IntroductionWelcome to the Pan-Africanism portal!
Bienvenue sur le portail panafricanisme! Pan-Africanism is a worldwide movement that aims to encourage and strengthen bonds of solidarity between all indigenous peoples and diasporas of African ancestry. Based on a common goal dating back to the Atlantic slave trade, the movement extends beyond continental Africans with a substantial support base among the African diaspora in the Americas and Europe. Pan-Africanism can be said to have its origins in the struggles of the African people against enslavement and colonization and this struggle may be traced back to the first resistance on slave ships—rebellions and suicides—through the constant plantation and colonial uprisings and the "Back to Africa" movements of the 19th century. Based on the belief that unity is vital to economic, social, and political progress, it aims to "unify and uplift" people of African ancestry. (Full article...) Selected articleThe Organisation of African Unity (OAU; French: Organisation de l'unité africaine (OUA)) was established on 25 May 1963 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia with 32 signatory governments. It was disbanded on 9 July 2002 by its last chairperson, South African President Thabo Mbeki, and replaced by the African Union (AU). Some of the key aims of the OAU were to encourage political and economic integration among member states, and to eradicate colonialism and neo-colonialism from the African continent. Although it did achieve some success, there were also differences of opinion as to how that was going to be achieved. Selected biography
Molefi Kete Asante (/əˈsænteɪ/; born Arthur Lee Smith Jr.; August 14, 1942) is an African-American professor. He is a leading figure in the fields of African-American studies, African studies and communication studies. He is currently professor in the Department of Africology at Temple University, where he founded the PhD program in African-American Studies. He is president of the Molefi Kete Asante Institute for Afrocentric Studies. Selected history
Traditional African religions have faced persecution from the proponents of different ideologies. Adherents of these religions have been forcefully converted to Islam and Christianity, demonized and marginalized. The atrocities include killings, waging war, destroying of sacred places, and other atrocious actions. After the establishment of Islam, its rapid expansion and conquests displaced traditional African religions either by conversion or conquest. Traditional African religions have influenced Islam in Africa, and Islam is considered as having more commonality with traditional African religions, but conflict has occurred, especially due to Islam's monotheistic stance and the rise of Muslim reformers such as Askia. In the Senegambia region, the Serer people who held "a strong connection to their ancient religious past" became the targets of Islamic jihads and persecution from the 11th to the 19th-century resulting in the Battle of Fandane-Thiouthioune. Traditional African religions are tolerant of other gods, which allows general co-existence for multiple religions. This has been regarded by some authors to be another reason behind the rise of other religions in Africa. Most followers of traditional religions accommodated Islam during the start of its spread in Africa, but in West Africa, it was not until the coming of colonialism that Islam gained mass appeal, transforming even groups with historical animosity towards Islamic domination into Muslim communities. In many instances, conflicting groups chose to align with Muslim armies against other African communities.
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The traditional African religions (or traditional beliefs and practices of African people) are a set of highly diverse beliefs that include various ethnic religions. Generally, these traditions are oral rather than scriptural, include belief in a supreme creator, belief in spirits, veneration of the dead, use of magic and traditional medicine. Adherents of traditional religions in Sub-Saharan Africa are distributed among 43 countries and are estimated to number over 100 million. Although the majority of Africans are adherents of Christianity or Islam, African people often combine the practice of their traditional belief with the practice of Abrahamic religions. The two Abrahamic religions are widespread across Africa, though mostly concentrated in different areas. They have replaced indigenous African religions, but are often adapted to African cultural contexts and belief systems. West and Central African religious practices generally manifest themselves in communal ceremonies or divinatory rites in which members of the community, overcome by force (or ashe, nyama, etc.), are excited to the point of going into meditative trance in response to rhythmic or driving drumming or singing. One religious ceremony practiced in Gabon and Cameroon is the Okuyi, practiced by several Bantu ethnic groups. In this state, depending upon the region, drumming or instrumental rhythms played by respected musicians (each of which is unique to a given deity or ancestor), participants embody a deity or ancestor, energy or state of mind by performing distinct ritual movements or dances which further enhance their elevated consciousness. When this trance-like state is witnessed and understood, adherents are privy to a way of contemplating the pure or symbolic embodiment of a particular mindset or frame of reference. This builds skills at separating the feelings elicited by this mindset from their situational manifestations in daily life. Such separation and subsequent contemplation of the nature and sources of pure energy or feelings serves to help participants manage and accept them when they arise in mundane contexts. This facilitates better control and transformation of these energies into positive, culturally appropriate behavior, thought, and speech. Also, this practice can also give rise to those in these trances uttering words which, when interpreted by a culturally educated initiate or diviner, can provide insight into appropriate directions which the community (or individual) might take in accomplishing its goal. Selected imagesOrganisationsAll-African People's Revolutionary Party · African Society for Cultural Relations with Independent Africa · African Unification Front · African Union · African Queens and Women Cultural Leaders Network · Conseil de l'Entente · Convention People's Party · East African Community · Economic Freedom Fighters · Global Afrikan Congress · International African Service Bureau · International League for Darker People · Organisation of African Unity · Pan African Association · Pan-African Congress · Pan Africanist Congress of Azania · Rassemblement Démocratique Africain · Pan Africa Chemistry Network · Pan African Federation of Accountants · Pan-African Freedom Movement for East and Central Africa · Sahara and Sahel Observatory · UNIA-ACL · ZANU–PF
See also
Category:Pan-Africanist organizations & Category:Pan-Africanist political parties
FestivalsPublications
Films and TVAudios and videosDid you know...that the colours of the Flag of Benin (pictured) allude to the Pan-Africanist movement and pay tribute to Ethiopia, the oldest independent country in Africa?
Selected quotesIn his "Whirlwind Message", the First Message to the Negroes of the World from Atlanta Prison (10 February 1925), Marcus Garvey delivered the following message:
Pan-Africanism topicsCategoriesSelect [►] to view subcategories
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