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- Description:
- On 8 May 1996, Thabo Mbeki made what, within the context of the politics of identity in South Africa, was regarded as a ground breaking speech in which he boldly declared: "I am an African." This predated a call for the "African renaissance" in an address to the United States Corporation Council on Africa in 1997. Since then, the concept of the African renaissance has assumed a life of its own, not only within the borders of South Africa but throughout the African continent. The term and the idea of an African renaissance are not new. Neither is the pronouncement of an African identity an historic one since so many people have, over the centuries, publicly declared and identified themselves as Africans. This paper argues that the concept of the renaissance has since brought into sharp focus the post-Apartheid notion of the "return". Two conceptions about "the return" are identified. The first is an Afro-pessimistic conception that construes the return as a regression to something similar to the Hobbesian "state of nature" and thus retrogressive and oppressive and, the second, and opposite, conception interprets the return as necessary, and thus progressive, liberatory politics. It is argued that the former view smacks of distorted (apartheid's) representations, symptomatic of most western images of Africa and the African, a view driven by ideological and political motives desirous of halting and obstructing transformatory praxis. In defense of the libratory interpretation, an attempt is made to show, contra current views,that this interpretation is not conservative, nativist or essentialist but that, in line with Aime Cesaire's Return to the Native Land and Amilca Cabral's Return to the Source projects, it is directed at reconstructing and rehabilitating the African while forging an identity and authenticity thought to be appropriate to the exigencies of "modern" existence.
- Date Issued:
- 2002-12-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- African Journal of Political Science
- Description:
- Advances in communication technology, bring with them new characteristics which often expand the horizons for information exchange among people. The evolving information superhighway is promising to break the physical barriers to the free flow of information. This has serious implications for developing countries. As many parts of the world adopt the new technologies of the information superhighway African countries should be cautious and not too readily abandon their traditional communication methods, which are not necessarily anti-thetical to the Internet. As exciting as the new technologies are, they do not always portend positive developments.
- Date Issued:
- 1996-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Michigan State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Africa Media Review
- Notes:
- French and colonial prisoners of war march through a French town to a railroad station for transportation to prison camps in Germany. They are guarded by a squad of German Uhlans.
- Date Created:
- 1917-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- Introduction signed: L.R. In verse.
- Date Issued:
- 1828-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Wayne State University. Libraries
- Collection:
- Eloise Ramsey Collection of Literature for Young People
- Notes:
- In these drawings, French prisoners stop for a lunch of soup after their capture on the Western Front. A French African colonial solider is featured in the lower center row of the drawings.
- Date Created:
- 1915-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
- Notes:
- French West African troops flee before a German attack on the Western Front.
- Date Created:
- 1915-01-01T00:00:00Z
- Data Provider:
- Western Michigan University. Libraries
