In his 1967 essay “African Socialism Revisited,” Kwame Nkrumah makes a distinction between his own philosophy, Consciencism, and what he characterizes as “African socialism.” Whereas the first president of Ghana saw his project as an effort to build socialism in Africa, he distanced himself from Léopold Senghor's Négritude and Julius Nyerere's Ujamaa, noting provocatively, “‘African socialism’ has now come to acquire some of its greatest publicists in Europe and North America precisely because of its predominant anthropological charm” (Nkrumah 1967). For Nkrumah, the problem with his opponents was an excessive emphasis on the uniqueness of a socialism built on Africa's cultural edifice, which he saw as a deviation from a more pragmatic focus on political economy. His wish to differentiate socialism in and from Africa touches on a central concern in the continent's radical history: which is the qualifier in the relationship between “Africa” and “socialism”? Senghor, an...
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Autumn 2021
August 03 2021
The Place of Socialism in African Art
Álvaro Luís Lima
Álvaro Luís Lima
Álvaro Luís Lima is an assistant professor of African art at the University of Florida and a member of the African Arts editorial consortium. lima@ufl.edu
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Álvaro Luís Lima
Álvaro Luís Lima is an assistant professor of African art at the University of Florida and a member of the African Arts editorial consortium. lima@ufl.edu
Online Issn: 1937-2108
Print Issn: 0001-9933
© 2021 by the Regents of the University of California
2021
Regents of the University of California
African Arts (2021) 54 (3): 10–13.
Citation
Álvaro Luís Lima; The Place of Socialism in African Art. African Arts 2021; 54 (3): 10–13. doi: https://doi.org/10.1162/afar_a_00595
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