Identity Construction at OAU Summit and its Implications on the African Union today

• In Event: Race and Identity Making Past and Present

Description for Program

As a social construct with multiple facets and in the sense of belonging to a group, identity is one of the most compelling phenomena of contemporary concerns (De Fina, 2011; Leve, 2011). The way a group articulates a sense of identity usually depends on its position and integration within globalised networks, internal political structures, history among others (Tormey, 2006). Group members collectively discover and define who they are (Jaspal & Cinnirella, 2011; Edu-Buandoh, 2016; Edu-Buandoh & Nkansah, 2018). Individuals or groups use language to construct identity for themselves and others. Using the social identity theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1979) and corpus-assisted method, this paper seeks to explore identity construction in ‘Speeches and Statements Made at the First OAU Summit’, an African Union document open to the public. The thrust of the paper is that OAU identity has strong implications on the African Union identity today as it seeks to promote unity and solidarity of African states, sustainable development, and international cooperation. Much as identity basically evolves in the course of time, the African Union has dropped some details of the OAU identity and added others to fit into the globalised world today.

Author

• Clara Asare-Nyarko, University of Cape Coast