Pan-Africanism and the African diaspora in Europe 1

Abstract

The Routledge Handbook of Pan-Africanism provides an international, intersectional, and interdisciplinary overview of, and approach to, Pan-Africanism, making an invaluable contribution to the ongoing evolution of Pan-Africanism and demonstrating its continued significance in the 21st century.The handbook features expert introductions to, and critical explorations of, the most important historic and current subjects, theories, and controversies of Pan-Africanism and the evolution of black internationalism. Pan-Africanism is explored and critically engaged from different disciplinary points of view, emphasizing the multiplicity of perspectives and foregrounding an intersectional approach. The contributors provide erudite discussions of black internationalism, black feminism, African feminism, and queer Pan-Africanism alongside surveys of black nationalism, black consciousness, and Caribbean Pan-Africanism. Chapters on neo-colonialism, decolonization, and Africanization give way to chapters on African social movements, the African Union, and the African Renaissance. Pan-African aesthetics are probed via literature and music, illustrating the black internationalist impulse in myriad continental and diasporan artists' work.Including 36 chapters by acclaimed established and emerging scholars, the handbook is organized into seven parts, each centered around a comprehensive theme: • Intellectual origins, historical evolution, and radical politics of Pan-Africanism • Pan-Africanist theories • Pan-Africanism in the African diaspora • Pan-Africanism in Africa • Literary Pan-Africanism • Musical Pan-Africanism • The contemporary and continued relevance of Pan-Africanism in the 21st centuryThe Routledge Handbook of Pan-Africanism is an indispensable source for scholars and students with research interests in continental and diasporan African history, sociology, politics, economics, and aesthetics. It will also be a very valuable resource for those working in interdisciplinary fields, such as African studies, African American studies, Caribbean studies, decolonial studies, postcolonial studies, women and gender studies, and queer studies.

On Conceptualising African Diasporas in Europe

“…Such socio-political Black European collectivism may be seen as a form of pragmatic Pan-Africanism, in line with the practical philosophy of common struggle of the canonical Pan-African conferences in Europe 1900-1945(McEachrane 2020. It is a form of collectivism that sets aside caricatures of Pan-Africanism as wedded to racial and cultural essentialism and a joint Black African identity.…”

“…There are some African diaspora studies on socio-political forms of Black European collective-making that are not defined by identity and culture, but joint socio-political conditions (e.g. McEachrane 2020McEachrane , 2021Thompson 2020;Mudimbe-Boyi 2012). For instance, Elisabeth Mudimbe-Boyi (2012: 21-22) speaks of a frequently self-designated "Black France," which is multinational, multicultural, transcontinental, even multicolor and does not represent a homogenous block, but instead an assemblage of micro societies.…”

Malcolm X, Pan-Africanism, and the Organization of African Unity: Appealing to Shepherds on Behalf of Their Lost Sheep at the 1964 OAU Summit

“…This may reflect what Adi meant when he argued that “After 1945, it can be said that Pan-Africanism returned home to the African continent in the sense that its focus was much more directed to the liberation and unification of the African continent” (Adi, 2018, 222). In agreement with Adi, Michael McEachrane (2020) adds that “after 1945 the core philosophy of the Pan-African Congresses 1900 to 1945 lost its political force. Pan-Africanism took a ‘continental turn’ and went from being race-based and broadly internationalist to mostly an African affair” (p. 239).…”

“…African countries categorized in collectives such as the Brazzaville and Monrovia groups were able to come together on May 25, 1963, and have their Heads of State sign the Charter of the Organization of African Unity (Padelford, 1964). Many scholars have pointed out that the main emphasis of the Charter was to protect nation-state sovereignty (Grilli, 2020; Martin, 2013; McEachrane, 2020). Emperor Haile Selassie admitted this much in a speech reflecting on the document.…”