A PHILOSOPHICAL APRAISIAL OF PAN-AFRICANISM AS A REMEDY TO XENOPHOBIA IN AFRICA

Abstract

In the world economy, globalization flourishes and thrives on migration. Migration is vital in the growth of the economy of any nation because it has the promise of enhancing the conditions of living. Migration and migrants is not a foreign concepts in Africa. Thus, here is a tendency for a hiked competition in both economic and social opportunities. If ‘Ubuntu’ fused into communalism and communal survival summarizes the African existence, how then can we explain the cases of xenophobia in Africa? How do we interpret the identity of the African in the light of Western individualism and African communalism? If xenophobia presupposes a feeling of insecurity by natives and indigenes against foreigners, what is the cause of such in Africa? Is it scarcity of economic opportunities associated with migration or as a result of crisis of identity in the African or both? What could promote the crisis of personhood in African? Pan-Africanism throughout history has served as a connection between African states to smoothen their differences. Since conflict is largely an inevitable aspect of the healthy functioning of societies; it is evident that xenophobia is one of such conflicts. The research aims to underscore how xenophobia springs from the crisis of personhood and how it affects the unity of African states. As a remedy to xenophobia in African, the research looks into what is indigenous to Africa and her people. Thus, the research proposes Pan-Africanism. The research shall interpret how xenophobia springs from crises in identity which is a threat to the unity that bounds nations and this can be remedied through proper understanding of Pan-Africanism. At the end of the day, pan-Africanism shall be interpreted properly without nostalgia as against its current lukewarm-nature of today.