Nationalism and National Projects in Southern Africa: New Critical Reflections
This book could not have materialised without financial support from the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa. Through the Knowledge Interchange and Collaboration Programme (KIC) financial support, the editors were able to organise a two-day roundtable workshop in March 2012 for nine developing researchers belonging to the Africa Decolonial Research Network (ADERN). They all presented their draft chapters and benefited from the constructive criticism by three senior academics from the University of Witwatersrand, University of South Africa and University of New England. The book project worked as a useful medium for mentorship of a number of developing scholars who are publishing for the first time. We also wish to thank the contributors for their commitment to the book project. Our appreciation goes to the Africa Institute of South Africa (AISA), particularly to the Director of Publications, Mr Solani Ngobeni, who accepted our book proposal and worked closely with us throughout the making of this book up to its publication. The two external reviewers' comments enabled us as editors and the chapter contributors to revise and strengthen the manuscript before its final publication. As editors, our families have been an important source of support as we worked on this project. The authors and the editors take full responsibility for the contents of this volume.
Conclusion: The Enduring Legacy of Nationalism and Relevance of National Project in the Twenty-First Century
Nationalism has persisted as one of the most powerful, consequential and overdetermined forces in contemporary world affairs. While its origin and trajectory have long been disputed, nationalism's hold on the human imagination is undeniable even in this age of globalisation, with its seemingly relentless cultural, political and economic homogenisation. Nationalism is poised to continue to be a major factor in relations within and among states, as well as in developments at regional, sub-regional, continental and global scales. This seemingly stubborn and resilient character of nationalism and its associated national projects invites the following contending questions of a theoretical and empirical nature... While the answers to these questions are not easy and straightforward, this book has, in various ways, attempted to offer some compelling and well argued responses. The book provided fresh and critical reflections on nationalism and national projects with a focus on Southern Africa, a region where former liberation movements are still in power and where national projects of various kinds have been created as part of pushing forward the decolonisation project into the realm of economic freedom and regional integration. The collection of chapters in the book joins the ever-increasing scholarly debates and conversations around the resurgent significance of nationalism and the national project in twenty-first century world politics.
Introduction: New Reflections on Nationalism, National Projects and Pan-Africanism in the 21st Century
Steven Reicher and Nick Hopkins characterised nationalism as 'the best of beliefs' and 'the worst of beliefs'. This characterisation of nationalism was further amplified by a British Labour politician who likened nationalism to electricity which is able to 'electrocute someone in the electric chair or it can heat and light the world'. The British politician elaborated that: "Nationalism can be an exhilarating revolutionary force for progress ... But we only have to open our newspapers today to areas where nationalism becomes in the wrong hands a primeval force of darkness and reaction ... I can say cynically, we ought to utilise the potential revolutionary force of nationalism and by our leadership, ensure that the dark side of the beast does not emerge." Throughout human history nationalism has unfolded and established itself as an ambiguous and ambivalent ideology informing the protean processes of identity making, nation-building and state-making. Nationalism has featured as a crucial anchor for new human solidarities as well as a motive force for progressive struggles for decolonisation and democratisation. At the heart of nationalism has also been the idea of construction of self-determining modern nation-states and national projects. This agenda of nationalism has continued to exist in postcolonial Africa as 'work-in-progress' if not 'unfinished business' Rosa Luxemburg highlighted the conundrums associated with notions of nations as they sought to achieve self-determination.
The African National Language Question and the African National Project
The history of colonial and post-colonial Africa demonstrates that African national languages have traditionally been mobilised and manipulated instrumentally to achieve the desired goals of the political regimes of the time. National languages were invented, promoted and cultivated during the colonial period for purposes of administrative convenience. Such manipulation of African national languages as tools of managing fluid and diverse identities of the colonised peoples constituted 'command over language' aimed at developing 'languages of command'. Following their attainment of political independence from colonial rule, most post-colonial African nations instituted language policy regimes that further propagated and promoted national languages as a rallying point for building social coheSion, cross-cultural integration and a sense of national unity among the diverse polities and ethno-linguistic groups. This chapter seeks to tease out and problematise the underlying meanings of African national languages in the twenty-first century African identitarian and development discourses. It argues that while standardised African national languages might have served the political interests of the nation-state very well both in the colonial and post-colonial periods, their usefulness in twenty-first century Africa remains questionable unless they are re-imagined and re-constituted in ways that are not anachronistic to the dreams and visions of African continental integration.