Abstract
It has been several years since the term “Afropolitanism” was coined and instigated an intense debate in both the offline and online world. Although Afropolitanism is celebrated for highlighting positive depictions of Africa, it has also been criticised for its supposedly exclusive and elitist focus. Several scholars have distinguished Afropolitanism from Pan-Africanism by framing it as the latter’s apolitical younger version. Following the discussion around these perceived differences, this paper investigates how Afropolitanism negotiates the African diaspora discourse in relation to Pan-Africanism. Thus far, the study of Afropolitanism has remained mostly limited to the field of literary and cultural studies. In order to move the discussion on this term further, this paper explores the lived experiences of twelve black Londoners with Afropolitanism and Pan-Africanism. By using the notion of “performance,” I show that Afropolitanism and Pan-Africanism are constructed and deconstructed in both diverse and overlapping ways. The narratives emerging out of this dialogue question the centrality of the Middle Passage epistemology and the tendency to essentialize experiences in the African diaspora discourse.
Works Cited
Abebe, Alpha. “Afropolitanism: Global Citizenship with African Roots.” The Oxford Department of International Development Blog, 4 June 2016, blog.qeh.ox.ac.uk/?page_id=22.Search in Google Scholar
Akyeampong, Emmanuel, K. “Africans in the Diaspora: The Diaspora and Africa.” African Affairs, vol. 99, no. 395, 2000, pp. 183-215.10.1093/afraf/99.395.183Search in Google Scholar
Anthias, Floya. “Evaluating ‘Diaspora’: beyond Ethnicity.” Sociology, vol. 23, no. 3, 1998, pp. 1-15.10.1017/S0038038598000091Search in Google Scholar
Bhabha, Homi, K. The Location of Culture. Routledge, 1994.Search in Google Scholar
Bosch Santana, Stephanie. “Exorcizing Afropolitanism: Afropolitanism’s Spectal Origins.” Journal of African Cultural Studies, vol. 28, no. 1, 2013, pp. 120-26.10.1080/13696815.2015.1105128Search in Google Scholar
Boylorn, Robin. M. “Lived Experience.” The Encyclopedia of Qualitative Research Methods, edited by Given, Lisa. M., SAGE Publications, INC, 2012, pp. 490.Search in Google Scholar
Brinkhurst-Cuff, Charlie. “Malia Bouattia and the Murky World of Political Blackness.” New Statesman, 2 August 2016, www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2016/05/maliabouattia-and-murky-worldpolitical-blackness.Search in Google Scholar
Byala, Sara. A Place that Matters Yet: John Gubbin’s Museum Africa in the Postcolonial World. Chicago University Press, 2013.10.7208/chicago/9780226030449.001.0001Search in Google Scholar
Butler, K. “Clio and the Griot: The African Diaspora in the Discipline of History.” The Africa Diaspora and the Disciplines, edited by Olaniyan, Tejumola & Sweet, James H., Indiana University Press, 2010, pp. 313-38.Search in Google Scholar
Brah, Avtar. Cartographies of Diaspora. Contesting Identities. Routledge, 1996.Search in Google Scholar
Bwesigye, Brian. “Is Afropolitanism Africa’s New Single Story?” Aster(ix) Journal, 1 September 2016, asterixjournal.com/afropolitanism-africas-new-single-story-reading-helon-habilas-review-need-new-names-brian-bwesigye/.Search in Google Scholar
Campt, Tina & Thomas, Deborah, A. “Gendering Diaspora: Transnational Feminism, Diaspora and its Hegemonies.” Feminist Review, vol. 90, no. 1, 2008, pp. 1-8.10.1057/fr.2008.41Search in Google Scholar
Clifford, James. Routes: Travel and Translation in the Late Twentieth Century. Harvard University Press, 1997.Search in Google Scholar
Cole, Teju. An Open City. Random House, 2011.Search in Google Scholar
Dabiri, Emma. “Why I Am Not an Afropolitan.” Africa is a Country, 21 January 2014, https://africasacountry.com/2014/01/why-im-not-an-afropolitan/.Search in Google Scholar
Dabiri, Emma. “Why I Am (Still) Not an Afropolitan.” Journal of African Cultural Studies, vol. 28, no. 1, 2016, pp. 104-108.10.1080/13696815.2015.1100066Search in Google Scholar
Dabiri, Emma. “The Pitfalls and Promises of Afropolitanism.” Cosmopolitanisms, edited by Robbins, Bruce, Horta, Paulo Lemos & Appiah, Kwame Anthony, New York University Press, 2017, pp. 201-211.10.18574/nyu/9781479829682.003.0016Search in Google Scholar
De Witte, Marleen. “Heritage, Blackness and Afro-Cool: Styling Africanness in Amsterdam.” African Diaspora, vol. 7, no. 2, 2014, pp. 260-89.10.1163/18725465-00702002Search in Google Scholar
Diversity in London, CIS2013-4, Census Information Scheme & GLA Intelligence, June 2013, londondatastore-upload. s3.amazonaws.com/IyE%3D2011-census-diversity-in-london.pdf.Search in Google Scholar
“Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From, Ask Me Where I’m Local.” Ted, 3 May 2016, www.ted.com/talks/taiye_selasi_don_t_ask_where_i_m_from_ask_where_i_m_a_local?language=nl.Search in Google Scholar
Ede, Amatoritsero. “The Politics of Afropolitanism.” Journal of African Cultural Studies, vol. 28, no. 1, 2016, pp. 88-100.10.1080/13696815.2015.1132622Search in Google Scholar
Edwards, Brent. “The Uses of Diaspora.” Social Text 66, vol. 19, no. 1, 2001, pp. 45-74.10.1215/01642472-19-1_66-45Search in Google Scholar
El Tayeb, Fatima. European Others: Queering Ethnicity in Postnational Europe. University of Minnesota Press, 2001.Search in Google Scholar
Ethnic Group Population Projections (2016-based), GLA Intelligence, November 2017, files.datapress.com/london/dataset/2016-based-projections-documentation/2017-11-24T12:10:05.22/2016-based%20Ethnic%20Group%20 Population%20Projections.pdf.Search in Google Scholar
Evans, Lucy. “The Black Atlantic: Exploring Gilroy’s Legacy.” Atlantic Studies, vol. 6, no. 2, 2009, pp. 255-68.10.1080/14788810902981308Search in Google Scholar
Fryer, Peter. Staying Power: The History of Black People in Britain. Pluto Press, 1984.Search in Google Scholar
Gehrmann, Susanne. “Cosmopolitanism with African Roots. Afropolitanism’s Ambivalent Mobilities. ” Journal of African Cultural Studies, vol. 28, no. 1, 2016, pp. 61-72.10.1080/13696815.2015.1112770Search in Google Scholar
Gikandi, Simon. “Foreword: On Afropolitanism.” Negotiating Afropolitanism: Essays on Borders and Spaces in Contemporary African Literature and Folklore, edited by Wawrzinek, Jennifer & Makokha, J.K.S., Rodopi, 2011, pp. 9-11.Search in Google Scholar
Gourgem, Hicham. “Afropolitanism: The Other Side of the Coin.” Transnational Social Review, vol. 7, no. 3, 2017, pp. 287-99.10.1080/21931674.2017.1360032Search in Google Scholar
Gilroy, Paul. “The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness.” Verso, 1993.Search in Google Scholar
Gilroy, Paul. “A New Cosmopolitanism.” Interventions, vol. 7, no. 3, 2015, pp. 287-92.10.1080/13698010500268049Search in Google Scholar
Gilroy, Paul. After Empire: Melancholia or Convivial Culture? Multiculture or Postcolonial Melancholia. Routledge, 2004.10.4324/9780203482810Search in Google Scholar
Hall, Stuart. “Cultural Identity and Diaspora.” Theorizing the Diaspora. A Reader, edited by Braziel, Jana Evans & Mannur, Anita, Blackwell, 1993, pp. 233-46.Search in Google Scholar
Hancox, Dan. “It’s Called Afrobeats and It’s Taking Over London.” Vice, 6 June 2016, thump.vice.com/en_us/article/53azwz/its-called-afrobeats-not-afrobeat-and-its-taking-over-london.Search in Google Scholar
Hassan, Salah. Rethinking Cosmopolitanism: “Is ‘Afropolitan’ the Answer?.” Reflections, vol. 5, 2012, pp. 3-29.Search in Google Scholar
Ifekwunigwe, Jayne, O. “Black Folk Here and There”: Repositioning Other(ed) African Diasporas in/and “Europe.” The Africa Diaspora and the Disciplines, edited by Olaniyan, Tejumola & Sweet, James H., Indiana University Press, 2010, pp. 313-38.Search in Google Scholar
Jarvis, Alice-Azania. “Rich, Urbane and Entrepreneurial: Meet Africa’s New Super-rich with a Taste for London Lifestyle.” Evening Standard, 15 December 2015, www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/london-life/rich-urbane-and-entrepreneurial-meetafrica-s-new-super-rich-with-a-taste-for-the-london-lifestyle-10308970.html.Search in Google Scholar
Kigotho, Wachira. “Pan-Africans versus Afropolitans: An Identity Crisis?” University World News, 5 June 2016, www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20160429165418809.Search in Google Scholar
Kirmse, Stefan, B. “In the Marketplace for Styles and Identities: Globalization and Youth Culture in Southern Kyrgyzstan. Globalization and Youth Culture in Southern Kyrgyzstan.” Central Asia Survey, vol. 24, no. 4, 2010, pp. 389-403.10.1080/02634937.2010.537138Search in Google Scholar
Knudsen, Eva Rask & Rahbek, Ulla. Editors. In Search of the Afropolitan: Encounters, Conversations and Contemporary Diasporic African Literature. Rowman & Littlefield, 2016.Search in Google Scholar
Knudsen, Eva Rask, Rahbek, Ulla & Gikandi, Simon. “The Authors in Conversation with Simon Gikandi”. In Search of the Afropolitan: Encounters, Conversations and Contemporary Diasporic African Literature, edited by Knudsen, Eva Rask & Rahbek, Ulla, Rowman & Littlefield, 2016, pp. 48-9.Search in Google Scholar
Lavie, Smadar & Swedenburg, Ted. “Introduction: Displacement, Diaspora, and Geographies of Identity.” Displacement, Diaspora and Geographies of Identity, edited by Lavie, Smadar & Swedenburg, Ted, Duke University Press, 2001, pp. 1-25.10.1215/9780822379577-001Search in Google Scholar
Makokha, J.K.S. “Introduction: In the Spirit of Afropolitanism.” Negotiating Afropolitanism: Essays on Borders and Spaces in Contemporary African Literature and Folklore, edited by Wawrzinek, Jennifer & Makokha, J.K.S., Rodopi, 2011, pp. 13-22.Search in Google Scholar
Massey, Doreen. World City. Polity Press, 2007.Search in Google Scholar
Mbembe, Achille. “Afropolitanism.” Africa Remix: Contemporary Art of a Continent, edited by Simon, Njami & Dúran, Lucy, Hatje Cantz, 2007, pp. 26-30.Search in Google Scholar
Monson, Ingrid. The African Diaspora: A Musical Perspective. Routledge, 2003.10.4324/9780203493052Search in Google Scholar
Müller, Floris. “Urban Alchemy: Performing Urban Cosmopolitanism in London and Amsterdam.” Urban Studies, vol. 48, no. 16, 2011, pp. 3415-41.10.1177/0042098010396241Search in Google Scholar
“Is Pan-Africanism Dead?” Centre of Pan-African Thought, 29 May 2016, www.facebook.com/events/1616925031965817/.Search in Google Scholar
Neumann, Birgit & Rippl, Gabriele. “Celebrating Afropolitan Identities? Contemporary African World Literatures in English.” Anglia, vol. 135, no. 1, 2017, pp. 159-85.10.1515/ang-2017-0010Search in Google Scholar
Olaniyan, Tejumola & Sweet, James. H. The African Diaspora and the Disciplines. Indiana University Press, 2010.Search in Google Scholar
Osekre, Ishmael. “Two Troubles, One God I, an ‘Afropolitan’ Renaissance.” The Huffington Post, 10 May 2016, www.huffingtonpost.com/ishmael-osekre/two-troubles-one-god-i-an_b_9286414.html.Search in Google Scholar
Pahl, Miriam. “Afropolitanism as Critical Consciousness: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s and Teju Cole’s Internet Presence.” Journal of African Cultural Studies, vol. 28, no. 1, 2016, pp. 73-87.10.1080/13696815.2015.1123143Search in Google Scholar
Patterson, Tiffany Ruby & Kelley, Robin D.G. “Unfinished Migrations: Reflections on the African Diaspora and the Making of the Modern World.” African Studies Review, vol. 43, no. 1, 2000, pp. 11-45.10.2307/524719Search in Google Scholar
“Petition for London Referendum Signed by Thousands after Brexit Vote.” BBC News, 24 June 2016, www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-36620401.Search in Google Scholar
Ponzanesi, Sandra. The Postcolonial Cultural Industry. Palgrave Macmillan, 2014.10.1057/9781137272591Search in Google Scholar
“Pretty”—What’s Pretty in London (Ep. 10). Youtube, uploaded by Hairunruled, 30 April 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=eY6aQ7BzF3c.Search in Google Scholar
Raman, Parvathi. “In Search of the ‘Authentic’ Diasporic Subject: A Resting Place for the Imagination?” HIMAL South Asian, vol. 16, no. 9, 2003, pp. 22-30.Search in Google Scholar
Salami, Minna. “My Views on Afropolitanism.” Ms. Afropolitan, 2 December 2015, www.msafropolitan.com/my-views-onafropolitanism.Search in Google Scholar
Salami, Minna. Afropolitanism and Identity politics. Ms. Afropolitan, 4 May 2016, www.msafropolitan.com/2015/04/afropolitanism-identity-politics.html.Search in Google Scholar
Salih, Sara. Judith Butler. Routledge, 2002.10.4324/9780203118641Search in Google Scholar
Selasi, T. “Bye Bye Babar.” The Lip Magazine, 1 February 2016, thelip.robertsharp.co.uk/?p=76.Search in Google Scholar
Shelby, Tommie & Gilroy, Paul. “Cosmopolitanism, Blackness, and Utopia.” Transition, vol. 98, 2008, pp. 116-35.10.2979/TRS.2008.-.98.116Search in Google Scholar
Sherwood, Marika. “White Myths, Black omissions: The Historical Origins of Racism in Britain.” International Journal of Historical Teaching, Learning and Research, vol. 3, no. 1, 2003, pp. 1-9.10.18546/HERJ.03.1.06Search in Google Scholar
Sika, Varyanne. “Fashion for Feminists: How Fashion and Dress Shape Women’s Identities.” Buwa, vol. 2, no. 2, 2013, pp. 47-52.Search in Google Scholar
Skinner, Ryan Thomas. “Why Afropolitanism Matters.” Africa Today, 62 (2), 2017, pp. 2-21.Search in Google Scholar
Skinner, Ryan Thomas. “The Afropolitan Elite.” Meetup, 20 December 2015, www.meetup.com/The-Afropolitan-Elite/.10.2979/reseafrilite.46.2.15Search in Google Scholar
Skinner, Ryan Thomas. “The London Afropolitans.” Meetup, 2 April 2016, www.meetup.com/London-Afropolitans/.Search in Google Scholar
Skinner, Ryan Thomas. “Random Afropolitan Childhood Memories.” The Thrifty Afropolitan. 4 June 2016, www.thethriftyafropolitan.com/.Search in Google Scholar
Toivanen, Anna-Leena. “Cosmopolitanism’s New Clothes? The Limits of the Concept of Afropolitanism.” European Journal of English Studies, vol. 21, no. 2, pp. 189-205.10.1080/13825577.2017.1344475Search in Google Scholar
Umebinyuo, Ijeoma. “Diaspora Blues.” Questions for Ada. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.Search in Google Scholar
Umebinyuo, Ijeoma. “Vibes on the ROOF: East-London’s Cultural Secret.” Yemzi (Facebook), 28 June 2016, www.facebook.com/events/1588283964804688/?active_tab=discussion.Search in Google Scholar
Wawrzinek, Jennifer & Makokha, J.K.S. Editors. Negotiating Afropolitanism: Essays on Borders and Spaces in Contemporary African Literature and Folklore. Rodopi, 2011.10.1163/9789042032231Search in Google Scholar
Wasihun, Betiel. “Afropolitan Writing.” Handbook of Transatlantic North American Studies, edited by Straub, Julia, De Gruyter, 2016, pp. 391-410.Search in Google Scholar
Weate, Jeremy. “Achille Mbembe and the Postcolony: Going beyond the Text.” Research in African Literatures, vol. 34, no. 4, 2003, pp. 27-41.10.2979/RAL.2003.34.4.27Search in Google Scholar
Werbner, Pnina. “The Dialectics of Urban Cosmopolitanism: Between Tolerance and Intolerance in Cities of Strangers.” Identities, vol. 22, no. 5, 2015, pp. 569-87.10.1080/1070289X.2014.975712Search in Google Scholar
Wright, Michelle. “Middle Passage Blackness and Its Diasporic Discontents: The Case for a Postwar Epistemology.” Africa in Europe: Studies in Transnational Practice in the Long Twentieth Century, edited by Aitken, Robbie & Rosenhaft, Eve, Liverpool University Press, 2013, pp. 217-33.Search in Google Scholar
Wright, Michelle. Physics of Blackness: Beyond the Middle Passage Epistemology. University of Minnesota Press, 2015.10.5749/minnesota/9780816687268.001.0001Search in Google Scholar
Zeleza, Paul Tiyambe.“African Diasporas: Towards a Global History.” African Studies Review, vol. 53, no. 1, 2010, pp. 1-19.10.1353/arw.0.0274Search in Google Scholar
© 2019 Gladys Akom Ankobrey, published by De Gruyter Open
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Public License.
