The Challenges Faced by Contemporary Pan-African Intelligentsia in the Re-building of Africa
A Nkrumahist Perspective
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Abstract
The African intelligentsia played a pivotal role in the anti-colonial and anti-apartheid struggle in Africa. Not only did it provide intellectual resources to the political struggle leaders but also took active part in the political leadership. Since independence, this role has diminished tremendously, as some of the intelligentsia are ‘silenced’ and others become ‘captured’ by the newly independent states. As a result, a wedge is driven between the intelligentsia and the political leadership. However, given that there is a deficit in efforts to reconstruct Africa, the pan-African intelligentsia are called upon to reinvigorate and reposition themselves to assist in developing organisations and institutions to serve African people worldwide. This call challenges them to take a creative, innovative role in the reconstructive task of Africa, thereby bidding farewell to intellectual isolationism. The article draws from Kwame Nkrumah’s ideas, thereby affirming the relevance of his political ideas in contemporary Africa.
Contributor Notes
Ezekiel S. Mkhwanazi is a senior lecturer in Philosophy at the University of South Africa, in Pretoria. He obtained his Master’s degree in philosophy at Louvain in Belgium and his doctoral degree in 2016 at the University of South Africa. The title of his doctoral dissertation is Nkrumah and Levinas in Dialogue over the Primacy of the Other: An African Philosophical Perspective. His research interests include African philosophy, History of Western Philosophy, Social philosophy, Phenomenology, Existentialism, Philosophy of Kwame Nkrumah and Emmanuel Levinas. E-mail: Mkhwaesn@unisa.ac.za