Les poseuses de bombes pendant la Guerre d’Algérie. De gauche à droite: Samia Lakhdari, Zohra Drif, Djamila Bouhired et Hassiba Ben Bouali
In the 19th century, books in the west were often published in weekly segments in journals and newspapers. Readers awaited each new instalment and the discussions that followed eagerly. Pigeonhole is a new publishing platform aiming to revive this communal spirit of reading.
One of the series you can read on their platform at present is Letters From Africa, which over the course of ten weeks, publishes weekly dispatches from four writers about everyday things in their cities: family, fun, the daily commute, education, sexism, ethnic tensions, the arts and corruption, as well as on-the-ground updates on the Nigerian and Egyptian elections.
Additionally, Letters From Africa provides readers with a selection of weekly extra content, of which my article titled “Why haven’t you heard of Adelaide Casely-Hayford?” on Pigeonhole, published today, is in full below.
According to ‘Google Images’, the front-figures of pan-African leadership are Kwame Nkrumah, Malcolm X, Steven Bantu Biko, Frantz Fanon, Wole Soyinka, Nelson Mandela, Muammar Gaddafi, Haile Selassie, George Padmore, Walter Rodney, Patrice Lumumba and Marcus Garvey.
This despite the fact that Google – thanks to its cookies (or something) – usually seems to know to include some feministic results in my searches. On this occasion it is crystal clear: the image of pan-Africanism according to Google is unquestionably male.
But, however salient Google is in shaping today’s knowledge, let’s not take it as an authority on the matter (nor the similar Wikipedia search that I did). And by the way, the matter in the article is the conspicuous absence of women in the pan-African discourse. So here is Dzodzi Tsikata, vice president of Africa’s premier, pan-African social science research organisation, the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA), writing in Feminist Africa. She says:
It is well known that women were active in the pan-African movement and in the anti-colonial struggle, that we made substantial contributions and faced many challenges working in male-dominated movements. We have been able to do this in spite of having to survive all the constraints of our male-dominated societies. We need to restore women – those on the continent as well as the better-known women of the African diaspora – to their rightful place in the pantheon of pan-African leaders.
As Tsikata knows, it is going to be a hard-won battle. While most who describe themselves as pan-Africanists are familiar with the aforementioned male leaders, fewer know about the work of pan-African leaders such as Charlotte Maxeke, Albertina Sisulu, Una Marson, Djamila Bouhared, Mable Dove Danquah, Margaret Ekpo, Ida B Wells, Amy Ashwood Garvey, Josina Machel, Wambui Otieno and Adelaide Casely-Hayford. Moreover, if and when people discover the work of these women, they simultaneously assign them to the feminist cause, which often means they forget about their work as pan-Africanists.
In other words, because women (such as those listed above) campaigned against inequality, not only as it manifests between Africa and the West, but also as it manifests between African men and women themselves, their leadership is nevertheless omitted from the larger pantheon of pan-African thinking.
To use a contemporary example, consider Winnie Madikizela-Mandela who is better known for her marriage to the late ANC leader, Nelson Mandela, than for the pan-African leader that she is. There is no denying that Winnie’s political career has been shaped by her relationship with Nelson Mandela, but her struggle was not the side dish of his struggle. Whatever one thinks of her political strategies – past or present – there is no denying that she made sacrifices for the liberation struggle that every (pan)African benefits from.
There are three related reasons why women are erased from the pan-African leadership canon as I see it. Firstly, because all female pan-African leaders are also feminist leaders – once you resist tyranny from one source, you automatically resist it from another. Secondly, opposition to male tyranny disturbs those who view privilege as a male birthright, and thirdly – consequently – chauvinistic pan-Africanists use manipulative strategies to obscure “the woman question,” as they depreciatingly refer to feminism as.
This is a dangerous misconception. The feminist question is an essential part of pan-African struggle, but is still the Achilles Heel of pan-Africanism. To liberate Africans from Eurocentric dominance, it is also necessary to liberate them from the resultant patriarchy, scientific assumptions, legal inferences and Western moral code that has been so fervently incorporated into African society.
The key purpose of a united Africa is to build a strong frontier against foreign meddling in African affairs and to encourage self-reliance. Pan-Africanism seems the best tool for realising that goal. However, it is widely accepted – in theory – that Africans countries will not meet this objective lest women are involved in the process. And yet, as pan-Africanism stubbornly remains a male dominant ideology in practice, we must bring ourselves to ask whether, and how, it truly can lead toward its own aspirations. Such a task is intricate, and not accomplished in one sitting, but it is worth doing. Here’s a start – Google Adelaide Casely-Hayford.
Cheri Ann says
Thanks for writing this article. I recently decided to make it a point to read more writings from or about Black women leaders/historical figures because the male dominance in Pan-Africanism rhetoric or any other Black-centric movements/philosophies was really getting irritating after awhile. Amy Ashwood Garvey is particularly interesting to me because here the hailed leader of the Pan-African movement- Marcus Garvey- was married to a feminist, the very thing Pan-African men abhor. And I do mean abhor. I have never heard any of them acknowledge this fact about Amy Ashwood Garvey, if they mention her at all. So, I say all this to say that Black women must put in the work to do the research on Black women leaders. We have to give them that honor the way we’re expected to do for the male leaders. It is part of our collective legacy as Black women and we do ourselves a disservice by being spoon fed information from men or from a solely male perspective. Yes, these men were important but Black liberation does not begin and end solely around men.
James Chikonamombe says
You got me there…of the African feminists mentioned by CODESRIA’s Dzodzie Tsikata I was only familiar with three: Josina Machel, Ida B Wells & Albertina Sisulu. Blame patriarchy and the legacy of our colonial heritage for that shocking ignorance (for a self-described militant pan-Africanist).
I was taught about the English suffragettes in Secondary School (in 80s Zimbabwe) but very little of pioneering women from my own continent. We are the products of our environment and historical condition and so it’s up to our present-day African “thought-leaders” (in whatever capacities they hold) to incalculate the female side of Pan-Africanism into the general discourse.
Beth says
Ida B Wells was an American feminists. I think that would also make her a western feminists and therefore part of the western moral code. Ida was born a slave and a women yet the western society she was apart did much more for her than many women even today.
Shayla Monroe says
If Ida B. Wells was simply an “American feminist” then why was she asked to march in the back of the Women’s Suffrage march of 1913? I think it is a gross distortion of the history of American feminism to lump Ida B. Wells into a movement that never saw her as an equal peer. There is an entire history that you might not be aware of in which “Western feminism” did not and does not address the needs, concerns and causes of Black women or women of color who happened to be born in the West.
Beth says
I’m not sure I understand what your definition of American is. However, if there is any chance that you might be equating American with a certain racial/ethnic group then you need to understand that Ida B. Wells might not have been a white feminist but she still was an American/ Western feminist. She was excluded from a certain group of American/western feminists who did not and does not address the needs of people like her, but that does not mean she wasn’t American. As far as I’m concerned, she’s about as American as they come.
Matthew Lane says
Shayla feminism doesn’t even address the needs, concerns and causes of most white women, as it’s not an equality movement, its a special interest group.
GRAND MASTER SEN$Ei {{-_-}}™ says
There is no such thing as Pan-African feminism. It’s an oxymoron. Feminism was started by white supremacist groups. {{-_-}}
Matthew Lane says
“Sexism is pan-Africanism’s Achilles heel”
No the Achilles heel of pan-Africanism is that pan-Africanism doesn’t exist. Pan-Africanism as a concept relies on Africa being a nation, or a mono-culture, which it isn’t. Africa is a series of autonomous nation states, all with there own extensive history, culture & world views.
Konza City in Kenya for instances is very different from Johannesburg in South Africa, which is very different from Egypt, or Casablanca in Morocco.
That & only that is the Achilles heel of pan-Africanism: Its an impossible concept, with no real reason to exist. But most of all it dumbs down the many cultures of Africa into a dumb cartoon version of Africa, doing the many cultures of Africa a disservice.
African scientist says
I think your title is a bit misleading – after reading your post, I still don’t see how Panafricanism, as a political and economic ideology, is ‘sexist’, apart from the fact that its most popularized leaders are males, and perhaps some have been sexist as well. Yes, the influential female Panafricanist fighters require the recognition and leadership they deserve. Yes, we need to abolish sexism that is adversely rampant in Africa. But we, as Africans, must also keep in mind the Eurocentric origins of modern feminism (as well as other ‘rights’ ideas) and be cautious of its subtle Eurocentric intonations that can be used to annihilate afrocentric world views.
I believe that Panafricanism is the best ideological tent for the justice and inequality that all men and women of Africa deserve, regardless of ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, etc in this globalized world. And it is capable of accommodating all other rights issues in Africa.