Colonialism and Ethnicity in Africa

How Africa was Streamlined into Tribes and Ethnic Groups

Sep 9, 2009 Tongkeh Joseph Fowale

As stated by historian John Middleton, "it was during colonialism that the ethnic categories which designate different human groups gained quasi definitive rigidity".

The concept of ethnicity stands like a “birthmark” on the face of postcolonial Africa. In no other part of the world has "ethnicity" left such a deep scar as in Africa. Political scientist Alex Thomson insists that “ethnicity” or “tribalism” has been used as an “auto-explanation of political events in Africa.”

Ethnicity a Colonial Creation

During the period leading up to European conquest and eventual colonization of Africa, western explorers, travelers, intellectuals, researchers, administrators and missionaries preoccupied themselves with studying “primitive” African societies. As modern research has shown, however, pre-colonial Africa constituted largely of what Aiden Southhall calls “interlocking, overlapping multiple identities.”

It would be misleading though, to claim that the entire continent of Africa was a completely homogeneous society before colonial rule. This claim notwithstanding, the differences that separated Africans did not run across “tribal” or “ethnic” lines. These differences and barriers where rather geographical and cultural – the deserts, seas, rivers, forests and mountains. There was also the language difference among Africans across different parts of the continent.

The Coming of Colonialism and Ethnicity

As observed earlier, western scholarship on and about Africa set the pace for the many prejudices and myths that shaped the study of African society and eventually its history. This “dubious historical or ethnological research” as Thomson calls it, was at the origins of the term “ethnicity” which later flooded all literature about Africa. “… it was during colonialism that the ethnic categories which designate different human groups gained quasi definitive rigidity,” says John Middleton in Encyclopedia of Africa South of the Sahara.

Thomson uses the Akan people of modern Ghana as a case study in the application of the concept of "ethnicity." These Akan who trace their roots to a common ancestor were pieced out variously as Asante, Fante, Bang, Akini and Nzima. “Being described as part of a larger Akan tribe” says Thomson, “would have meant very little to these people prior to the twentieth century.” Many other case studies abound throughout Africa.

Arresting the Scourge of Ethnicity in Africa

Attempts at checking the ravages of ethnicity in Africa have met with little success. In this very difficult atmosphere, Godfrey Mwakikagile proposes an “ethnic self-determination.” By this he means the reduction of the power of the central government by creating “tribal parliaments” to represent the citizens of every tribe.

To Rotimi Suberu, "ethnicity" is rooted in the cold hard realities of perceived unfairness and the national competition for jobs, education and money from a limited resource base. To reduce "ethnic" tensions therefore, he proposes that these issues be addressed to their roots.

The approaches of Mwakikagile and Suberu would appear perennial to radical thinkers like Frantz Fanon and Walter Rodney. To them, the instruments of ethnicity in modern Africa are the “tribal bourgeoisie” and the “tribal proletariats.” For ethnicity to end, African masses must rise against these classes who benefit from the chaos generated by ethnicity in Africa.

See also: African Conflicts, The Role of Ethnicity.

Sources:

Middleton, John (ed). Encyclopedia of Africa South of the Sahara Vol. 1. 1997.

Nnoli, Okwudiba. Ethnicity and Democracy in Africa, Intervening Variables. 1994.

Southhall, Aiden. “The Illusion of Tribe.” Journal of Asian and African Studies Vol. 5, No. 1 (2000).

Thomson, Alex. An Introduction to African Politics, 2000.

The copyright of the article Colonialism and Ethnicity in Africa in African History is owned by Tongkeh Joseph Fowale. Permission to republish Colonialism and Ethnicity in Africa in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Movement of people in precolonial Africa