A framework for worldwide information, communication, and collaboration on African affairs.

AFRICAN IDENTITY

Alexander III of Macedon (20/21 July 356 – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great , was the most fearful warrior king of Macedon, a state in northern ancient Greece. He invaded Egypt 332 BC, where he was regarded as a liberator and was pronounced the new "master of the Universe" and son of the deity of Amun at the Oracle of Siwa Oasis in the Libyan desert. Alexander often referred to Zeus-Ammon as his true father, and subsequent made himself symbol of his divinity. Many Native Africans were enslaved and forced to worship another god. Many people fled westwards and southwards from the area. This migration can be traced to history of the Bantu people. The Greek word aphrike (Αφρική), meaning "without cold" and without horror was used largely to reference the new and seemingly endless land mass, which meant to the Greek warm and peaceful place. This was a simple interpretation from the warring Greeks experience in their crusades across Europe and Asia. African historians such as al-Hasan ibn Muhammad al-Wazzan al-Fasi (also known as Leo Africanus 1488–1554) born in Islamic Spain in the city of Granada, reiterated the etymology of indicating a land free of cold and horror. This was true in sense of the meaning of Africa. A name borne by the virtue of its nature of being a warm and peaceful place. Therefore the true identity of African should be warm and peaceful people -- were the course of their nature not been interrupted by foreign forces. This of course is a hypothesis. But the fact remains today that Africa is still warm, just no longer quite peaceful as it may have once been. So, it is not just people but also the continent that struggles to re-gain a true identity.

The problem of recognizing cultural identity has plagued people of African ancestry for a long time, not only those in the western world, but also those in Africa and elsewhere. This problem, namely, the history of Africans and their descendants being classified by outside influences, needs to be recognized as a major obstacle in the way of synergizing constituencies and faculties required for progress. There is a misconception of what it means to be African as people who are Arabic, Asian, European, especially the vast majority of the African Diaspora, often those with mixed ancestries, are excluded in the context of what is African. (See the work of Professor Ali Mazrui , Rasidi Runoko, Scholars continue to debate if the issue of African identity crisis could be resolved by genotype or phenotypes analysis. See study of Africa: Disciplinary and Interdisciplinary Encounters Volume I & II edited by Paul Tiyambe Zeleza, and several other books that address this issue at your library.

WHAT IS AFRICAN?

What is meant and understood as African can only be interpreted properly when viewed according to a historical chronology of human events. Native Africans can be viewed as the original people who are inherent to the continent of Africa, often marked by the deeply sun tanned veneer and other phenotypes which were marks of the natural phenomenon of Africa. Today, the African continent is home to many different ethnic groups and people of wide-ranging phenotypes, both indigenous and foreign to the continent. Many of these populations have diverse origins, with differing cultural, linguistic and social traits and more. Distinctions within Africa's geography, such as the varying climates across the continent, have also served to nurture diverse lifestyles among its various populations.

The people of North Africa comprise two main groups; Berber and Arabic-speaking peoples in the west and in the east. The Arabs who arrived in the seventh century introduced the Arabic language and Islam to North Africa and to many other parts of sub-Saharan. Many Semitic Phoenicians, Jews, the Iranian Alans, Greeks, Romans and Vandals settled in North Africa as well.

In the Horn of Africa, Ethiopian and Eritrean groups (like the Amhara and Tigrayans, collectively known as "Habesha") speak Semitic languages. The Oromo, Afar, Beja and Somali peoples speak Cushitic languages, but some Somali clans claim Arab descent. Sudan and Mauritania are divided between a mostly Arabized north and a Nilotic south. Nubians are a Nilo-Saharan-speaking group (though many also speak Arabic), who developed an ancient civilization in Northeast Africa.

In East Africa, some areas, particularly the island of Zanzibar and the Kenyan island of Lamu, received Arab Muslim and Southwest Asian settlers and merchants throughout the Middle Ages and in antiquity. This spawned the Swahili civilization.

Despite already having a presence in Africa since Greek and Roman times, during the sixteenth century, Europeans such as the Portuguese and Dutch began to establish trading posts and forts along the coasts of western and southern Africa. Eventually, a large number of Dutch augmented by French Huguenots and Germans settled in what is today South Africa. Their descendants, the Afrikaners and the Coloreds, are the largest European-descended groups in Africa today. In the nineteenth century, a second phase of colonization brought a large number of French and British settlers to Africa. The Portuguese settled mainly in Angola, but also in Mozambique. The Italians settled in Libya, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia. The French settled in large numbers in Algeria where they became known collectively as pieds-noirs, and on a smaller scale in other areas of North and West Africa as well as in Madagascar. The British settled chiefly in South Africa as well as the colony of Rhodesia, and in the highlands of what is now Kenya. Germans settled in what is now Tanzania and Namibia, and there is still a population of German-speaking Euro- Namibians. Smaller numbers of European soldiers, businessmen, and officials established themselves in administrative centers such as Nairobi and Dakar. Decolonization during the 1960s often resulted in the mass emigration of European-descended settlers out of Africa — especially from Algeria, Angola, Kenya and Rhodesia. However, in South Africa and Namibia, the European minority remained politically dominant after independence from Europe, and a significant population of Europeans remained in these two countries even after democracy was finally instituted at the end of the Cold War. South Africa has also become the preferred destination of white Anglo-Zimbabweans, and of migrants from all over southern Africa.

European colonization also brought sizable groups of Asians, particularly people from the Indian subcontinent, to British colonies. Large Indian communities are found in South Africa, and smaller ones are present in Kenya, Tanzania, and some other southern and east African countries. The large Indian community in Uganda was expelled by the Amin regime in 1972, though many have since returned. The islands in the Indian Ocean are also populated primarily by people of South Asian origin, often mixed with Africans and Europeans.

The Malagasy people of Madagascar are an Austronesian people, but those along the coast are generally mixed with Bantu, Arab, Indian and European origins. Malay and Indian ancestries are also important components in the group of people known in South Africa as Cape Coloreds (people with origins in two or more races and continents). In Mauritius, a tiny island country in Indian Ocean which is included in the African continent, Indian people are the majority of the population.

During the past century or so, small but economically important colonies of Lebanese and Chinese have also developed in the larger coastal cities of West and East Africa, respectively.

MIGRATION AND THE TIMELINE

Historical expeditions, slave trade in sub-Sahara Africa, and modern migration processes have brought many people of African descent across the world, and many of them have become citizens of other nations outside Africa. Often times, they mix into the population in the society that hosts them. They have children who mostly become nationals of the host countries.

People of African descent include Africans on the mainland and all shades and degrees of Africans in the African diasporas, i.e., African Americans, Afro Brits, Afro Germans, Afro Brazilian, Garifuna, Siddis, Jarawa, Sentinel, Afro Arabs, Afro Caribbean, Arigis, African diaspora in many European, the Americas and Asian countries, such as the Netherlands, France, Belgium, Uruguay, Argentina, Peru, Russia, and so on.

AV's DEFINITION OF AFRICAN DESCENT

Our definition of African transcends the ramification of race or nationality. We define African descent primarily as anyone who can trace part or all their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa at any point in time. This includes any indigene, citizen, or person that can claim or trace all or part of their ancestry as being a citizen or indigene from any country within the continent of Africa at anytime.

WHAT BEING AFRICAN IS NOT

What Being African is not

Being African is not raising fist high up in laud of black power. Being African is not wearing dashiki or kente. Being African is wearing chains around with a pendant of map of Africa or any reprenstative symbol of freedom even if they are made of gold and diamond. Bein African is not not even shoutign out loud that you are "black and proud". Being African is not to think that your ethnicity is superior to another, or your you native birthright is superior to Diaspora African heritage.

Being African is a responsibility. This responsibility is for Africa to grow safely and be equal in all world standards. The first responsibility of sharing this burden of growth and safety includes keeping self civil and contributing in any way possible in healing its entire people both at home and Diaspora. There is an eminent urge for a safer, healthier, and more prolific reconnection between Africa and its Diaspora. This also means re-cultivating the ability and capacity to reach across ethnicity and nationality for partnership and collaboration from both sides.

Being African is not yet a privilege as should be therefore many Africans people are still grappling to understand the current complex circumstances of their position and roles in the world systems of order. African people are still seeking all forms of Freedoms that is due and inalienable rights of all human beings. Freedom simply means to be free from dominion. Many would argue correctly that African nations attained independence from colonialism and Slavery was abolished long ago. However, the effect of colonialism and the institution of slavery have left a stigma that many Native Africans would argue has hampered their proper development. In fact, many still believe that colonization and slavery still exist today but are in more subtle and sophisticated forms. This type of discussions is frequent among scholars in African Studies.

THE 8 FREEDOMS OF SELF DETERMINATION

The 8 Freedoms for self determination

1. Freedom of thoughts and consensus
2. Freedom of speech and expression
   
3. Freedom from need
4. Freedom from fear
5. Freedom of worship
6. Freedom to love and be loved in return
7. Freedom to garner own cultural asset (self representation/ self determination/ self governance/ own lingua franca)
8. Freedom of movement in the world
   

"Freedom has its life in the hearts, the actions, the spirit of men and so it must be daily earned and refreshed - else like a flower cut from its life-giving roots, it will wither and die." - Dwight D. Eisenhower

"For what avail the plough or sail, or land or life, if freedom fail?"

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Freedom is not something that anybody can be given; Freedom is something that people take and people are as free as they want to be." - James Arthur Baldwin

WHAT DOES IT MEANS TO BE AFRICAN?

what does it means to be African in the real sense? Is it a spiritual, a course, a journey, a deep sense of hope of healing, reconciliation, or a birthright based inclination. Is it a responsibility for just Africans, or for all humanity to define what it means to be African. Africa has become home for many foreign cultures that have developed a secondary African heritage that is due and undeniable in their respective sovereignty. However, many people from other cultures seem to reserve the option to be or not to be African. In fact, they have this choice and many non Native-African heritage persons born in Africa often opt for the other opportunistic heritage when presented with the choice. This is not completely true in all cases. South Africans of European heritages are very proud Africans. Often because they have made a home there. Meaning that, many cities in South Africa are gradually looking more like European cities -- not only because of the available infrastructural standard, but in terms of forming a new culture. A culture that is South African, but not exactly African. Similar trend can be seen all over Southern Africa and in all other regions of Africa. Not just the European influence but the Arabic, Indian, Chinese, and so on. The point is that all these Diaspora cultures in Africa mostly maintain their own original bearings. This is why many North African countries are in the Arab League.

Similarly, Native Africans are scattered around the world today due to one reason or the other. They have mixed with different cultural heritages, assumed different nationalities, and have been exposed to different values around the world. With the diversity of African people continuously growing larger, many people suffer from chronic identity crisis. And many more are quick to denounce their African heritage. This is one of the reasons why it is important to promote Africa.

The good news today is that the world is realizing that each culture is blessed with a gift for the whole world; that we are all responsible to help each culture recognize its cultural endowment and how to share it fairly with the world. Each culture holds a key to enlightenment. Therefore unique cultural identity should be an asset for growth rather than a stigma for crises. Since Africa is a continent made of so many cultures, it is impossible to have one particular culture represent the continent. However, Africans everywhere share certain virtues in common. Since Africa's self development was interrupted, it would make sense that African values be properly redeveloped to reflect the challenges, strengths, and civilization of its diverse people both in Africa and its Diaspora because only then can it attain equal measure on global standard. But this may remain a challenge if Africans do not desire, required measure, or awareness to claim the 8 freedoms. One must want it more than life itself.