Reclaiming spotless African identities

The question of “identity” of one sort or another will, I suppose, continue to be a complex as well as a contentious one. It’s been said that people are strengthened by a knowledge and appreciation of their cultures. And the word “culture” is used here in its broadest, if not fully definable sense.

Especially where there has been a cultural hiatus of one sort or another, there appears to be something of an imperative to attempt that nostalgic journey down memory lane — presumably in the hope that, “Memory retrieved could result in paradise regained.” In the case of societies where history has decreed that different strands of humanity — (including “those divided at the vein”) with their different cultural backgrounds, affinities and, indeed, aspirations — occupy the same geographical space, it’s incumbent on the different groups to develop a healthy respect for the “cultural baggages” of others. It’s advisable that the evolutionary process be allowed to produce mutually acceptable modus vivendi which could result in a “melding” rather than “melting” of cultures. African-American journalist Keith B Richburg spent three years travelling in Africa, seeking answers to “the chaos sweeping the continent of his ancestors.” To cut a long story short, Richburg appeared to have experienced some sort of “cultural shock,” which led him to affirm with a rhetorical question, “Is this my country and are they my people?” Naturally, he drew the fire of the Afrocentrics. But that’s another story, another time.

Voicing a somewhat different perspective the charismatic African-American minister Rev Leon Sullivan cried out at an “African-American Summit” to encourage investments in Africa, “This is a call for African-Americans to wake up and help our homeland (Africa), as the Poles help Poland, the Irish help Ireland and the Jews help Israel.” Rev Sullivan further admonished, “It is time that African-Americans stop talking about black pride, black power and shaking fists. It’s time to get together to help ourselves at home and to help in Africa. We complain too much.” This “black identity” and identification with “Mother Africa” probably goes as far back as Bob Marley’s “Buffalo Soldier, who was stolen from Africa and has, since arrival, been striving for survival.” Understandably, there is this yearning for “a home, sweet home” to replace the haunted void and darkness of the experience of slavery. More than that, the quest for an African Utopia must be the corollary to refurbishing “a besmirched and tainted” image, reclaiming an erstwhile dignity and locating the African psyche outside the ambit of self-diminution and self-contempt. There appears to be a need in the so-called African Diaspora to reverse the tormented feelings of inferiority that have been, wittingly or otherwise, associated with things that are identifiably African.

The pursuit of “an African identity” should not be seen as a threat to anyone or a catalyst for divisiveness in a multicultural setting. In fact, it can be seen as a way of dealing with the “memories”, without being consumed by them. Ironically, in Africa itself the tribal identity seems to supersede the elusive “African identity.” Mayo Angelo averred that, “... the descendants of slaves are filled with self-loathing and doubt.” The shackles may be off but psychologically, some still remain as “caged birds.” According to Bob Marley, “Only you can emancipate yourself from mental slavery.” Marley’s exhortation is akin to the local version, “Children of the darkness, come out into the light.” The quest for an African identity is not so much a question of “colour” per se but “a return” to ancestral roots and arguably, a “spiritual recrudescence.” The popular notion that the slaves were just a bunch of primitive people or savages with no culture or value systems appears to have been grossly mistaken and probably fabricated to justify the inhuman treatment meted out to the slaves by their masters and, on occasion, mistresses. Interestingly, the institution of slavery dehumanised the masters and mistresses as well. According to Gad Heuman, “All through the Americas, slaves resisted the imposition of European culture or incorporated it within their traditional African practices. In the process, they retained significant parts of their African heritage.

The African influences in language, song, dance and religion are manifestations of the survival of African patterns of thought and behaviour and evidence that the slaves did not supinely accept the white man’s view of the world but clung to aspects of their own African culture or adapted to the demands of their current situation. Their folk tales and songs constituted significant parts of the slave’s culture. According to Neuman and others, they helped the slaves develop survival strategies, as well as provided them with metaphorical victories over their white masters. John Blassingame suggested that their folk tale heroes were usually depicted as the small tricksters (weaker animals equated with the slaves) who occasionally defeated the largest animals (representative of the masters). Both American President Abraham Lincoln and Jamaican political activist and Black Power advocate Marcus Garvey favoured the mass physical repatriation of blacks to Africa. Lincoln thought that it might be a possible solution to the slavery problem in the US. Garvey had his own ambitious dream of establishing a “Black empire.” Liberia, I believe, represents the partial implementation of this experiment. That probably explains why Liberians feel a certain kinship with America and welcome US intervention, waving US flags. They’re clearly not “African-Americans,” although they see themselves as “American-Africans.”