National Identity and State Formation in Africa. Группа авторов

the leadership of Manuel Castells (a Permanent Visiting Fellow of STIAS) and Bernard Lategan (the Founding Director of STIAS).

      STIAS promotes high-level, innovative and interdisciplinary research (for more details, see https://www.stias.ac.za). For this project, a group of twelve experts were invited to explore the contradictory dynamics of globalization and identity and how this interaction is reshaping Africa in the twenty-first century. The result is a highly original book offering insights with historical, social, political, conceptual and methodological implications.

      The Editors would like to thank

       The contributors for their expertise and their constructive and open discussions in the best tradition of intellectual pursuit.

       STIAS and especially its Director, Professor Edward Kirumira, for the conducive work environment of the Institute and for the generous support of both the project and the publication.

       Polity Press and especially Professor John Thompson for their highly professional service and support.

       Manuel Castells and Bernard Lategan Barcelona and Stellenbosch

       March 2020

Contributors

      Prof. Carlson Anyangwe, Adjunct Professor of International and Human Rights Law, Nelson Mandela School of Law, University of Fort Hare, formerly Rector of the Butterworth Campus, Walter Sisulu University, South Africa

      Prof. Manuel Castells, Wallis Annenberg Chair, University of Southern California

      Mary de Haas, Honorary Research Associate, School of Law, University of KwaZulu-Natal

      Prof. Albert Grundlingh, Emeritus Professor, Department of History, Stellenbosch University

      Marizanne Grundlingh, Lecturer, Varsity College, Cape Town

      Prof. Bernard Lategan, Founding Director, STIAS and Emeritus Professor, Stellenbosch University

      Prof. Francis B. Nyamnjoh, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Cape Town

      Prof. Eghosa E. Osaghae, Tenured Professor of Comparative Politics, University of Ibadan, Nigeria

      Dr Jabulani Sithole, Director, Mzala Nxumalo Centre, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa

      Dr Danelle van Zyl-Hermann, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, University of Basel and Research Fellow, University of the Free State

      Prof. Samson S. Wassara, Director, Institute of Peace, Development and Security Studies (IPDSS), University of Juba, South Sudan

      Prof. Bahru Zewde, Emeritus Professor of History, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia

Abbreviations

ANCAfrican National CongressANCYLANC Youth LeagueAWBAfrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (Afrikaner Resistance Movement)AUAfrican UnionBADBantu Affairs DepartmentBCBefore ChristBDPBotswana Democratic PartyBPPBotswana People’s PartyCEOChief Executive OfficerCERDCommittee for the Elimination of Racial DiscriminationCNCChief Native CommissionerCODESAConvention for a Democratic South AfricaCODESRIACouncil for the Development of Social Science Research in AfricaCOPECongress of the PeopleCOSAGConcerned South Africa GroupCPConservative PartyCPAComprehensive Peace AgreementCPSACommunist Party of South AfricaDADemocratic AllianceDCDistrict CommissionerDOPDeclaration of PrinciplesDUPDemocratic Unionist PartyECEthiopian Calendar (seven/eight years later than Gregorian Calendar)ECOWASCommission of the Economic Community of West African StatesELFEritrean Liberation FrontELMEritrean Liberation MovementEPLFEritrean People’s Liberation FrontEPRAEthiopian People’s Liberation ArmyEPRDFEthiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic FrontEPRPEthiopian People’s Revolutionary PartyFAKFederation of Afrikaans Cultural OrganisationsGNUGovernment of National UnityGoSSGovernment of Southern SudanHECHigh Executive CouncilHLPHigh-Level PanelICSSInterim Constitution of South SudanICUIndustrial and Commercial Workers UnionIFPInkatha Freedom PartyIGADIntergovernmental Authority on DevelopmentILOInternational Labour OrganizationIMFInternational Monetary FundITIngonyama TrustITAIngonyama Trust ActKADUKenyan African Democratic UnionKANUKenyan African National UnionKLAKwaZulu Legislative AssemblyKZNKwaZulu-NatalKZPKwaZulu PoliceMa’ison (Amharic)All-Ethiopia Socialist MovementMCPMalawi Congress PartyMPMember of ParliamentMWUMineworkers’ UnionNABANTUKOPNatal Bantu Co-operative SocietyNADNative Affairs DepartmentNATONorth Atlantic Treaty OrganizationNBTUNatal Bantu Teachers’ UnionNEUMNon-European Unity MovementNGONon-governmental organisationNICNatal Indian CongressNMCNative Military CorpsNPNational PartyNPANational Prosecuting AuthorityNUPNational Unionist PartyNZRFUNew Zealand Rugby Football UnionOAUOrganisation of African UnityOFSOrange Free StateOLFOromo Liberation FrontONLFOgaden National Liberation FrontOPDOOromo People’s Democratic OrganisationPACPan Africanist CongressRdCRépublique du CamerounSACOSSouth African Council of SportSACTUSouth African Congress of Trade UnionsSADCSouthern African Development CommunitySANUSudan African National UnionSAPSouth African PoliceSARFUSouth African Rugby Football UnionSARUSouth African Rugby UnionSCSouthern CameroonsSPLM/ASudan People’s Liberation Movement/ArmySSUSudan Socialist UnionSTIASStellenbosch Institute for Advanced StudyTCRSSTransitional Constitution of the Republic of South SudanTICTransvaal Indian CongressTLSATeachers’ League of South AfricaTPLFTigray/Tegrean People’s Liberation FrontUDFUnion Defence ForceUDFUnited Democratic FrontUFPUnited Federal PartyUKUnited KingdomUNUnited NationsUNIPUnited National Independent PartyUNDPUnited Nations Development ProgrammeUSUnited StatesUTPUnited Tanganyika PartyZARSouth African Republic/TransvaalZulu SocietyZulu Language and Cultural Society

Chapter 1 Introduction: Identity, Networks and State Formation in Africa

       Manuel Castells and Bernard Lategan

      The contradictory dynamics reshaping our world in the twenty-first century are characterized by the relationship between globalization and identity. On the one hand, the core activities that define the economy, technology and geopolitical power are organized around a global network of glocal networks. This is the case for financial markets, international trade, multinational manufacturing, advanced business services, research and technology, military strategies, media production and distribution, and internet communication. On the other hand, historically rooted cultural identities, at the source of the creation of meaning, are stronger than ever everywhere, as a counterpart to the global flows of capital and communication that attempt to overwhelm the specificity of every human community, to merge them in a global culture that ultimately rationalizes the domination of certain values, multinational economic actors and political institutions in an interconnecting network of local and global hierarchies. To no avail. Deprived of their ability to exercise control over global forces, people around the world retreat into their own values, asserting their identity and using whatever means available to them to claim their autonomy vis-à-vis global networks that embody domination under the cover of instrumentality. In doing so, they are also mobilizing their energies to maximize their interest in the interconnecting global and local hierarchies in which they find themselves.

The world in the twenty-first century is dominated by conflicts of identity: religious, national, territorial, racial, ethnic, age, gender, ideological and otherwise. The failure to recognize the essential role of identity in structuring social life creates a key epistemological obstacle to understanding our world. The ideology of the Enlightenment (which recognizes identity only in the categorization of its opposites) that refuses to see identity as the source of self-definition, in favour of the abstract construction of the citizen, defined by the state, leads to intellectual dead ends. Even if we do not like the primacy of identity, we must acknowledge and deal with it as social scientists and philosophers.

      This fundamental development can be observed everywhere, not just in the previously dominated/colonized areas of the world, but also in the United