Visions of African Unity: New Perspectives on the History of Pan-Africanism and African Unification Projects

by Matteo Grilli (Editor), Frank Gerits (Editor)

Overview

This collection of essays analyzes different iterations of African unity, exploring the political and cultural visions that informed projects aimed at African unification. It explores the cultural, economic and non-state aspects of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) as the principal institution dedicated to the cooperation of African states, from its establishment in 1963 to its transformation into the African Union (AU) in 2000, as well as how ideas of African unity shaped the Cold War and African liberation struggles. Bringing together contributors from a diverse range of disciplinary backgrounds across Africa, Europe and the US, this book investigates the ideological origins and historiography of Pan-African and unification projects, and considers how African intellectuals, leaders and populations engaged with these ideas.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783030529130
Publisher:	Springer International Publishing
Publication date:	02/09/2021
Series:	African Histories and Modernities
Edition description:	1st ed. 2020
Pages:	435
Product dimensions:	5.83(w) x 8.27(h) x (d)

About the Author

Matteo Grilli is a postdoctoral fellow in the International Studies Group at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein, South Africa. He specializes in decolonization and Pan-Africanism. He is the author of Nkrumaism and African Nationalism: Ghana’s Pan-African Foreign Policy in the Age of Decolonization (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018).

Frank Gerits is Assistant Professor in the History of International Relations at Utrecht University, the Netherlands. He previously held postdoctoral positions at New York University, USA, and the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein, South Africa.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction.- Part I Imagining and Debating African Unity.- 2. A Different Kind of Union: An Assassination, Diplomatic Recognition, and Competing Visions of African Unity in Ghana-Togo Relations, 1956–1963.- 3. Thinking East African: Debating Federation and Regionalism, 1960–1977.- 4. Kwame Nkrumah and the All-African Trade Union Federation: Labour and the Emancipation of Africa.- 5. African Unity and the Process of Integration from the Grassroots: The Case of Mali and Senegal.- Part II The Impact of African Liberation and Cold War on African Unity.- 6. Visions of Unity: Southern Africa and Liberation.- 7. Between Continent and Country: Botswana, National Liberation, and Pan-Africanist Challenges, 1960s–1980s.- 8. The Trajectory of Liberation: Insurgencies from Portuguese Colonialism and Their Contribution to Pan-Africanism and Solidarism Within an Emerging African International Society.- 9. In Between Cold War politics: The OAU Consultative Committee and Anglo-American Diplomacy in the Nigerian Civil War, 1967–1970.- 10. 'Between their hands a fabulous geography is born': The Maghreb Generation and the Fight to Decolonize and Unite Africa’s Minds.- Part III From The OAU to the AU: Historical Trajectories.- 11. Embracing State Security: The Peace and Security Norms and Structures of the Organisation of African Unity, 1963–1993.- 12. What a Difference a Decade Makes: Understanding Security Policy Reversals Between the Organisation of African Unity and the African Union.- 13. Reflections About the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights Twenty Years After the Ouagadougou Prool.- 14. Unity or Identity? How the Ambivalences of the African Union’s Collective Identity Formation
Play Out in Contemporary African Politics. The Case of the 2015 Burundi Crisis.- 15. How Africa Can Unite.- Part IV Postscript.- 16. Key Primary Information Sources Emanatingfrom the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and the African Union (AU): From the Lagos Plan of Action to Agenda 2063.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

At a time when the past and present empires of the West are turning against neo-liberal globalization, from which they have derived s​​o many benefits at the expense of the rest of the world, this volume foregrounds the imperative of forging Pan-African unity in ways that can reposition the continent to be an active player in global affairs. The volume highlights the travails and triumphs of Pan-Africanism as an ideological and intellectual force on which the struggle for freedom in Africa has been anchored over the past two centuries. The volume is historically informed, rich, balanced and insightful. By linking the past to the future, this volume holds a great potential to contribute to discourses and policies that can foster an integrated continent capable of achieving inclusive development.

—Samuel Ojo Oloruntoba, Thabo Mbeki School of Public and International Affairs, University of South Africa

This is a timely contribution to the study of the ambiguities of Pan-Africanism, African unity and the institutional cooperation that Africa’s states built up in the post-colonial era. In studying the multifarious expressions of Pan-Africanism this volume privileges views from within the African continent rather than the diaspora, giving voice to grass-roots perspectives that have been neglected in studies of the inter-state cooperation after independence. Citizens’ views, the role of labour in the unity project and issues of culture in Pan-African cooperation come to the fore. The institutionalisation of African unity is re-analysed in its complex interplay with global forces, especially the violence of the Cold War and the liberation struggles in southern Africa. The volume reassesses the transformation of the OAU into the African Union, discussing human rights, notions of African-ness and the state of Pan-African archives. A must for those studying the complexities of Africa’s international networks.

—Klaas van Walraven, African Studies Centre, Leiden University, the Netherlands

The OAU and AU have for too long been on the sidelines of historical scholarship on twentieth-century Africa. This volume not only brings together an important, rich, and multidisciplinary collection of essays that delves into some of the most significant moments in these organizations’ histories, but also pushes its readers to think more broadly and deeply at the changing nature and institutional history of pan-Africanism on the continent. There is little doubt that Visions of African Unity will become a cornerstone for future studies of these two pivotal international organizations.

—Jeffrey Ahlman, Smith College, USA