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Pan-Africanism has been a global project aiming to unite people of African descent since the late nineteenth century. Notions of Black and African arts and aesthetics have functioned as a bridge and brought positive identification across national, ethnic, or class divides even when rifts have appeared unbridgeable. They were able to mediate Africanity positively, both prior to and during the struggle for liberation and at times when the dream of a unified African nation died. This study explores central aspects, proponents, and opponents of Pan-African aesthetics and shows that conceptualizations of Black, African, and Afrocentric aesthetics form a kaleidoscope that is constantly changing. Based on historical sources, in-depth reading and qualitative interviews, the study illustrates what happened to the discussions in the postcolonial era. The story of unfolds along the life paths and approaches of four intellectuals from Anglophone and Francophone Africa. Their framings can tell us more about the underlying themes, contestations, and contradictions of emancipatory projects in the mid-twentieth century and show us that the study of Pan-Africanism is not yet exhausted; neither is the history of the idea and the movement.
About the author
Lena Dallywater
is associate researcher at the Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography Leipzig. Her research focuses on African and African-American intellectual history, Pan-Africanism, liberation movements, and transregional solidarity networks. Most recently, she published
Communist Actors in African Decolonial Transitions. Comparative Perspective
s (2025, co-edited with Helder Adegar Fonseca and Chris Saunders).
Summary
Pan-Africanism has been a global project aiming to unite people of African descent since the late nineteenth century. Notions of Black and African arts and aesthetics have functioned as a bridge and brought positive identification across national, ethnic, or class divides even when rifts have appeared unbridgeable. They were able to mediate Africanity positively, both prior to and during the struggle for liberation and at times when the dream of a unified African nation died. This study explores central aspects, proponents, and opponents of Pan-African aesthetics and shows that conceptualizations of Black, African, and Afrocentric aesthetics form a kaleidoscope that is constantly changing. Based on historical sources, in-depth reading and qualitative interviews, the study illustrates what happened to the discussions in the postcolonial era. The story unfolds along the life paths and approaches of four intellectuals from Anglophone and Francophone Africa. Their framings can tell us more about the underlying themes, contestations, and contradictions of emancipatory projects in the mid-twentieth century and show us that the study of Pan-Africanism is not yet exhausted; neither is the history of the idea and the movement.ntradictions of emancipatory projects in the mid-twentieth century and show us that the study of Pan-Africanism is not yet exhausted; neither is the history of the idea and the movement.
