User:Spokentruth/sandbox

How we plan to contribute to the selected articles:

5 big sections:

• African Tribalism
• Illusion of tribe
• The influence behind the African Nationalist movement
• African nationalism

Its implications

African nations after independence (post-colonialism)

• The relevance of the term in today's day

The African Union

Bibliography

African Tribalism

African tribalism is the organization or advocate for a certain tribe or tribes. Tribalism also refers to a certain way of thinking or behavior in which people are loyal to their social groups and tribes. Tribalism in Africa can be considered as evil and seen as something that needs to be overcome because it is a notion that is perpetuated through a network of patronage in which patron-client relations are often more favorable than meritocracy. Those networks are often legacy of colonial bureaucracy structure and it influences major actors of the African political life and their relations to one another. Moreover, because it is embedded in the set of institutions, most African inhabitants who do not benefit from that patron-client relations perceive tribalism as a cancer and a threat to modernity. However, Africans by nature are considered more tribal since they tend to be apart of extended families which means they belong to a clan and that alone makes tribalism not an evil thing. Moreover, an issue in most African nations is being able to distinguish between the ethnic and national identity of a person because Africans are only considered citizens on paper and they tend to hold allegiance to their ethnic identity more than their national identity. For example in Rwanda, each Rwandan have a common national identity on paper, but their benefits are determined by which ethnic group they belong to because of ethnic allegiance and the fact that one ethnic group have the monopoly of power over another group, allowing one group to favor their own and allowing them to maintain power over the other. Tribalism isn't only about tribes, instead it's about showing one's loyalty to a kin group which can include religious groups, political groups, social groups. etc. However, loyalty to one's group can be at the detriment and the suffering of another group (i.e. The Rwandan genocide in 1994).

Illusion of Tribe

According to Southall, a tribal society is a society that is highly functioning with little technology, its own culture, language, and political ideas. There are different ways to define tribalism, but some definitions add little or no substance; only changing a few idea about the culture, or language. Some nationalists believe African tribalism was first created during the period of colonization in Africa. It was believed that most tribes were formed during this era. A tribe in Kenya, Luhia, were a tribe that followed the way colonialists ruled, Many late trade merchants and nomads traveled through Kavironda, an area in Kenya, that many of the natives were not familar with. Overtime, Kavironda was used by the natives due to word being spread throughout the country. The natives only use the word Kavironda when they refer to the area they are from, and use their sub-tribe name when referring to themselves directly.

The influence behind the African nationalist movement

African nationalism was the product of a search for economic, political and social liberation from the direct and indirect rule of colonial imperialists. In other words, the African nationalist movement which is also referred to as "Pan-africanism" is the notion of focusing on the development of African nations through a unified social identity that go beyond the diverse ethnic identities. It's objective is to overcome the ethnic fragmentation and competition over access to resources and political power due to patronage and clientelism which are legacy of the authoritarian bureaucracy imposed by colonial imperialists. In their pursuit to modernity and a new form of ethnic identity, African political leaders and intellectuals such as Kwame N'krumah, Patrice Lumumba or Cheick Anta Diop have enacted a response to colonial rule which is embodied in the notion of African nationalism.

African Nationalism

African political leaders struggled to find their own identity following the rejection of the European influence that controlled the political landscape during the colonial occupation. The failure of Pan-africanism to unite the continent  and the rejection of tribal style of government, that were not large enough for other governments to negotiate with, lead political leaders to attempt to unite the people in groups that would form nations. These economic conditions caused the African  leaders to look for common ground that would allow the people to establish a national identity. Post- Colonialism in Africa has been beneficial to some extent, it brought rail lines and mining technology to the continent, but it does not go to say these advancements  would not have happened if nationalism did not occur. As economic conditions began to improve so did the national identity that the people identified with concerning their own nation.  

The relevance of the term in Today's day

Currently Africans are continuing their efforts to unite the nations by first establishing a social justice platform, solidarity, and protection. Recently in 2015 an African institution took over the Training Centre for Development Cooperation (TCDC) that is based in northeastern Tanzania. The Centre had been run by an organization from Denmark. This shift in responsibility initiated to advance the civil society as part of the social justice agenda.

Activist for the nationalistic movement have conflicting perspectives, some enthusiast feel the need to fight against the needs of the top one percenters being the priorities and the other view is that local and global leaders are not working towards meeting the needs of the citizens throughout the continent.