If we are unclear about identity, we will be unclear about everything else.

- Kimani Nehusi

In our contemporary times, we have to accept that identities and terminologies change as circumstances change. The definition of an African is very simple; however, the social and cultural implications of that definition are complex.

In Africa’s ancient history, the term ‘African’ would have had no meaning; people defined themselves as members of kingdoms and nationalities. Some speculate Africa is derived from a Tunisian word meaning "a sunny place." However most interactions were intra-African, being identified as African would have been nonsensical as all people were African. With greater interaction with non-Africans, Arabs and later Europeans, this sense of African identify started to take root.

“We are not Africans because we are born in Africa, we are Africans because Africa is born in us” - Chester Higgins Jr.

Today African is a term used to super-umbrella all the indigenous ethnicities of the African continent. Therefore, an African is a member/descendant of the indigenous ethnic groups found on the continent of Africa. Outside of these criteria, no ethnic group can claim to be African. Therefore, only someone having a clear genetic relationship to the indigenous people of Africa can claim to be African.

All non-African females are descendants of L3 line from Africa, and males have Y chromosome M-168

However no definition is absolute, it serves for the majority of the people as exceptions clearly exist.

Now, suppose someone is in Brazil and technically fits the above criteria but does not identify with being African socially. What if someone lives in America and does have an African parent but physically cannot be identified as an African (such as Jennifer Beal). The question of physical appearance does play a part in being physically African as we live in a world heavily informed by our eyes. Thus “looking African” could simply refer to looking like one of the indigenous people on the continent. The question of a cultural definition is complex because cultures change and many African people who identify as African in the Diapora have cultures more European than African due to the legacy of enslavement.

Africans must be intelligent and live in a world where they are politically astute to broader interest. Outside interest for a long time has realized that the first and most sophisticated line of attack is to challenge the concepts which unify African people. By posing challenges to African identify they undermine the foundation of concepts such as African unity, African culture, African history and African empowerment to name a few. If 'African' as a concept is swallowed into the colonial linguistic definition of Europeans then ultimately the attachment to the word “African” floats around and thus serves no constructive process in liberation. Europeans have long realized that language is a tool of oppression and warfare, unfortunately most Africans are passive to this attack. Others have also realized that ownership and controlling the academic process is another good investment in the war against African growth. So it is no surprise that scholars and academics come out of the woodwork in defense of the most ridiculous Eurocentric assertions.

The crisis of identity sits hand in hand with all the other crises that African people are faced with. Cultural ownership and historical placement all contribute to the dilemma of the Global African. As a weak self-identifying group, compared to others, Africans are susceptible to being knocked off course by non-Africans, like leaves in the wind blowing to everything that has the power to blow. African cannot be a term to hug everything that comes its way for then it has no concrete meaning. It is an integrative term but not for Europeans, Indians, ethnic Arabs, and other non-Africans.


DIVERSITY OF AFRICAN PEOPLE

"Africans are the most genetically diverse group of people on the planet. There is more genetic diversity among African people than between all the other races of the world" – National Geographic Genome project

Within Africa’s indigenous people, we find all textures of hair, colors of skin, types of eyes and noses. So beyond the European defined boxes of what a “real African” looks like we find a continent representing most of the features found throughout the world. The straight nose is a feature of Africa; light skin is a feature of Africa; even Chinese eyes are found among African people. The old theory of the darker, you were the more African you were is now buried as a plantation tale to create the self-hating slave. We now know that the oldest people on the planet in terms of genes are the “yellow skin” San of Southern Africa. And one of the blessings witnessed in the Americas is how quickly African-Diasporian people have moved beyond “what massa wants us to think.” And why would it be a surprise to find the aquiline features of the Tutsis, Amhara, the Fulani and Somali in Africa.

When we venture back into history, or what is known as pre-history, it is a fact that people left Africa in numerous waves over thousands of years to populate the world. Thus, African people have the greatest genetic diversity. Which is inclusive of every single race on the planet, but the reverse is not true. As people left Africa, some unique features came about due to mutation and adaptation via Darwin’s favourite word, Natural Selection. However, the physical features seen in India and the Middle East originally came from an African genetic pool.

A phenotype is any observable characteristic or trait of an organism: such as its morphology, development, biochemical or physiological properties, or behavior.

Ali Mazrui said they were two types of Africans: Africans by blood and Africans of the soil: Thus including Europeans in a version of being African. Thus within the African is the ability to produce every race on the planet. Within the skin hues, texture of hair found on the continent it is possible to make Europeans, Arabs, Chinese, Indians, etc.

AFRICANS AND THE ENVIRONMENT

The African in a pure sense is a biological human adaption to the environmental parameters of Africa. The African is a product of a specific range of biospheres. The pigment and the general texture of hair are all necessary adaptations to living on the continent in a natural way. In the absence of artificial mechanisms, the European cannot survive on the continent comfortably. Europeans have a physiological adaption which makes them ideal for Europe, hence one reason they are called Europeans; people of Europe. Technology, and technology alone, allows the European to escape the African environment.

ETHNICITY AND RACE

In the West, the question of ethnicity takes on a different tone to that on the African continent. All the ethnic groups in the west are Super-Ethnicities; conglomerations of broad groups of people into single groups, e.g. African-American. In America, there is no other way as through the African Holocaust true ethnicities were completely erased. Now in Africa, people actually belong to pure ethnic groups such as Amhara, Wolof, Zulu, Fulani, San, etc. These ethnic groups have specific cultural characteristic, the most obvious of these being their first language. A race is a collection of ethnic groups who share (subjectively at times) identifiable characteristics i.e. being dark skinned with curly hair. In the western melting pot race takes on new forms to cope with the centuries of cross-cultural interaction. Outside of the cities of places like Africa and China, the slower pace of inter-ethnic mixing preserves the “purity” of ethnic groups.

CULTURALLY AFRICAN

To be culturally African is to possess a distinctive culture, which has its values and orientation in the indigenous cultures of Africa. To therefore speak a native African language, have an African worldview, wear African dress, as distinctive from the dress code of other groups, can be seen as cultural identifiers. It is however more than a shopping list of items to tick “yes” or “no” to. The following question is posed: what about Europeans who embrace African culture and are even capable of speaking African languages? It is undeniable that they are practitioners of African culture but it does not make them African but merely Europeans who have embraced African culture. Just like the millions of Africans across the globe who speak European languages, eat European food, behave like Europeans, engage in Eurocentric understandings of religion are no closer to actually being European. They still are physically Africans who are European in mentality and attitudes. The placement of these people in the African world is debatable. The current and most progressive theory is to re-educate these people to give them an understanding of themselves. For it is unnatural to act in the image of those who oppressed you.
Just as climate played a role in physical traits such as dark skin, it can be argued that culture evolved to a specific reality. However, the cultures of African people extend beyond their physical geography and are informed not only by geography but also by physical ethnic traits.

RACE IS A REALITY

Race is not a science; it is a social construct rooted in how humans chose to group themselves for protection and common interest; appearance, religion, location, ideology, genealogy, etc.

People throughout history have grouped themselves in terms of common interest, common culture common religion and common appearance (ingroup and out group). It is an innate trait that ultimately protects us. However difference does not mean animosity. It is Neo-Darwinistic to believe in this constant battle of different groups for resources. Painting humanity in those terms, justifies the unnecessary and continuous state of war. Ignoring those differences does not resolve the nature of man. Saying, “stop using race and see people as they are” is simplistic and only the most ill informed people will reason in this manner. For instance, if every single one of us was European from Milan, we would start to automatically group ourselves by region, or class or accent. The solution is to recognize the differences and use them as an exchange to celebrate this beauty. The Olympic Games has an atmosphere of healthy competition, people are grouped by nations and it celebrates the best aspects of humanity; if it is true for nations, then it is so true for race.

Discussing race does not make you racist. But ignoring it when it exists is ignorant. The “black doll, white doll test” is testimony to this. If unchecked, racial privileges will always be unbalance in a society. Race existed during both the Arab and European trade in Africans. Race existed in the 60’s, as it exists today. Race will always be present. Race is there when you walk into a restaurant, when you go for a job, when you cross borders, when you go to Japan, or even Africa. So race is the first thing people see, and humans rely heavily on their eyes as a point of understanding. Now when Africans organize as a race, speak as one against the global oppression experienced, unify as an economic and cultural unit then the world will be forced to interact differently. The recent election of Obama proved how that single act could overnight change how people perceive African people.
In the post 9-11 attacks on America, looking Arab (whatever that means in America) had real social consequences. Thus, it is not possible to erase race just because it sometimes seems untidy. Although race from a scientific persuasion is a fallacy, it does not discount it as a social and historical reality. Engaging race is healthy as to ignore it is to ignore the horrid nature within men. In Post-Apartheid South Africa, many of the elite ethnic minorities debate the relevance of race in the new “Rainbow Nation.” Seeing beyond color does not change the 'strange' fact that all those at the top are European, those in the middle are Indian and those at the absolute bottom serving as the labor pool are the African.

MIXED HERITAGE

South Africa is unique in the world for creating super-identities for pure political reasons. It thus allows a unique window on a great social experiment in identity. Only in South Africa is there an “ethnic” group known as “colored”; one of the most confusing groups who compose of anyone who is not “blatantly” European, Indian or African by virtue of the ease at which a pencil passes through someone’s hair.
So, years of this social set-up have created a new community of people identified as “colored”. As being identified as “colored” created a peculiar situation as it granted privileges greater than that of the African populations. Thus, people were desperate to not be identified as African. The complex surrounding being African lingers despite the dismantlement of apartheid. In some cases, members of the same family would be split apart due to being classified in different race groups despite being 100% related.

The UK tinkered to different degrees of success with the “half-caste”, “mix-race” classification which in the new era of serious inter-racial activity between predominately African-Caribbean males and White-British women has created a new “race.” With this new generation is a further distancing themselves from identifying with being African. The politics of divide and rule are clearly at play, as it worked for Europeans during the centuries of enslavement on the plantations.
Some believe the one-drop rule was a European instituted principle for lumping all non-Europeans into one basket. Now, outside of Europe it is clear that in Africa being of mix-heritage does not remove your claim to African soil. In all known African societies, having one African parent makes you African. This is outside of European influence and is part of the tradition of African inclusiveness. Thus African identity as a generality absorbs identities; this can be witnessed from Ethiopia to Ghana, Chad to Zululand.

On a genetic phonotypical level African “features” or characteristic are genetically dominate. This is the reason why it is sometimes unclear if someone is of mix heritage or not. The mere fact that it is not always clear or at least carries a shadow of doubt testifies to the argument that Africans are genetically dominant. Miscegenation in Arab culture favors the Arab father regardless of the mother’s race.. So in stark contrast to European enslavement those children born to enslaved African women became Arab and not African. Despite their physical appearance, they were generally culturally Arab. (e.g. Prince Bandar bin Sultan, Anwar Sadat , and Tibbu Tip)

The question regarding people of mix-race heritage is difficult because although they are accepted by other Africans as being African, it is possible that they do not view themselves as African, as in parts of Brazil and South Africa. It is sometimes hard to believe Bob Marley had a European father, as he is so deeply associated with being African. Thus, the final though is that being African must have a dual condition: Being of African heritage and identifying with that heritage.

THE POLITICS OF ‘WHITE AFRICANS’

The new trend emerging is to classify Europeans living/settling in Africa as “White Africans.” In the scrabble for linguistic real estate, why would these descendants of European colonialist who devastated and exploited the continent want to be called African? And in terms of self-determination who introduced these concepts? It would be very strange if a European, after 200 years in China or India, could be so powerful to alter the definition of Chinese just to be accommodated.

The fact that Europeans are sensitive to the politics of things suggests that they do not do anything for romantic reasons. It is very disappointing when senior African academics, so desperate to embrace the rainbow theory and share the “African burden”, rush with open arms to embrace these pseudo concepts without any political or economic consideration. What is the objective of these claims? It is interesting to note Europeans (including Caucasoid Arabs) constitute around 10 million people verses the 800 million Africans. Now, this negligible minority, by way of social influence, has caused the majority to need to refer to themselves with the adjective of “black” to separate themselves from a serious minority group who want to be “Indian Africans” or “white Africans.” Minorities of Europeans live in China, in India and in Arabia yet only in Africa has linguistic accommodation been given to these European minorities.

Africans now must make room for those settlers who want to identify with the continent for capitalist reasons. Because once you identify with a continent then you have a legitimate claim to its resources. Thus, the saying and the philosophy of Garvey “Africa for the Africans” becomes usurped. In South Africa, the new trend of “Black Economic Empowerment” has seen the broadening, opening up of the borders of blackness so to speak. Indians are economically classified as ‘black’, and recently Chinese have been included in this definition. So again, we see the relationship between linguistics and economic profit.

What about people who are European who speak African languages, wear African clothing, eat African food, etc? With all due respect, the mistake made by Dr. Ali Mazrui in his accommodation was to confuse the empirical reality of being African with the cultural phenomenon of being Africanized. Just as most Africans in the west are to a large degree Europeanized Africans, it does not make them in anyway shape or form European. Studying everything about Chimpanzees and bonding into their social structure as Jane Goodal did, did not make her anymore Chimpanzee. It is clear the Chimpanzees were warmed by her attempts, but when it came time for mating there was no confusion.

CONCLUSION

According to Dr. Kimani Nehusi, identity should be a foremost consideration, for if it is not then subsequent work would not be grounded. Now we can see how the question of reparations, land ownership, citizenship, free-movement, African Continental union, African People unity, all hinge on a clear definitionof African identity. We see all other groups, such as Jews in Israel, clarifying a definition of who is a Jew and denying “right of return” to those who do not fall into that definition. Open definitions allow those who have traditionally exploited Africans to continue to do so. It must be realized that our cultural immunity and cultural defence systems have been the most destroyed. As a group interested in self-preservation and self-determination, the question of who belongs to our group, who has that group’s interest, will be paramount.



A phenotype is any observable characteristic or trait of an organism: such as its morphology, development, biochemical or physiological properties, or behavior.

Ali Mazrui said they were two types of Africans: Africans by blood and Africans of the soil: Thus including Europeans in a version of being African.

Dame Jane Goodall, DBE (born Valerie Jane Morris Goodall on 3 April 1934) is an English UN Messenger of Peace, primatologist, ethologist, and anthropologist. She is well-known for her 45-year study of chimpanzee social and family interactions in Gombe Stream National Park, Tanzania, and for founding the Jane Goodall Institute.

AFRICAN HOLOCAUST | History of Africa restored