Chiedza Vol 9 No 1 Questioning Nationalism

Abstract

If nationalism was one of the most significant political developments that characterised world political discourse in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, it is important in these early years of the twenty-first century, to question and rethink nationalism• s place in the past in our attempts to understand our present and to construct our future. To this end, this edition of Chiedza is devoted to a critique of nationalism and the many issues that accompany and characterise it. Nationalism in Africa, it is argued, is riddled with contradictions. On the one hand, as an ideology and strategy, sentiment and movement, it undoubtedly contributed to the fall of the European empires. On the other band, nationalism failed to create the stable nation-states that should have grown out of the collapse of these empires. When an idea, an ideology. a strategy fails, we are compelled to seek adequate explanations as to why the intended effects did not materialise. Though mindful of George Santayana's insight that those who cannot remember history are condemned to repeat it, we rethink nationalism not because of fear of condemnation, but that through rethinking the project of nationalism, we can arrive at some insights in our many attempts to construct a different future in the twenty-first century. Nationalism as a subject is complex, bewildering and divisive politically. The very different essays by our contributors are testimony to the multifacetedness of the subject. It is no surprise that the subject in this edition of Chiedza has been approached from historical, political, cultura1, and philosophical standpoints among others Included in this edition are two papers, ''Politics of Identity: Diversity and Exclusion in Africa" and "Identity Politics in South Africa: Lessons from the People" by Paulin Manwelo and Rob Thomson respectively., presented at the Arrupe College annual conference held on 11111 March 2006. The members of Chiedza editorial board express their gratitude to the contributors to this volume. We thank them for leading us in this project of rethinking and questioning nationalism.

Nicholas Hamakalu SJ

Editor