Customer Reviews

Pan-Africanism for Beginners (African History Series)

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I picked up this book because I wanted a simple little introduction to pan-Africanism and what I got was a diatribe. As with all too many of these 'for beginners' books, the author is an avid proponent of his/her subject and is unwilling to examine it with a critical mind. While doing a good job at laying out the history of pan-Africanism (the only reason I don't give this book one star), Sid Lemelle, Professor of History at Pomona College in California, does not bring up the big criticisms of pan-Africanism. First, like post-colonial theory, it has been and continues to be a movement all too biased towards the experiences of the African diaspora and not Africans themselves, as evidenced by whom Lemelle puts in the middle of the books's cover, namely Malcolm X. Second, many people argue that pan-Africanism ignores local African ethnic, religious and national identities in favor of an over-arching pan-African identity. Furthermore, Lemelle ignores the big debate around the concepts of 'Africa' and 'Africans', namely whether North Africa really has much in common at all with black/sub-saharan/tropical Africa and whether whites in South Africa or Asians in Uganda are Africans or not. If they are, then how can pan-Africanism have a racial component?

These are all big problems that Lemelle ignores in favor of espousing pan-Africanism. I actually believe he could have done a much better job of promoting the merits of pan-Africanism if he had tried a more even-handed approach. In the end, unfortunately, this book is too biased to be of much use to anyone.