Pub Date : 2023-02-17DOI: 10.36615/the_thinker.v94i1.2357
Suzanne Graham
There are those who argue that a state embodying good international citizenship (GIC) must actively seek to improve the worldaround it, thereby making a positive contribution to overcoming global challenges. A good international citizen (state) must also be a proponent of multilateral cooperation, usually manifesting in global platforms such as the United Nations (UN). Scholars refer to middle power states being ideally situated in the power rankings of international affairs, respected by major and minor powers, tobecome custodians of emerging international norms and to pave a pathway forward for the community of states. Both South Africa and Sweden are seen as pivot countries in their respective regions and have a long history of shared desires and supports for freedom. This article will explore the notion of GIC and its desirability, and applicability, in relation to South Africa and Sweden. It employs a casestudy methodology approach in its research design and interrogates the extent to which South Africa and Sweden qualify as good international citizens according to four characteristics, drawn from the literature. The article finds that both Sweden and South Africa demonstrate elements of good international citizenship.
{"title":"South Africa, Sweden, and Good International Citizenship","authors":"Suzanne Graham","doi":"10.36615/the_thinker.v94i1.2357","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.36615/the_thinker.v94i1.2357","url":null,"abstract":"There are those who argue that a state embodying good international citizenship (GIC) must actively seek to improve the worldaround it, thereby making a positive contribution to overcoming global challenges. A good international citizen (state) must also be a proponent of multilateral cooperation, usually manifesting in global platforms such as the United Nations (UN). Scholars refer to middle power states being ideally situated in the power rankings of international affairs, respected by major and minor powers, tobecome custodians of emerging international norms and to pave a pathway forward for the community of states. Both South Africa and Sweden are seen as pivot countries in their respective regions and have a long history of shared desires and supports for freedom. This article will explore the notion of GIC and its desirability, and applicability, in relation to South Africa and Sweden. It employs a casestudy methodology approach in its research design and interrogates the extent to which South Africa and Sweden qualify as good international citizens according to four characteristics, drawn from the literature. The article finds that both Sweden and South Africa demonstrate elements of good international citizenship.","PeriodicalId":34673,"journal":{"name":"The Thinker","volume":"43 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74383162","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-02-17DOI: 10.36615/the_thinker.v94i1.2352
Ronit Frenkel
The University of Johannesburg acquired The Thinker in April 2019 from Dr Essop Pahad. Over the last decade, The Thinker has gained a reputation as a journal that explores Pan-African issues across fields and times. Ronit Frenkel, as the incoming editor, plans on maintaining the pan-African scope of the journal while increasing its coverage into fields such as books, art, literature and popular cultures. The Thinker is a ‘hybrid’ journal, publishing both journalistic pieces with more academic articles and contributors can now opt to have their submissions peer reviewed. We welcome Africa-centred articles from diverse perspectives, in order to enrich both knowledge of the continent and of issues impacting the continent.
{"title":"Contributors to this edition","authors":"Ronit Frenkel","doi":"10.36615/the_thinker.v94i1.2352","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.36615/the_thinker.v94i1.2352","url":null,"abstract":"The University of Johannesburg acquired The Thinker in April 2019 from Dr Essop Pahad. Over the last decade, The Thinker has gained a reputation as a journal that explores Pan-African issues across fields and times. Ronit Frenkel, as the incoming editor, plans on maintaining the pan-African scope of the journal while increasing its coverage into fields such as books, art, literature and popular cultures. The Thinker is a ‘hybrid’ journal, publishing both journalistic pieces with more academic articles and contributors can now opt to have their submissions peer reviewed. We welcome Africa-centred articles from diverse perspectives, in order to enrich both knowledge of the continent and of issues impacting the continent.","PeriodicalId":34673,"journal":{"name":"The Thinker","volume":"993 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135384947","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-02-17DOI: 10.36615/the_thinker.v94i1.2354
Håkan Juholt
I have a beautiful painting of Oliver Tambo and Olof Palme in my off ice. Every day, I look into the eyes of these humanitarian role models. I see a pair of committed leaders sharing hopes, commitments, and respect for one another and other human beings. I see their eyes telling me the story of a unique relationship between South Africa and Sweden, one of trust and shared common values.How did two nations, separated by more than just geography, build such a strong bond in the beginning of the 1960s? Sweden was at that stage an industrialised, prosperous, and stable country with many years of economic growth and progress, while South Africa was a repressive apartheid state where the people suffered. A unique aspect of the relationship was that it was driven by the unique people of each of these nations, with a realisation that their common goals could not be reached in isolation but through an interconnectedness that moved mountains and split oceans apart, joining our two nations for endless opportunities, for years to come.
{"title":"South Africa and Sweden: A Story of Solidarity, Trust, and Shared Common Values","authors":"Håkan Juholt","doi":"10.36615/the_thinker.v94i1.2354","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.36615/the_thinker.v94i1.2354","url":null,"abstract":"I have a beautiful painting of Oliver Tambo and Olof Palme in my off ice. Every day, I look into the eyes of these humanitarian role models. I see a pair of committed leaders sharing hopes, commitments, and respect for one another and other human beings. I see their eyes telling me the story of a unique relationship between South Africa and Sweden, one of trust and shared common values.How did two nations, separated by more than just geography, build such a strong bond in the beginning of the 1960s? Sweden was at that stage an industrialised, prosperous, and stable country with many years of economic growth and progress, while South Africa was a repressive apartheid state where the people suffered. A unique aspect of the relationship was that it was driven by the unique people of each of these nations, with a realisation that their common goals could not be reached in isolation but through an interconnectedness that moved mountains and split oceans apart, joining our two nations for endless opportunities, for years to come.","PeriodicalId":34673,"journal":{"name":"The Thinker","volume":"11 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85150004","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-02-17DOI: 10.36615/the_thinker.v94i1.2360
P. Rugunanan, Celine Meyers
Sweden and South Africa are two major transnational destinations and attract large numbers of refugees and migrants, primarilydue to their ease of immigration policies. Besides their unique historical relations which can be traced back to as early as the 1890s, both countries continue to experience high volumes of mass migration and forced mobility which peaked in 2015. Following the so-called ‘Syrian refugee crisis’, Sweden witnessed the second largest asylum applications in Europe. At around the same time, South Africa experienced its highest backlog of asylum applications. It is against this backdrop of a long and diverse history of relations andongoing migration that we seek to engage with the responses of both countries to mass migration using a comparative approach. The article presents a historical perspective of migration between Sweden and South Africa and examines their ongoing migration policydebates. It concludes with an analysis of current political contestations and some key lessons for each country.
{"title":"Exploring Sweden and South Africa’s Responses to Mass Migration during the Period 2015–2019","authors":"P. Rugunanan, Celine Meyers","doi":"10.36615/the_thinker.v94i1.2360","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.36615/the_thinker.v94i1.2360","url":null,"abstract":"Sweden and South Africa are two major transnational destinations and attract large numbers of refugees and migrants, primarilydue to their ease of immigration policies. Besides their unique historical relations which can be traced back to as early as the 1890s, both countries continue to experience high volumes of mass migration and forced mobility which peaked in 2015. Following the so-called ‘Syrian refugee crisis’, Sweden witnessed the second largest asylum applications in Europe. At around the same time, South Africa experienced its highest backlog of asylum applications. It is against this backdrop of a long and diverse history of relations andongoing migration that we seek to engage with the responses of both countries to mass migration using a comparative approach. The article presents a historical perspective of migration between Sweden and South Africa and examines their ongoing migration policydebates. It concludes with an analysis of current political contestations and some key lessons for each country.","PeriodicalId":34673,"journal":{"name":"The Thinker","volume":"10 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83475900","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-02-17DOI: 10.36615/the_thinker.v94i1.2359
J. van Wyk
In 2014, Sweden became the first country to adopt a feminist foreign policy. Although a new Swedish government abandoned the country’s feminist foreign policy in October 2022, Sweden has inspired many other states to adopt such a foreign policy to advance the status of women and girls. These developments have not gone unnoticed in South Africa, where historical relations between Swedenand the country’s liberation movements endure in post-apartheid South Africa. Unlike Sweden, South Africa never adopted or declared a feminist foreign policy due to historical and cultural reasons, and different conceptualisations of women, gender, and feminism. Instead, under the leadership of the African National Congress (ANC) since 1994, South Africa has diplomatically capitalised on its liberation struggle and human rights credentials; the latter which, to some extent, have for some time superseded a more focused emphasis on women’s rights. A more nuanced foreign policy focus on improving the status of women and gender equality emergedpartly due to international developments regarding women, peace, and security. Hence, the contribution explores feminist and/or gendered aspects of South Africa’s foreign policy of ubuntu (human-ness and humanity) and diplomatic practice, and the implications thereof. It has shown that South Africa’s growing embrace of elements associated with a feminist foreign policy includes memorialisation and symbolism (i.e. linking the liberation struggle and female stalwarts to foreign policy), positioning women in progressive internationalism, and integrating women in the definition of South Africa’s national interests.
{"title":"South Africa: A Growing Embrace of Feminist Foreign Policy?","authors":"J. van Wyk","doi":"10.36615/the_thinker.v94i1.2359","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.36615/the_thinker.v94i1.2359","url":null,"abstract":"In 2014, Sweden became the first country to adopt a feminist foreign policy. Although a new Swedish government abandoned the country’s feminist foreign policy in October 2022, Sweden has inspired many other states to adopt such a foreign policy to advance the status of women and girls. These developments have not gone unnoticed in South Africa, where historical relations between Swedenand the country’s liberation movements endure in post-apartheid South Africa. Unlike Sweden, South Africa never adopted or declared a feminist foreign policy due to historical and cultural reasons, and different conceptualisations of women, gender, and feminism. Instead, under the leadership of the African National Congress (ANC) since 1994, South Africa has diplomatically capitalised on its liberation struggle and human rights credentials; the latter which, to some extent, have for some time superseded a more focused emphasis on women’s rights. A more nuanced foreign policy focus on improving the status of women and gender equality emergedpartly due to international developments regarding women, peace, and security. Hence, the contribution explores feminist and/or gendered aspects of South Africa’s foreign policy of ubuntu (human-ness and humanity) and diplomatic practice, and the implications thereof. It has shown that South Africa’s growing embrace of elements associated with a feminist foreign policy includes memorialisation and symbolism (i.e. linking the liberation struggle and female stalwarts to foreign policy), positioning women in progressive internationalism, and integrating women in the definition of South Africa’s national interests.","PeriodicalId":34673,"journal":{"name":"The Thinker","volume":"55 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"75679168","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-02-17DOI: 10.36615/the_thinker.v94i1.2353
Sven Botha
The Republic of South Africa and the Kingdom of Sweden are often said to share a special relationship. This relationship, as Anna-Mart van Wyk’s article in this special issue illustrates, is firmly rooted in Sweden’s support for the Anti-Apartheid Movement. Since then, both South Africa and Sweden, and indeed the world as a whole, have experienced significant political, economic, and social changes.The bilateral relationship between South Africa and Sweden has grown since the former’s transition to democracy on the 27th of April 1994. To this end, South Africa and Sweden enjoy a bi-national commission and a total of 22 bilateral agreements1 (DIRCO, 2022).In addition to these milestones, innovative initiatives have been established in areas of mutual concern. Chief examples in this regard include the South Africa-Sweden University Forum (SASUF)2 and the Cape Town-Stockholm Connect Initiative3, which seek to stimulate collaboration in higher education and business and technology respectively. There have also been developments in our cultural exchanges in recent years. One such example was the facilitation of the Sweden-South Africa Live Connection: Digitally Yours Campaign (hereafter the Digitally Yours Campaign) which sought to keep both countries connected virtually during the Covid-19 Pandemic. The Digitally Yours Campaign ran from the 4th of April 2020 until the 2nd of May 2020 and hosted a number of virtual exchanges4 whereby both Swedish and South African artists participated in roundtable discussions and cultural performances in the areas of fashion, poetry, and music (Embassy of Sweden in Pretoria, 2020).
{"title":"Reinvigorating South Africa-Sweden Relations: Politics, Economics, And Society","authors":"Sven Botha","doi":"10.36615/the_thinker.v94i1.2353","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.36615/the_thinker.v94i1.2353","url":null,"abstract":"The Republic of South Africa and the Kingdom of Sweden are often said to share a special relationship. This relationship, as Anna-Mart van Wyk’s article in this special issue illustrates, is firmly rooted in Sweden’s support for the Anti-Apartheid Movement. Since then, both South Africa and Sweden, and indeed the world as a whole, have experienced significant political, economic, and social changes.The bilateral relationship between South Africa and Sweden has grown since the former’s transition to democracy on the 27th of April 1994. To this end, South Africa and Sweden enjoy a bi-national commission and a total of 22 bilateral agreements1 (DIRCO, 2022).In addition to these milestones, innovative initiatives have been established in areas of mutual concern. Chief examples in this regard include the South Africa-Sweden University Forum (SASUF)2 and the Cape Town-Stockholm Connect Initiative3, which seek to stimulate collaboration in higher education and business and technology respectively. There have also been developments in our cultural exchanges in recent years. One such example was the facilitation of the Sweden-South Africa Live Connection: Digitally Yours Campaign (hereafter the Digitally Yours Campaign) which sought to keep both countries connected virtually during the Covid-19 Pandemic. The Digitally Yours Campaign ran from the 4th of April 2020 until the 2nd of May 2020 and hosted a number of virtual exchanges4 whereby both Swedish and South African artists participated in roundtable discussions and cultural performances in the areas of fashion, poetry, and music (Embassy of Sweden in Pretoria, 2020).","PeriodicalId":34673,"journal":{"name":"The Thinker","volume":"24 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84834662","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-02-17DOI: 10.36615/the_thinker.v94i1.2361
J. Forsberg
Reading Graeme D. Eddie’s book – Swedish Foreign Policy, 1809–2019: A Comprehensive Modern History – is a remarkable history lesson. And don’t get me wrong, it is in no way like the boring, never-ending, tedious history lectures held by a dull teacher whotalks way too slowly; it’s something else. While being a historical review, the book is a real page turner! It’s detailed, it’s informative, yet gripping. In the current reality, where Sweden is joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and where the SwedenDemocrats, a populist right-wing party, are now the second largest party, it is relevant to look back in order to understand the present. Reading this book is an excellent start.
{"title":"Swedish Foreign Policy, 1809-2019","authors":"J. Forsberg","doi":"10.36615/the_thinker.v94i1.2361","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.36615/the_thinker.v94i1.2361","url":null,"abstract":"Reading Graeme D. Eddie’s book – Swedish Foreign Policy, 1809–2019: A Comprehensive Modern History – is a remarkable history lesson. And don’t get me wrong, it is in no way like the boring, never-ending, tedious history lectures held by a dull teacher whotalks way too slowly; it’s something else. While being a historical review, the book is a real page turner! It’s detailed, it’s informative, yet gripping. In the current reality, where Sweden is joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and where the SwedenDemocrats, a populist right-wing party, are now the second largest party, it is relevant to look back in order to understand the present. Reading this book is an excellent start.","PeriodicalId":34673,"journal":{"name":"The Thinker","volume":"31 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"90388487","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-02-17DOI: 10.36615/the_thinker.v94i1.2355
Anna-Mart Van Wyk
Sweden’s relations with the South African liberation movements date back to the 1960s, when the Swedish anti-apartheid movementarose. In addition to moral support and about $400 million dollars in financial support, Sweden became the first Western country to give official political support to the anti-apartheid movement. Such was the relationship between the African National Congress (ANC) and Sweden, that the latter became the first country outside of Africa to be visited by Nelson Mandela in 1990, after his release from decades of imprisonment. The aim of this contribution is therefore to provide a brief synopsis of the rich history of Sweden’s solidaritywith the South African liberation struggle and the role played by the Swedish youth, the Swedish antiapartheid movement, civil society, trade unions, and Olof Palme, former Swedish prime minister, who was one of the most committed allies of the liberation movements.
{"title":"Sweden Against Apartheid: A Historical Overview","authors":"Anna-Mart Van Wyk","doi":"10.36615/the_thinker.v94i1.2355","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.36615/the_thinker.v94i1.2355","url":null,"abstract":"Sweden’s relations with the South African liberation movements date back to the 1960s, when the Swedish anti-apartheid movementarose. In addition to moral support and about $400 million dollars in financial support, Sweden became the first Western country to give official political support to the anti-apartheid movement. Such was the relationship between the African National Congress (ANC) and Sweden, that the latter became the first country outside of Africa to be visited by Nelson Mandela in 1990, after his release from decades of imprisonment. The aim of this contribution is therefore to provide a brief synopsis of the rich history of Sweden’s solidaritywith the South African liberation struggle and the role played by the Swedish youth, the Swedish antiapartheid movement, civil society, trade unions, and Olof Palme, former Swedish prime minister, who was one of the most committed allies of the liberation movements.","PeriodicalId":34673,"journal":{"name":"The Thinker","volume":"89 6 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83393551","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-11-25DOI: 10.36615/the_thinker.v93i4.2203
Tlhabane Mokhine Dan Motaung
This paper probes the impact of colonial designs in the fabrication of native subjectivities, which eventuated in toxic political identities that would later undermine the post-colonial nationalist project. African history was shaped by three discursive periods: pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial. The colonisation period deformed, distorted and adulterated Africa’s pre-colonial cultural landscape—its sense of selfhood. African nationalism was a response to this ontologically debilitated condition of African personhood resulting from the violence of self-serving European colonial modernity, which created a structured subjugation of the African ‘other.’ African colonial elites at once defined and epitomised various forms of African nationalism against European incursion. However, these African modernisers failed to grasp the historicity of such enduringly baneful identity politics, and were thereby often themselves cast into the vortex of social contradictions reflective of this history. Mamdani made this observation when he stated that in kick-starting the nation-building project after independence, post-colonial elites turned their backs on the history of colonialism and thus on their own history.Instead, they modelled their political imagination on the modern European state, the result being the nationalist dream was imposed on the reality of colonially imposed fragmentation, leading to new rounds of nation-building by ethnic cleansing. Consequently, African nationalism has invariably spread across large swathes of postcolonial Africa as it degenerated into odious ethnonationalism and chauvinism. Only through a deeper historical understanding of these colonial processes of African political identification can an we begin to understand how this once glorious African nationalism regressed into a dystopian one. This article draws on history to dissect this legacy of subjective forms of African self-understanding.
{"title":"The African Nationalist Idea of Africa","authors":"Tlhabane Mokhine Dan Motaung","doi":"10.36615/the_thinker.v93i4.2203","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.36615/the_thinker.v93i4.2203","url":null,"abstract":"This paper probes the impact of colonial designs in the fabrication of native subjectivities, which eventuated in toxic political identities that would later undermine the post-colonial nationalist project. African history was shaped by three discursive periods: pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial. The colonisation period deformed, distorted and adulterated Africa’s pre-colonial cultural landscape—its sense of selfhood. African nationalism was a response to this ontologically debilitated condition of African personhood resulting from the violence of self-serving European colonial modernity, which created a structured subjugation of the African ‘other.’ African colonial elites at once defined and epitomised various forms of African nationalism against European incursion. However, these African modernisers failed to grasp the historicity of such enduringly baneful identity politics, and were thereby often themselves cast into the vortex of social contradictions reflective of this history. Mamdani made this observation when he stated that in kick-starting the nation-building project after independence, post-colonial elites turned their backs on the history of colonialism and thus on their own history.Instead, they modelled their political imagination on the modern European state, the result being the nationalist dream was imposed on the reality of colonially imposed fragmentation, leading to new rounds of nation-building by ethnic cleansing. Consequently, African nationalism has invariably spread across large swathes of postcolonial Africa as it degenerated into odious ethnonationalism and chauvinism. Only through a deeper historical understanding of these colonial processes of African political identification can an we begin to understand how this once glorious African nationalism regressed into a dystopian one. This article draws on history to dissect this legacy of subjective forms of African self-understanding. ","PeriodicalId":34673,"journal":{"name":"The Thinker","volume":"14 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-11-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81726443","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-11-25DOI: 10.36615/the_thinker.v93i4.2204
W. Mpofu
In this essay, I deploy a liberation philosophical perspective in order to understand Thabo Mbeki’s decolonial imagining of an African in the African Renaissance. It is my understanding that the African of the African Renaissance is one who has awakened to the task of undoing coloniality in the African postcolony. For instance, that an African has to declare that ‘I am an African’ in Africa, as Mbeki does, reflects the troubled and also troubling idea of being African in the African postcolony. It might seem that being human, and African in Africa, is an idea under question that must still be declared or defended. Whether one is an African or not in the postcolony is not a given, as colonialism succeeded in changing the being and belonging of Africans in Africa. Through colonialism, settlers became local in Africa and Africans became aliens in their own native territories. Colonialism, especially in its apartheid expression in South Africa,questioned the humanity of Black Africans, displaced them, and dispossessed them of their land. It is the uprooted, displaced, and dispossessed African represented in Mbeki who makes the remark that: ‘At times, and in fear, I have wondered whether I shouldconcede equal citizenship of our country to the leopard and the lion, the elephant and the springbok, the hyena, the black mamba and the pestilential mosquito.’ This dehumanised African is the subject who travels from the dystopia of colonialism to the utopia of reconciliation and a renaissance of Africa. This is the African who was caught in the tragic optimism of the liberation ‘dreamer’, but was later to concede that after the end of juridical colonialism, South Africa remained ‘two nations’ racially and socially. Even a globally celebrated democratic Constitution did not come close to solving the political and social equation, the paradox, where South Africaremains the ‘most unequal country in the world’. For the African of Mbeki’s representation and observation, the dream of liberation from colonialism collapsed into a nightmare of coloniality, and the starting point of an African renaissance is the decolonial effort todare dream and imagine another Africa and other Africans built from the ashes of the colonisers and the colonised. This essay is also an observation of the dilemma of a philosopher of liberation who was torn in between the necessity of justice for the victims of colonialism and the importance of reconciliation with the colonisers in the African postcolony.
{"title":"Thabo Mbeki’s Decolonial Idea of an African in the African Renaissance","authors":"W. Mpofu","doi":"10.36615/the_thinker.v93i4.2204","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.36615/the_thinker.v93i4.2204","url":null,"abstract":"In this essay, I deploy a liberation philosophical perspective in order to understand Thabo Mbeki’s decolonial imagining of an African in the African Renaissance. It is my understanding that the African of the African Renaissance is one who has awakened to the task of undoing coloniality in the African postcolony. For instance, that an African has to declare that ‘I am an African’ in Africa, as Mbeki does, reflects the troubled and also troubling idea of being African in the African postcolony. It might seem that being human, and African in Africa, is an idea under question that must still be declared or defended. Whether one is an African or not in the postcolony is not a given, as colonialism succeeded in changing the being and belonging of Africans in Africa. Through colonialism, settlers became local in Africa and Africans became aliens in their own native territories. Colonialism, especially in its apartheid expression in South Africa,questioned the humanity of Black Africans, displaced them, and dispossessed them of their land. It is the uprooted, displaced, and dispossessed African represented in Mbeki who makes the remark that: ‘At times, and in fear, I have wondered whether I shouldconcede equal citizenship of our country to the leopard and the lion, the elephant and the springbok, the hyena, the black mamba and the pestilential mosquito.’ This dehumanised African is the subject who travels from the dystopia of colonialism to the utopia of reconciliation and a renaissance of Africa. This is the African who was caught in the tragic optimism of the liberation ‘dreamer’, but was later to concede that after the end of juridical colonialism, South Africa remained ‘two nations’ racially and socially. Even a globally celebrated democratic Constitution did not come close to solving the political and social equation, the paradox, where South Africaremains the ‘most unequal country in the world’. For the African of Mbeki’s representation and observation, the dream of liberation from colonialism collapsed into a nightmare of coloniality, and the starting point of an African renaissance is the decolonial effort todare dream and imagine another Africa and other Africans built from the ashes of the colonisers and the colonised. This essay is also an observation of the dilemma of a philosopher of liberation who was torn in between the necessity of justice for the victims of colonialism and the importance of reconciliation with the colonisers in the African postcolony. ","PeriodicalId":34673,"journal":{"name":"The Thinker","volume":"3 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-11-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"89546684","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
京公网安备 11010802042870号
京ICP备2023020795号-1
扫码关注我们
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：