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Race, discrimination, slavery, nationalism and citizenship in the afro-arab borderlands
Kwaa Prah, Kwesi
Kwaa Prah, Kwesi
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"This paper attempts to historically trace and raise issues concerning tensions in the Afro-Arab Borderlands, (with particular reference to the Sudan) which are generally avoided in public discussions because too many people regard these issues as sensitive and unsuitable for discussion in polite company. They are however issues which in the light of the establishment of the African Union, the implications and goals of this institution, the ideals implicit in the creation of this institution and the historical tensions in the Afro-Arab Borderlands, are matters whose discussion cannot be wished away or indefinitely postponed. We need to remind ourselves of the fact that, in the historical experience of Africa, two major forms of dominance have been nationally imposed. The first of these was the cultural and political imposition arising out of the Arab conquest of North Africa which started in the 8th century A.D. with the Hejira. The second over-lordship has arisen out of Western expansion and conquests and is of much later vintage mainly dating from the late 19th century. The conquest of North Africa by the Arabs was a slow process, which has been steady over the centuries. Apart from the political implications of conquest, perhaps even more important and in many ways more socio-culturally consequential has been the process of cultural denationalization of African communities in the face of Arab conquest and over-lordship, and the replacement of African cultural institutions by Arabic ones. Possibly the most notable and far-reaching of these cultural denationalization experiences has been the case of the Berbers/Tamasheq in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya. The culture of the Berbers/Tamasheq and the language of the people suffered subjugation and denigration from very early in the history of the Arab/African encounter. Recent conflicts, protests and demonstrations in Algeria highlight the historical plight of Berber national culture in the face of Arabization and dominance. In a news item put out on the BBC on Sunday the 22nd of July, 2001, the Algerian President Bouteflika during a visit to President Bush in the US announced that his government will give greater cultural rights to the Berber. But possibly nowhere in the Afro-Arab Borderlands is the problem of race, class and citizenship in such high tension between Arab and African (or possibly Arabized Africans and Africans) as the Sudan and Mauritania. These two countries are frequently in the news for these reasons, but indeed the problem and scenario is enacted in other countries in the region including Libya, Mali, Niger and Chad."(pg 3)
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2001-09-03
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With permission of the license/copyright holder