This Book is the outcome of a long project begun thirty years ago. It is
a book on the makings of pan-Africanism through the predicaments of
being black in a world dominated by being white. The book is a tribute
and celebration of the efforts of the African-American and
African-Caribbean Diaspora who took the initiative and the audacity to
fight and liberate themselves from the shackles of slavery. It is also a
celebration of those Africans who in their own way carried the torch of
inspiration and resilience to save and reconstruct the Free Humanism of
Africa. As a story of the rise from the shackles of slavery and poverty
to the summit of Victors of their Renaissance Identity and
Self-Determination as a People, the book is the story of African refusal
to celebrate victimhood. The book also situates women as central actors
in the Pan-African project, which is often presented as an exclusively
masculine endeavour. It introduces a balanced gender approach and
diagnosis of the Women actors of Pan-Africanism which was very much
lacking. The problem of balkanisation of Africa on post-colonial
affiliations and colonial linguistic lines has taken its toll on
Africa's building of its common identity and personality. The result is
that Africans are more remote to each other in their
pigeon-hole-nation-states which put more restrictions for African
inter-mobility, coupled by education and cultural affiliations, the
communication and transportation and trading networks which are still
tied more to their colonial masters than among themselves. This book
looks into the problem of the new wave of Pan-Africanism and what
strategies that can be proposed for a more participatory Pan-Africanism
inspired by the everyday realities of African masses at home and in the
diaspora. This book is the first book of its kind that gives a
comprehensive and multidimensional coverage of Pan-Africanism. It is a
very timely and vital compendium.
