Return to the Source: The Language of Pan-Africanism During the 1960s, the African Diaspora was rejuvenated by what Ronald Walters calls the ‘new’ or ‘modern’ Pan-Africanist movements (Walters 1993). Walters argues that the independence of African countries led to a re-evaluation of blackness in the United States. African American youth began to explore their cultural heritage in Africa and to adopt a Black/Pan-African identity. In September 1970 Imamu Amiri Baraka convened the Congress of African Peoples (CAP) which he linked to the long tradition of Pan-African congresses going back to the London conference of 1900 (Baraka 1972). He was one of the new black nationalists who were redefining Black identity in the Diaspora. The Congress of African Peoples was an expression of this Pan-Africansensibility in the Diaspora. The theme of the congress was ‘Unity Without Uniformity’ bringing together activists and legislators of disparate ideological orientations. An ‘ideological statement’ adopted by the delegates on 6 September asserted that ‘all black people are Africans’, and that ‘as Africans, we are bound together Racially, Historically, Culturally, Politically and Emotionally’. The statement focused on the need to develop a program to ensure unified action in the Pan-African world. To achieve this unity the ideological statement outlined the ‘Four Ends of Black Power’: (1) self-determination and the development of alternative political and economic institutions; (2) self-sufficiency through cooperative economics (UJAMAA); (3) self-respect by building a global revolutionary culture; (4) and acceptance of the need for self-defence Kiswahili and the Kwanzaa MOVEMENT It is no surprise that African American activists chose Kiswahili as the languageof contact with Africa. Kiswahili was chosen for Kwanzaa celebrations, says Maulana Karenga (1997:1), in an attempt to ‘create, recreate and circulate African culture as an aid to building community, enriching black consciousness, and reaffirming the value of cultural grounding for life and struggle’. At the heart of the Kwanzaa celebrations of community and cultural heritage, are seven principles based on Mwalimu Julius Nyerere’s philosophy of Ujamaa. These seven principles, or Nguzo Saba, are taught and discussed in Kiswahili. They are: Umoja (unity), Kujichagulia (self-determination), Ujima (collective work and responsibility), Ujamaa (cooperative economics), Nia (purpose), Kuumba (creativity) and Imani (faith). In addition to the seven principles, the Kwanzaa celebrations include several symbols for each principle and the use of Kiswahili for greeting and rituals during the celebration. Kwanzaa is based on a creative cultural synthesis of continental African and African Diasporic cultures. The continental African elements are syncretic in that they are a synthesis of various cultural values and practices from different African peoples across the continent
Posted on: Sun, 27 Jul 2014 23:39:52 +0000