Africanity And The Politics Of African Xenophobia: A Study Of Two Parallels

The search for sustainable home-made solutions to both internal and external challenges especially the colonialist and neocolonialist epistemologies as well as the Eurocentric construction of African history that Africa is faced with has, in part, led to the call and coining of the concept of Africanity. While this call has, on several occasions, been racially discredited by the West, it has now assumed a pivotal space in Africa’s developmental agenda. Again, while efforts geared towards the re-awakening of the consciousness and belief in the African Indigenous system and its capacity to spearhead the much desired goal of Africa’s development continue to be intensified, the recent manifestations of the xenophobic attitudes in Africa now negates the spirit of Africanity and the goal of a united Africa, consequently posing a major hindrance to Africa’s development. Findings have however shown that the concept and propagation of Africanity in the wake of the xenophobic experience in Africa is largely paradoxical. It has been observed that Africans are equally neck-deep in what this concept is set out to achieve. As a corrective response to the racist and sexist ontology of the West, it has paradoxically failed to illuminate the true Africanness of Africans in contemporary racist, sexist and xenophobic Africa. Consequently, this paper concludes that the whole concept of Africanity in contemporary Xenophobic Africa is paradoxical. It can however turn out to be a reality only when the continent is eventually cleansed from the pathologies the concept is set out to achieve.