6 - Radical Regionalism: Feminism, Sovereignty and the Pan-African Project
Corresponding Author(s) : Sara Salem
Africa Development,
Vol. 47 No. 1 (2022): Africa Development: Special Issue from the Post-Colonialisms Today Project Lessons to Africa from Africa: Reclaiming Early Post-Independence Progressive Policies
Abstract
This article analyses how sovereignty in Africa’s immediate post-independence
period was necessarily conceptualised as a regional pan-African and
internationalist project of decolonisation, outlining lessons for the
contemporary period. The capacity of newly independent states to shape their
domestic policy and mobilise resources was constrained by their subordinate
place in the global political and economic order, which made them dependent
on foreign capital and tied them to the interests of their former colonisers.
As such, they fostered radical regional and international solidarity that
would facilitate the continent’s development. Looking at a series of feminist
conferences in the immediate post-independence era, the article also traces
the contributions of Southern feminists to the decolonisation project and
African feminists to the conception of pan-Africanism, breaking with Western
feminists to conceptualise national liberation as fundamental to gender justice.
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- Abbas, H. and Mama, A., 2014, ‘Pan-Africanism and feminism’, Feminist Africa 19: 1–6.
- Adi, H. and Sherwood, M., 2003, Pan-African History: Political Figures from Africa and the Diaspora since 1787, London and New York: Routledge.
- Ahmed, L., 1992, Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
- Anghie, A., 2007, Imperialism, Sovereignty and the Making of International Law, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Armstrong, E., 2016, ‘Before Bandung: the anti-imperialist women’s movement in Asia and the Women’s International Democratic Federation’, Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 41 (2): 305–31.
- Badran, M., 1996, Feminists, Islam, and Nation: Gender and the Making of Modern Egypt, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
- Bier, L., 2011, Revolutionary Womanhood: Feminisms, Modernity, and the State in Nasser’s Egypt, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
- Boardman, D., n.d., ‘Fifth Pan African Conference’ [Photograph], available at:http://manchesterhistory.net/manchester/statues/africa.html, accessed 27 May 2020.
- Brown, E., 2015, A Taste of Power: A Black Woman’s Story, New York: Anchor. Burton, A. M., 1994, Burdens of History: British Feminists, Indian Women, and Imperial Culture, 1865–1915, Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. Cable from Chinese Embassy in Indonesia, 1954, ‘Regarding Reactions to the Asian-African Conference Announcement’, available at: https://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/115506, accessed June 2019.
- Cable from the Chinese Foreign Ministry, 1964, ‘Situation of the Premier’s Visit to Three West African Countries’, available at: https://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/165408, accessed 1 June 2019.
- Cham-Joof, A. E., 2006 [1963], ‘Message to the founding fathers of the OAU at their first conference in Addis Ababa’,The Point Newspaper, 29 June,availableat:https://web.archive.org/web/ 20111123024430/http://archive.thepoint.gm/Opinion%20-%20Talking%20Point52.htm, accessed 27 May 2020.
- Chinese Foreign Ministry Intelligence Department, 1954, Chinese Foreign Ministry Intelligence Department Report on the Asian-African Conference, 4 September, available at: https://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/112440, accessed 1 June 2019.
- Davies, C. B., 2014, ‘Pan-Africanism, transnational black feminism and the limits of culturalist analyses in African gender discourses’, Feminist Africa 19: 78–93. Eslava, L., Fakhri, M. and Nesiah, V., eds., 2017, Bandung, Global History, and International Law: Critical Pasts and Pending Futures, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Fanon, F., 1963, The Wretched of the Earth, New York: Grove Press.
- Getachew, A., 2019, Worldmaking after Empire, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
- Jabri, V., 2012, The Postcolonial Subject: Claiming Politics/Governing Others in Late Modernity, London and New York: Routledge.
- Kasanda, A., 2016, ‘Exploring Pan-Africanism’s theories: from race-based solidarity to political unity and beyond’, Journal of African Cultural Studies, 28 (2): 179–95.
- Lan an, M., 2017, Neo-colonialism and the Poverty of ‘Development’ in Africa, Cham: Springer.
- Salem: Feminism, Sovereignty and the Pan-African Project Mama, A., 2011, ‘What does it mean to do feminist research in African contexts?’, Feminist Review 98 (1): e4–e20, available at: http://nigs.ufsc.br/files/2017/07/fr201122a-AMINA-MAMA-Feminist-Research-in-Africa.pdf, accessed 27 May 2020.
- Massad, J. A., 2012, Colonial Effects: The Making of National Identity in Jordan, New York: Columbia University Press.
- Moyn, S., 2014, Human Rights and the Uses of History, Brooklyn, NY and London: Verso Books.
- Nkrumah, K., Arrigoni, R. and Napolitano, G., 1963, Africa Must Unite, London: Heinemann.
- Organisation for African Unity, n.d., ‘Revolutionary African Liberation Day’ [Poster], courtesy of the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre, GB 3228 34.
- Pan-African Congress, 1945, Press Release No. 7, October, courtesy of the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre, GB 3228 34.
- Premier Zhou Enlai and President Nasser, 1963, ‘Record of the Second Meeting between Premier Zhou Enlai and President Nasser’, 17 December, Qubba Palace, Cairo, available at: https://digital -archive.wilsoncenter.org/document/16540, accessed 1 June 2019.
- Premier Zhou Enlai and Mohamed Yala, 1964, ‘Memorandum of Conversation from the Meeting between Premier Zhou Enlai and the Algerian Ambassador to China Mohamed Yala’, 6 August, Xihua Hall, available at: https://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/118723, accessed 1 June 2019.
- Reddock, R., 2007, ‘Gender equality, pan-Africanism and the diaspora’, International Journal of African Renaissance Studies 2 (2): 255–67.
- Sankara, T. and Anderson, S., 1988, Thomas Sankara Speaks: The Burkina Faso Revolution, 1983-87, New York: Pathfinder Press.
- Senghor, L. S., 1966, ‘Negritude: a humanism of the 20th century’, Optima 16 (1): 1–8.
- Shepperson, G. and Drake, S. C., 2008, ‘The Fifth Pan-African Conference, 1945 and the All African Peoples Congress, 1958’, Contributions in Black Studies 8 (1): 5, 14–16, 35–66.
References
Abbas, H. and Mama, A., 2014, ‘Pan-Africanism and feminism’, Feminist Africa 19: 1–6.
Adi, H. and Sherwood, M., 2003, Pan-African History: Political Figures from Africa and the Diaspora since 1787, London and New York: Routledge.
Ahmed, L., 1992, Women and Gender in Islam: Historical Roots of a Modern Debate, New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Anghie, A., 2007, Imperialism, Sovereignty and the Making of International Law, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Armstrong, E., 2016, ‘Before Bandung: the anti-imperialist women’s movement in Asia and the Women’s International Democratic Federation’, Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 41 (2): 305–31.
Badran, M., 1996, Feminists, Islam, and Nation: Gender and the Making of Modern Egypt, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Bier, L., 2011, Revolutionary Womanhood: Feminisms, Modernity, and the State in Nasser’s Egypt, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Boardman, D., n.d., ‘Fifth Pan African Conference’ [Photograph], available at:http://manchesterhistory.net/manchester/statues/africa.html, accessed 27 May 2020.
Brown, E., 2015, A Taste of Power: A Black Woman’s Story, New York: Anchor. Burton, A. M., 1994, Burdens of History: British Feminists, Indian Women, and Imperial Culture, 1865–1915, Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. Cable from Chinese Embassy in Indonesia, 1954, ‘Regarding Reactions to the Asian-African Conference Announcement’, available at: https://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/115506, accessed June 2019.
Cable from the Chinese Foreign Ministry, 1964, ‘Situation of the Premier’s Visit to Three West African Countries’, available at: https://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/165408, accessed 1 June 2019.
Cham-Joof, A. E., 2006 [1963], ‘Message to the founding fathers of the OAU at their first conference in Addis Ababa’,The Point Newspaper, 29 June,availableat:https://web.archive.org/web/ 20111123024430/http://archive.thepoint.gm/Opinion%20-%20Talking%20Point52.htm, accessed 27 May 2020.
Chinese Foreign Ministry Intelligence Department, 1954, Chinese Foreign Ministry Intelligence Department Report on the Asian-African Conference, 4 September, available at: https://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/112440, accessed 1 June 2019.
Davies, C. B., 2014, ‘Pan-Africanism, transnational black feminism and the limits of culturalist analyses in African gender discourses’, Feminist Africa 19: 78–93. Eslava, L., Fakhri, M. and Nesiah, V., eds., 2017, Bandung, Global History, and International Law: Critical Pasts and Pending Futures, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Fanon, F., 1963, The Wretched of the Earth, New York: Grove Press.
Getachew, A., 2019, Worldmaking after Empire, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Jabri, V., 2012, The Postcolonial Subject: Claiming Politics/Governing Others in Late Modernity, London and New York: Routledge.
Kasanda, A., 2016, ‘Exploring Pan-Africanism’s theories: from race-based solidarity to political unity and beyond’, Journal of African Cultural Studies, 28 (2): 179–95.
Lan an, M., 2017, Neo-colonialism and the Poverty of ‘Development’ in Africa, Cham: Springer.
Salem: Feminism, Sovereignty and the Pan-African Project Mama, A., 2011, ‘What does it mean to do feminist research in African contexts?’, Feminist Review 98 (1): e4–e20, available at: http://nigs.ufsc.br/files/2017/07/fr201122a-AMINA-MAMA-Feminist-Research-in-Africa.pdf, accessed 27 May 2020.
Massad, J. A., 2012, Colonial Effects: The Making of National Identity in Jordan, New York: Columbia University Press.
Moyn, S., 2014, Human Rights and the Uses of History, Brooklyn, NY and London: Verso Books.
Nkrumah, K., Arrigoni, R. and Napolitano, G., 1963, Africa Must Unite, London: Heinemann.
Organisation for African Unity, n.d., ‘Revolutionary African Liberation Day’ [Poster], courtesy of the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre, GB 3228 34.
Pan-African Congress, 1945, Press Release No. 7, October, courtesy of the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre, GB 3228 34.
Premier Zhou Enlai and President Nasser, 1963, ‘Record of the Second Meeting between Premier Zhou Enlai and President Nasser’, 17 December, Qubba Palace, Cairo, available at: https://digital -archive.wilsoncenter.org/document/16540, accessed 1 June 2019.
Premier Zhou Enlai and Mohamed Yala, 1964, ‘Memorandum of Conversation from the Meeting between Premier Zhou Enlai and the Algerian Ambassador to China Mohamed Yala’, 6 August, Xihua Hall, available at: https://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/118723, accessed 1 June 2019.
Reddock, R., 2007, ‘Gender equality, pan-Africanism and the diaspora’, International Journal of African Renaissance Studies 2 (2): 255–67.
Sankara, T. and Anderson, S., 1988, Thomas Sankara Speaks: The Burkina Faso Revolution, 1983-87, New York: Pathfinder Press.
Senghor, L. S., 1966, ‘Negritude: a humanism of the 20th century’, Optima 16 (1): 1–8.
Shepperson, G. and Drake, S. C., 2008, ‘The Fifth Pan-African Conference, 1945 and the All African Peoples Congress, 1958’, Contributions in Black Studies 8 (1): 5, 14–16, 35–66.