Issue

No. 3 (2022): CODESRIA Bulletin

7 - Whither ‘Sub-Saharan Africa’ Can We Use the Compass Instead?

https://doi.org/10.57054/cb320222809
Lusajo Kajula
Chambi Chachage

Corresponding Author(s) : Lusajo Kajula

sajokm@gmail.com

CODESRIA Bulletin, No. 3 (2022): CODESRIA Bulletin

Abstract

Currently, there are few conversations about the term ‘Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)’ (L.T. 2019) and its continued use (Zeleza 2022; Daley and Murrey, 2022). An end to the use of this problematic term is long overdue, and African voices on this matter should be amplified. This contribution to the literature aims to offer a solid reference point to support discussions about the discontinued use of this virulent term due to its racialist origins and racist undertones (Adébísí 2016; Chachage 2020; Ekwe-Ekwe 2012; Zeleza 2010). Through the voices of several prominent Africans, we explore the term’s invention, its scholarly (dis)advantages, and potential harm in its continued usage.

Keywords

Sub-Saharan Africa SSA terminology
Kajula, L., & Chachage, C. (2023). 7 - Whither ‘Sub-Saharan Africa’ Can We Use the Compass Instead?. CODESRIA Bulletin, (3). https://doi.org/10.57054/cb320222809
Download Citation
Endnote/Zotero/Mendeley (RIS)
BibTeX
References
  1. Adébísí, F.I. 2016, ‘Stop Researching Sub-Saharan Africa’, African Skies, Available online at https://folukeafrica.com/we-should-stop-researching-sub-saharan-africa/.
  2. Adesina, A., Chumba, D., Nelson, A.M, Orem, J., Roberts, D.J., Wabinga, H., Wilson, M. and Rebbeck, T.R., 2013, ‘Improvement of pathology in sub-Saharan Africa’, The Lancet Oncology, Vol. 14, No. 4, pp. e152–7.
  3. Atlas of Humanity, n.d., ‘Toubou People, Chad’, Atlas of Humanity, Available online at https://www.atlasofhumanity.org/toubou.
  4. Burchard, S.M., 2022, ‘Electoral Violence in Sub-Saharan Africa’, in Electoral Violence in Sub- Saharan Africa: Causes and Consequences. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers.
  5. Chachage, S.L.C., 2003, ‘Citizenship and Partitioned People in East Africa: The Case of the Wamaasai’, Africa Development, Vol. 28, No. 1, pp. 53–96.
  6. Chachage, C., 2010, ‘More Than a Continent? Remapping Africa’, Pambazuka News, 16 September, Available online at https://www.pambazuka.org/governance/more-continent-remapping-africa.
  7. Daley, P.O., and Murrey, A., 2022, ‘Defiant Scholarship: Dismantling Coloniality in Contemporary African Geographies’, Singapore Journal of Tropical Geographies, Vol. 43, pp. 159–76, Available on- line at https://onlinelibrary.wiley. com/doi/full/10.1111/sjtg.12422.
  8. Drake, S-C., 1964, ‘The Negro’s Stake in Africa’, Negro Digest, Vol. 13, No. 8.
  9. Ekwe-Ekwe, H., 2012, ‘What Exactly Does “Sub-Sahara Africa” Mean?’, Pambazuka News, 18 January, Available online at https://www.pambazuka.org/governance/what- exactly-does-%E2%80%98sub-sahara-africa%E2%80%99-mean.
  10. Encyclopaedia Britannica, n.d., ‘Western Sahara’, Available online at https://www.britannica.com/place/Western-Sahara.
  11. Kabakama, S., Konje, E.T., Dinga, J.N., Kishamawe, C., Morhason- Bello, I., Hayombe, P, Adeyemi,
  12. O. et al., 2022, ‘Commentary on COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy in Sub-Saharan Africa’ Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease, Vol. 7, No. 7, Article 130, Avail- able online at https://www.mdpi.com/24146366/7/7/130/pdf.
  13. Kulu, E., Brafu-Insaidoo, W.G., Bon- dzie, E.A. and Peprah, J.A., 2022, ‘Inefficiency and Gaps in Financial Stability in Sub-Saharan Africa’, Cogent Economics & Finance, Vol. 10, No. 1, Article 2111056, Available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/2332203 9.2022.2111056.
  14. L.T., 2019, ‘What is sub-Saharan Af- rica?’, The Economist, 7 March, Available online at https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2019/03/07/what-is-sub-saharan-africa.
  15. Merriam-Webster Dictionary, n.d., ‘sub’, Available online at https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sub.
  16. Mudimbe, V.Y., 1988, The Invention of Africa: Gnosis, Philosophy, and the Order of Knowledge, Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
  17. Ngwa, W., Addai, B.W., Adewole, I., Ainsworth, V., Alaro, J., Alatise, O.I, Ali, Z. et al., 2022, ‘Cancer in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Lan- cet Oncology Commission’, The Lancet Oncology, Vol. 23, No. 6, available online at https://www.thelancet.com/commissions/cancer-in-sub-Saharan-Africa.
  18. Niang, A., 2018, Stateness and Bor- derness in Mediation: Produc- tions and Contestations of Space in the Sahel, Adaption und Kreativität in Afrika, the German Research Foundation Working Paper, No. 26.
  19. Nkrumah, K., 1963, Africa Must Unite, New York: Frederick A. Prae- ger, Available online at https://www.zolabantu.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Africa-Must-Unite-Kwame-Nkrumah-1.pdf.
  20. Schraeder, P.J., ed., 2020, Under- standing Contemporary Africa, 6th Edition. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers.
  21. Shule, V., 2013, Beyond Socialism: Tanzanian Theatre, Neolibe- ralism and Foreign Aid Com- plexity, Unpublished PhD dissertation, Mainz Univer- sity, Available online at https://openscience.ub.uni-mainz.de/handle/20.500.12030/1763.
  22. Táíwò, O., 1998, ‘Exorcising Hegel’s Ghost: Africa’s Challenge to Philosophy’, African Studies Quarterly, Vol. 1, Issue 4, Available online at https://asq.africa.ufl.edu/files/Vol-1-Issue-4-Taiwo.pdf.
  23. Ulimwengu, J., 2011, ‘New Momen- tum has Been Set, Mood is in Favour of EAC Federation, Seize it,” The East African, 20 March, Available online at https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/tea/oped/comment/new-momentum-has- been-set-mood-is-in-favour-of-eac-federation-seize-it-1302684.
  24. Walther, O., and Retaillé, D., 2010, Sahara or Sahel? The Fuzzy Geography of Terrorism in West Africa. CEPS/INSTEAD Working Papers 2010-35, Available online at https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/ papers.cfm?abstract_id=1803996.
  25. Welsh, D., 1996, ‘Ethnicity in Sub-Saharan Africa’, International Affairs, Vol. 72, no. 3 (1996): 477–91.
  26. Zeleza, P.T., 1997, Manufacturing African Studies and Crises, Dakar: Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA).
  27. Zeleza, P.T., 2006, ‘The Inventions of African Identities and Languages: The Discursive and Developmental Implications’, in O.F. Arasanyin and M.A. Pemberton, eds., Selected Proceedings of the 36th Annual Conference on African Linguistics, pp. 14–26.
  28. Zeleza, P.T., 2010, ‘Reconceptuali- zing African Diasporas: Notes from a Historian’, Transforming Anthropology, Vol. 18, Issue 1,
  29. pp. 74–8, Available online at https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ j.15487466.2010.01073.x.
  30. Zeleza, P.T., 2018, ‘Trump’s Shithole Africa: The Homogenization and Dehumanization of a Continent’, USIU-Africa, 13 January, Avai- lable online at https://medium.com/@USIUAfrica/trumps-shit-hole-africa-the-homogenization-and-dehumanization-of-a-continent-226213105e25.
  31. Zeleza, P.T., 2022, ‘Africa and Its Diasporas: From Pan-Africanism to Developmentalism to Transnationalism’, The Elephant, 11 March, Available online at https://www.theelephant.info/long-reads/2022/03/11/africa-and-its-diasporas-from-pan-africanism-to-developmentalism-to- transnationalism/.
Read More

Author Biographies

Lusajo Kajula

Empathea Consulting, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania 

Chambi Chachage

Institute of African Studies, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada

Download
PDF
Statistic
Read Counter : 759 Download : 152

Similar Articles

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 > >> 

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.