CAN AFRICAN PHILOSOPHY BAKE BREAD

Abstract.

The question whether African philosophy can bake bread is a very powerful proposition

towards understanding the question of African self identity, affinity and self realization.

African philosophy has gone above and beyond a mere self defensive tool, but it is a

weapon, a practical ideology towards emancipating and building African nation with all it

scientific tentacles by becoming more of African man even in the mists of the multiple

identities, affinities self-realization.

Key Words: Socialism, Renascent Africa, Freedom and After, Philosophical

Consciencism, Ujamaa, Self –Retrieval, Bake, bread, Humanism, Neo- Welfarism, Negritude.



Introduction


The problem of self retrieval, realization, identity and lack of originality for

Africa (Nigeria) has really affected development in this part of the World. However, the

search for identity has always been a key issue facing mankind in its striving after

significance and meaning, since it is only understanding ones self,
that development can

occur. The American philosophy of pragmatism could be seen from this point of view

since it has being able to stand as an identity and self realization for the Americans. The

interplay of this has really influenced the socio-cultural, economic and political

development of the United States of America. Thus, the question of self retrieval,

realization and how it influences development cannot be over emphasized.


The African experiences of slavery, racism, colonialism and neo-colonialism

resulted in the radical emergence of multiple and contradictory self in Africa. These

multi-selves or identities are outcome of the historical trends of Western colonialization

in Africa. The consequence of these historical experiences is the identity quagmire that

African has been thrown into. Thus the question of African self retrieval becomes very

prominent in this modern era, which is why a principal driving force in postcolonial

African thought has been a quest for self-definition and self-assertion in that self

understanding has remained a focal point in discussions about the African experiences

with the Western World. It was therefore quite appropriate when Masolo according to

Richard Bell, entitled his History of Contemporary African Philosophy, the first full-

length history of the discipline in English, African Philosophy in Search of Identity 1 .

The task to restore and for the Africans to affirm their self realization and to give

it a place within the global community became the major pre-occupation of African

nationalists which led to nationalism as a movement in Africa. This movement was an

anti-colonial struggle which was led by the African elites in order to gain political,

economic and social freedom or independence, from the colonial powers. Hence, baking

bread with African Philosophy.

This movement gradually developed and became very active after the Second

World War. It has been argued that during the post-World War II struggles for

independence and in the immediate period after independence the only relevant

philosophy for Africa was a politicized ‘liberation philosophy’—one of resolute

revolutionary self-assertion and self-reliance. Hence the nationalist’s agitation was a

search for an all-together different type of a social system with its roots in African soil.

Sequel to this movement, many African countries gained independence during the

1960s; some of these newly formed governments rejected the ideas of capitalism in

favour of a more Afrocentric economic model on the ground that sustaining Western

capitalism was seriously undermining, if not destroying, the African social infrastructure

based on traditional humanistic values. It became clear to them that capitalism was

incompatible with African culture and that the colonial heritage was equated with

capitalism. Advocates of this new economic model claimed that it was not the opposite of

capitalism or a response to it, but something completely different. Julius Nyerere,

Léopold Senghor, Kwame Nkrumah, Kenneth Kaunda and Tom Mboya just to mention a

few, were the main architects of this new economic model in Africa, which is otherwise

referred to as African Humanism or African socialism 2 . Both African humanism and

African socialism were used to underscore the values of a common African heritage and

the inherent struggle of a people who were exploited by colonial powers 3 .

However, the agitations for self-retrieval, self-realization, emancipation and

decolonization of the Africans and the entire continent, made African nationalist leaders

to seek reparations for the atrocities of slavery and colonialism by bringing back the

initial self or identity and culture of an African person. Within this emerging background,

W.E.B. Dubois championed Pan-Africanism and argued for the intellectual understanding

and cooperation among all groups of African descent focused on bringing about the

emancipation of Black peoples by emphasizing the notion of African people as subjects

rather than objects, Kwame Nkrumah, in his contribution to the struggle for the

emancipation of Africans from colonialism/imperialism, reasserts the African identity in

his Philosophical Consciencism, Julius Nyerere in Ujamaa, Kenneth Kaunda in African

Humanism, Tom Mboya in African Socialism, while Sedar Senghor decried Africa’s loss

of identity and championed a course to reclaiming it through his philosophy of Negritude.

Negritude rejects the assumption that an African is inherently inferior to the “white man”.

For Senghor, Negritude is a weapon against any Western imperialism and an instrument

of liberation 4 . Senghor’s conception of Negritude is for the revival of the African cultural

identity distorted by the historical trends of Western invasion. This then became the core

of philosophical vision of Negritude as a philosophy of socio-cultural identity and

affirmation of being. Senghor's Negritude claimed to have and provided a unifying,

fighting, and liberating instrument for development as well as an expression of a new

humanism that positioned Africa as unique entity within a global community. It is this

claim that formed the thrust of this research with a view to evaluating how identity can

serve as a tool for development.

A Struggle for Self Affirmation

The question whether African philosophy can bake bread had longed been

answered by affirmation. There was a need for the response from the western

epistemological denigration of African thought system. This brought all nationalist

philosophers into play. Such as: Nnamdi Azikiwe, Tom Mboya, Kwame Nkrumah, Julius

Nyerere, Kenneth Kaunda, Sedar Senghor to mention but a few.

Nnamdi Azikiwe in his book Renascent Africa postulated the liberation of Africa

from the Western imperialists, and to create a new Africa. Azikiwe’s major political,

social and cultural thought centers on the idea of the regeneration of Africa in socio-

political life and what he termed ‘neo-welfarism’. The idea of the regeneration of Africa

represents a call to a New Africa. This New Africa as Azikiwe puts it: is a cultivation of

spiritual balance, the experience of social regeneration, the realization of economic

determinism, and the creation of mental emancipation. For him, these factors in the New

Africa would automatically culminate in a political risorgimento 5 . The degeneration of

Africa required mental freedom and the transcendence of racial and tribal barriers. At this

point, Azikiwe held that the old Africa must be destroyed. He painted a scenario of Old

Africa (the Africa of yesterday), Renascent Africa (the Africa of today) in which Africans

were ready to battle colonialism, and New Africa (the Africa of tomorrow). According to

Azikiwe, both the Old Africa and Renascent Africa were handicapped: Old Africa by

isolation, ignorance, social fragmentation and economic stagnation, and the Renascent

Africa by imperialism and racism. For him, both ‘Africa’s’ had put a stamp of

exploitation, degradation, deprivation and inferiority complex on the African man.

Azikiwe in his Renascent Africa writes:

If the New Africa must be realized then the old Africa must be

destroyed because it is at death-grips with New Africa…Renascent

Africans must be equal to the task and must salvage the debris of old

Africa through the supreme efforts of youth 6 .

For Azikiwe, the characteristic of a New Africa includes all the freedoms, opportunities

and potentials of liberated peoples in a liberated continent. However, this New Africa

would not come to the Renascent Africa with their arms folded. The only way to the

actualization of the New Africa is for the Renascent Africa to fight and labour for it. To

achieve victory and success, Azikiwe held that Renascent Africans must be imbued with

five attributes: spiritual balance, social regeneration, economic determinism, mental

emancipation and political resurgence. These attributes for Azikiwe forms the veritable

ground for Renascent Africa in her great struggle to bring about the New Africa.

Tom Mboya in his book Freedom and After conceived a possibility of a modern

and a vibrant nation rooted in the best of African culture and tradition. . To accomplished

this, he posited for a varies version of African socialism, which advocated for a mixed

economy, a mixed ownership of productive assets, an economy open to international

trade and capital, and an economy guided by principles of efficiency, equity, and fairness 7

The reason of his African socialism was to restore a traditional African value which will

make a meaningful approach to the African people. And this should be express in the

language of the people, thus: “the ideas and attitude which nourish it are indigenous and

are easily learnt, for they have been expressed for generations in the language of the soil

which our people understand and not in foreign slogans” 8

Nkrumah in his Philosophical Consciencism noted that we need a radical

transformation of African society through a revaluation and the establishment of

socialism when he said; Africa’s socialism was more in tune with the original humanist

principles underlying African society. According to Nkrumah, the resolution of this

conflict will be found in ‘Consciencism’. He defines philosophical consciencism as that

philosophical stand point which taking its start from the present content of the African

conscience, indicates the way in which progress is forged out of the conflict in that

conscience 9 . For Nkrumah, consciencism is a map in intellectual terms of the disposition

of forces which will enable African society to digest the Western and Islamic and the

Euro-Christian elements in Africa, and develop them in such a way that they fit into the

African personality. According to Nkrumah, Africans attitude to the Western and Islamic

experience must be purposeful. It must also be guided by thought, for practice without

thought is blind. Njoku interpreting Nkrumah holds that “African personality is

egalitarian, but egalitarianism is informed by political education totally rooted in the

emancipated African peoples. A new African identity, Nkrumah believes, will have to

sieve good influences and digest them in such a way that they fit into the African

conscience, with a view to total liberation of man.” 10

More so, Julius Nyerere in his Ujamaa Socialism posited that it was his

conviction that only through socialist principles embedded in the African way of life that

Africa could hope to build a truly human and equitable society free from the ills of

colonial capitalism namely; exploitation, injustice, class struggle, discrimination, poverty

of the masses etc.

Julius Nyerere also supports the idea of African identity as being rooted in

African traditional system. The family is the prototype of any nation and this should form

the basis of African identity. This is realizable through Ujamaa. “Ujamaa” in Swahili

literally means “familyhood”. Familyhood in Africa is extended beyond the basic family

unit. Thus for Nyerere, the root of African socialism is the idea of familyhood which goes

beyond the tribe, community, the nation. It must include the entire humanity. Nyerere in

Ujamaa Socialism writes:

The foundation, and the objective, of African socialism is the extended

family. The true African socialist does not look on one class of men as

his brethren and another as his natural enemies. He does not form an

alliance with the ‘brethren’ for the extermination of the ‘non-brethren’.

He rather regards all men as his brethren – as members of his ever

extending family… ‘Ujamaa’, then or ‘Familyhood’, describes our

socialism. It is opposed to capitalism, which seeks to build a happy

society on the basis of the exploitation of man by man; and it is equally

opposed to doctrinaire socialism which seeks to build its happy society

on a philosophy of inevitable conflict between man and man 11 .

With this understanding of the basic socialist principles of the traditional African society,

Nyerere attempted to build a socialist society in which the principles of human equality,

freedom and solidarity would be applied to the social, economic and political

organization of the society. Nyerere viewed Ujamaa socialism as essentially an attitude of

the mind whereby Africans care for each other’s welfare, and promote the economic

welfare and progress of the society. According to Nyerere, Ujamaa socialism; “is an

attitude of the mind needed to ensure that people care for each other’s welfare” 12 . Nyerere

therefore holds the view that one form of socialism or another is inevitable for the

African to successfully root out the years of colonial poverty, exploitation and

dependency in order to enjoy an equitable distribution of the resources of the land,

achieve self-reliance, social progress and prosperity.

Fanon championed it course in his radical revolution, Awolowo in his Democratic

Socialism, Nelson in his long walk to freedom seek for the freedom of the South

Africans.

All this was a means of reclaiming original African identity, a self retrieval and in other

to sustain African development. By this we can affirm the question: “Can African

Philosophy Bake Bread”.

“A self Retrieval that will lead to African Sustainable Development”

The African nations had longed responded to the western epistemological

denigration of African thought system. This response was a strong retrieval into African

thought system. This left us with so many affinities because of the western influences on

African thought system. Now the question remains; how can we remain an Africans in

this multiple identity? Who are we? Going back to history, African remains the natural

home of man. The virtue of the Godly men, the real dwelling place of the of the Homo

Sapiens. O! African soil, the humus of the land, the fertile green pasture of pastures, the

dens of traditional milieu, African soil, the negro, the black, the beautiful. Our able men

were gone to the western land long time in slavery; capitalize by racism, hatred and the

likes. To avoid reparation of such an act, the west became so wise in search for a reality

of peace, so we had Christianity. Since the emergence of this religion that carries all its

tentacles, things had never been the same. Infact, borrowing the word of our great hero,

Achebe, Things fall apart. How can we part again with the falling things long ago, how

can the original habitat of man regain it strength, where shall we go from this dual

identity that has made us to lost the God of Africa? Can we ever become the really real of

our natural endowments? This questions boarders our mind. This mix identity has

murdered God of Africa. In the Philosophy of Kusuanism I witness the burial of God of

Africa. Prior to such a burial I search for him everywhere…… God of Africa is Death.

My people have killed him. He is death in the heart of men.


How Can We Retrieve Our Heritage and Resurrect the Death God of Africa

in this Multiple Identity?

Though, the Africans are still battling with western influences, a constant struggle

towards self understanding. Bearing in Mind the reggae of the former South African

legend Lucky Dube, the reggae of the former Jamaican legend Mob Marley, we can

understand that the search for African freedom was holistic ideology towards an African

liberation and the black race. The question still remains: How?

i Recognizing our person, heritage and our beings as Africans.

ii Knowing where you are coming from even when you don’t know where

you are going to.

iii Developing love for things in your continent.

iv Observing the virtues of the land and have respect for elders.

v Practiced Humanism, (i.e) a respect to human being without the must do

from any divine authority.

vi Understanding the Christianity that you accepts with full strength from

African stand point.

vii Respecting those values and norms of the land of where you habit.

viii Practicing your culture and tradition in any rites that the village had set for

the people as long as is in line with the virtues of African thought system.

ix Using your vital force effectively, not to enfeebled your brothers, but to

ginger the swagger of your neighbors vital force.

x Use your craft, either witch or material to develop your nation .

xi Above all respects your tradition and do what I call intellectual cobwebing.


I think by supplying and applying this, the lost assets in the land will be found.

And the death God will be resurrected, and as such, the question whether African

Philosophy can bake bread, which our nationalist philosophers have longed answered in

affirmation will remain in us not only a response to the western epistemological

denigration of African thought system, but a practical output in sustaining the African

development.


Reference

BY:

UKANGA, KUSUA- ABASI LAMBERT PETER

lambert.ukanga.pg76811@unn.edu.ng