One of the most important and exciting but hidden voices in African literary studies is that of Prof. Denis Epko, a Nigerian scholar who proposed the idea of post-Africanism in 1995, refining it ever since. In a 2010 piece entitled "From Negritude to Post-Africanism," he gives a comprehensive description of post-Africanism, including the following:
"Post-Africanism moves away from a culture of anxiety about what the West thinks of us to a pragmatic confidence that negative images of Africa will be removed not by ideological blackmail or mimicries of the latest Western fad but by the demonstration of our competence in making modernity work for us here. No a priori racial dignity or African pride can do better than successfully manipulate modernity’s tools to transform Africa into a liveable, workable human space."
Stating why post-Africanism is needed in our time, he shows how nativistic ideologies of the past have not worked. He writes:
"The neurosis of Afrocentricity became pervasive in the formulation and execution of political systems, economic policies and technological development plans, all culminating in the 1980 document The African Path to Development, dubbed the Lagos plan. The ethos of Africanity, having given rise to a meta-politics of cultural specificity, placed Africa on an unworkable path but, to be sure an African path, gave it an unworkable democracy but an African democracy, an unworkable socialism but an African socialism, etc. Thus, under the cover of a compulsory Africanity, some cultural nationalists went straight back to the archaic tribal past and misused it to furnish non-Eurocentric formulae for Africanising modernity. Africanised modernity in the hands of psychotics like Mobutu Séssé Seko, Idi Amin, Jean-Bédel Bokassa, Gmassingbé Eyadéma to mention but the most colourful, became the abattoir for disposing of the last remnants of the heritage of modernity in Africa, including the state, the economy, reason and humanity. Many of the states formerly ruled by African cultural nationalists have never recovered from the consequences of these dangerous myths."
Prof. Epko's voice needs to be heeded in contemporary Africa. It is a surprise that so little is known of his proposal.
1 comment:
When Dr. Ekpo proposes an ideology that completely disparages everything African and calls slavery, colonialism, and the exploitation of Africa and Africans by the West acts of "divine providence", then it is hard to carry other people along. When Dr. Ekpo proposes "de-Africanizing" (????) ourselves in order to progress, I ask if the West had to "de-Westernize" itself for the same purpose. Perhaps, Dr. Ekpo's proposal is still too crude and needs further refinement - a refinement that includes a balance of approach.
Thanks.
Unyierie Idem, Ph.D
Post a Comment