originates from the region known as Kenya and not Ghana. His works helped also set my thinking straight and objective while growing up in europe and being educated under heavy racially slanted conditions in the 80′s/90′s as he, in addition to Chancellor Williams, were the very first African academic voices (better than the likes of Chiek Anta Diop etc) that made me objectively analyse the likes of Basil Davidsons perception of Africa:
Secondly, I posted the below excerpt on the sister site which led me to this site: If your heart is in the right place then stay tuned and keep in touch:
Peace:
Fuquan
fuquan_idris@yahoo.co.uk
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http://curtisamongfriends.wordpress.com/tag/prof-ali-mazrui/
To whoever posted this article:
If you truly mean what you have written in this article then you have a very valid point. Being “African” is not about “colour”. The whole colour madness was created, fuelled, manipulated and stamped by Europeans or what you may refer to as “Whites” and rode on by other classified colours of people and academic deviants. But that is a complex issue not worth discussing here. What is important is what you have rightly pointed out “… to be African is to be committed to the future and fate of Africa and ‘ALL’ her people. ” no matter where you are on planet earth.
We are all in this thing together whether we know it or not. That said, before seeing this article we share this understanding and an “African” portal is in the making aimed for going online next year that focuses on this very issue. You can email me and I shall keep you posted when it is live and publicly available. Being “African” is in the heart and mind if you believe in Africanness then stay true to what you have written in the article and do what you know needs to be done to ensure the whole of Africa becomes united and no longer vulnerable to manipulation and self-destruction.
Stay strong and May Inner Peace Be With You.
Fuquan: