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Nationalism in Africa: Concepts, Types and Phases

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The Palgrave Handbook of African Politics, Governance and Development

Abstract

There is a lot of evidence suggesting that from as early as ad 900, invaders of the African continent received fierce resistance from the indigenous peoples. Indigenous peoples may not have had the musket or the Maxim gun, but resistance using spears and arrows was severe, as recorded in many oral traditions and histories. This chapter examines nationalism in Africa as an idea and movement, beginning with consciousness among people who share similar history, territory, culture, political and economic affiliation, hopes and aspirations in ways that see them as unique and different from others. The chapter looks at the various forms of expression of oneness and uniqueness of various African peoples in their migrations and settlement, through wars of resistance and liberation, culminating in independence in 1957 in Ghana and in the 1960s in the majority of African states.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    J.F. Ajayi and Michael Crowder, eds. History of West Africa. 2 vols. London: Longman, 1971, 1974.

  2. 2.

    J.D. Fage. A History of Africa. London: Hutchinson, 1978.

  3. 3.

    Maurice N. Amutabi, The NGO Factor in Africa: The Case of Arrested Development in Kenya. New York: Routledge, 2006.

  4. 4.

    K.A. Appiah, In My Father’s House: Africa in the Philosophy of Culture. London: Methuen, 1992.

  5. 5.

    V.Y. Mudimbe, The Invention of Africa: Gnosis, Philosophy and the Order of Knowledge. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press 1988.

  6. 6.

    Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart. New York: Anchor Books, 1994.

  7. 7.

    Ngugi wa Thiong’o, The River Between. Nairobi : Heinemann, 1974.

  8. 8.

    Gideon S. Were, East Africa Through a Thousand Years. Nairobi: Evans Brothers, 1974.

  9. 9.

    Douglas Cole, The Problem of ‘Nationalism’ and ‘Imperialism’ in British Settlement Colonies. Journal of British Studies 1971 (10/2) 160–182.

  10. 10.

    Edward I. Steinhart, Conflict and Collaboration: The Kingdoms of Western Uganda, 1890–1907. Princeton, NJ and Guildford: Princeton University Press, 1977.

  11. 11.

    Amutabi 2006, The NGO Factor in Africa: The Case of Arrested Development in Kenya. New York: Routledge, 2006.

  12. 12.

    Bethuel Allan Ogot and William R. Ochieng’, (eds), Decolonization and Independence in Kenya, 1940–1993. London: James Currey, 1995.

  13. 13.

    Semakula Kiwanuka, From Colonialism to Independence: A Reappraisal of Colonial Policies and African Reactions, 1870–1960. Nairobi: East African Literature Bureau, 1973.

  14. 14.

    Kiwanuka 1973, 45.

  15. 15.

    Henry S. Meebelo, Reaction to Colonialism—A Prelude to the Politics of Independence in Northern Zambia, 1893–1939. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1971.

  16. 16.

    Kiwanuka, From Colonialism to Independence: A Reappraisal of Colonial Policies and African Reactions, 1870–1960. Nairobi : East African Literature Bureau, 1973.

  17. 17.

    Ronald W. Walters, Pan Africanism in the African Diaspora: An Analysis of Modern Afrocentric Political Movements, African American Life Series. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press, 1997.

  18. 18.

    Maurice N. Amutabi and Shadrack Nasong’o (eds), (2013). Regime Change and Succession Politics in Africa: Five Decades of Misrule. New York: Routledge, 2012.

  19. 19.

    Edmond Maloba Were and Maurice N. Amutabi, Nationalism and Democracy for People-Centered Development in Africa. Eldoret, Kenya: Moi University Press, 2000.

  20. 20.

    Amutabi and Nasong’o 2013, 27.

  21. 21.

    David Killingay, Labour Exploitation for Military Campaigns in British Colonial Africa, 1870–1945. Journal of Contemporary History 1989 (24) 483–502.

  22. 22.

    Adu A. Boahen, ed, General History of Africa. Berkeley & Los Angeles: U of California Press, 1985. [Vol. VII: “Africa under Colonial Domination, 1880–1935.”]

  23. 23.

    Basil Davidson, Let Freedom Come: Africa in Modern History. Boston, MA: Little, Brown, 1978.

  24. 24.

    Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth. London: Zed Books.

  25. 25.

    Robert W. Strayer, Making of Mission Communities in East Africa: Anglicans and Africans in Colonial Kenya, 1875–1935. London: Heinemann/Albany: University of New York Press, 1978.

  26. 26.

    Elizabeth Isichei, History of West Africa Since 1800. New York: Holmes & Meier/London: Macmillan, 1977.

  27. 27.

    Bethuel Allan Ogot and F.B. Welbourn, A Place to Feel at Home (A study of two independent churches in western Kenya). Nairobi : Kenya Literature Bureau, 1966.

  28. 28.

    Were and Amutabi, Nationalism and Democracy for People-Centered Development in Africa. Eldoret, Kenya: Moi University Press, 2000.

  29. 29.

    Omatayo, Oloruntoba-Oju, Pan Africanism, Myth and History in African and Caribbean Drama. Journal of Pan African Studies 5 (8): 190. December 2012.

  30. 30.

    Bethuel Allan Ogot, My Foot Prints on the Sands of Time: An Autobiography. Kisumu: Anyange Press, 2011.

  31. 31.

    Toyin Falola and Essien, Kwame, Pan-Africanism and the Politics of African Citizenship and Identity. London: Routledge. pp. 2013. 71–72.

  32. 32.

    Tamrat, Tadesse, Church and State in Ethiopia . London: Oxford, 1978.

  33. 33.

    Falola and Essien 2013, Pan-Africanism and the Politics of African Citizenship and Identity. London: Routledge. pp. 2013. 71–72.

  34. 34.

    Robin Hallett, Africa since 1875: A Modern History. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 1974.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lukenya University, Athi River, Kenya

    Maurice N. Amutabi Ph.D.

Authors
  1. Maurice N. Amutabi Ph.D.
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Thabo Mbeki African Leadership Institute, University of South Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Samuel Ojo Oloruntoba

  2. Department of History, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA

    Toyin Falola

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Amutabi, M.N. (2018). Nationalism in Africa: Concepts, Types and Phases. In: Oloruntoba, S., Falola, T. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of African Politics, Governance and Development. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95232-8_11

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