MEANING AND NATURE OF NATIONALISM

INTRODUCTION

Nationalism may be seen in different angles by different people at different periods. To the Europeans, it simply means “national feeling” as was demonstrated in the German and Italian unification in the second half of the 19th century. But in Africa, nationalism; especially in the post World War II era meant opposition to foreign or alien rule, and desire for self-government. This unit examines the meaning of nationalism, its different conceptualization according to several scholars and the factors that stimulated nationalist movements in Africa.

OBJECTIVES

At the end of unit 1, you should be able to:

• define nationalism in Africa and distinguish it from the European- based variant or form 
• understand the different classifications of nationalism 
• know the factors that influenced the growth of nationalism in Africa. 

Definitions and Conceptualizations

A discussion of the phenomenon of nationalism in Africa must begin with an attempt at first distinguishing related concepts of nation, nationality, state and nationalism. A state is a political institution while a nation is an intangible, sociological concept. A nation-state therefore, is

INTRODUCTION TO AFRICAN POLITICS

a fusion of the nation(s) into a state. Within a state, it is possible to have people of different nationalities. As a result of the legacy of colonial rule most states in Africa are multi-national. However, nationalism in Africa is far from the desire for self-determination by these different ethnic groups, rather it represents opposition to colonial subjugation and desire for self-government. Given the dominant-dominated context of colonialism, it created an awareness and consciousness among Africans to resist foreign rule, so as to put an end to the humiliation, exploitation, injustice and discrimination inherent in colonial subjugation.


Nationalism can be described as an act of political consciousness concerned primarily with achieving independence for the different African colonies from foreign rule. Nationalism is also taken to mean self-assertion against the humiliating and exploitative tendencies of colonialism. For our purpose, we can define nationalism as the patriotic sentiment or activities on the part of groups of people held together by the bonds of common experience and their assertion of their inalienable right to be free to determine their common desires.

Classifications

Some Political Scientists have described nationalism in Africa as a child of the twentieth century. James S. Coleman (1958) in particular, insisted that it is a misuse of the term to apply the expression the rise of nationalism to describe independence movements in Africa. He argues that since most African states at the terminal stage of colonial rule were not yet nations, it is misnomer to adopt the term nationalism. Coleman preferred to describe them as reactive anti-colonial movements, or movements for independence, rather than nationalist movements. He categorized these movements into three kinds. The traditionalist, the Syncretic and Modernist independence movement. We will now elaborate on each of them.

Traditionalists

The traditionalists are those immediate spontaneous movements of resistance led by the likes of Jaja of Opobo in British, and Samore Taore in French territories. European scholars writing from the European perspective, called these traditionalist as nativistic to describe the Mau Mau movement in Kenya, or the Messianic or madhistic movement of Sudan. Contrary to these views, these traditionalists offered legitimate resistance to the Europeans, when after the abolition of slave trade, they sought to penetrate Africa, using unfair trade, and later direct foreign rule. For their bravery, or in European perceptions, effrontery, Jaja of Opobo was exiled to the West Indies; Ovwerami of Benin lost his empire, and was deported to Calabar where he died. Kosoko lost the battle against the occupation of Lagos, and was later expelled to the mosquito invested town of Badagry.

Syncretism

The syncretic movements are the separatist religious movements led by Rev. James Johnson aimed at preventing the white-man from controlling the religious beliefs of the African people. These break away kind of movements from the Anglican, Methodist and Catholic churches realized that the European churches were themselves organs of colonial rule. In colonial Nigeria, we could categorise kinship groups such as the Imo State Union, Egbe Omo Oduduwa, as syncretic in form and character. According to Esedebe (1978:88) separatism began to manifest in churches in West and South African churches as from 1870’s.

As he explained, the cause of this important secession was not only opposition to European control, but also a positive desire to adapt the message of the church to the heritage of the African people. The syncretics argued that if the Queen of England was the head of the English church, so the African paramount chief must provide leadership for these break away churches. These churches rather than being center of worship became fora for political agitations. To guard against this, the Portuguese firmly restricted the entry of protestant missions into their territories because they were seen as “the advance-guard of African nationalism”.