Decoding National Identity in Africa

• In Event: Rethinking Ethnicity

Abstract

National identity in Africa is routinely viewed as underdeveloped and less important than ethnic identity. This is because most states did not follow classic forms of nation-building, such as mass schooling with nationalist content. Yet, recent survey data show that national identity across the continent is more robust than most scholars predicted. What is driving national identification in Africa? What unifies Africans around common national identity? Existing theories are not well suited to explaining this question, because factors that they see as essential, such as higher levels of development and cultural cohesion often do not exist. In this paper, I suggest a new understanding of the strength of national identity, based on the impact of political events. Drawing on around 200 original interviews with Ghanaian respondents, I highlight the role of political developments in the country rather than cultural factors in creating people’s belonging to the nation.

Author

• Dominika Koter, Colgate University