STUDIES IN AFRICA DIASPORA AND PAN- AFRICANISM

PROGRAM : BACHELOR OF EDUCATION(ARTS)

COURSE CODE : HIST 321

LECTURER’S NAME : DR. LUCY

GROUP NAME : GROUP 2

TASK : GROUP ASSIGNMENT

SEMESTER : 3/2022

SUBMISSION DATE : 18/11/2022

Group Members

Gregory Naluka L. EDA-1-5355-3/2020

Bosire Kelvin EDA-1-6248-3/2020

Vitalis Othieno EDA-1-6195-3/2020

Kelvin Muchiri EDN-1-6103-3/2020

Victor Kipkoech EDA-1-5370-3/2020

Question

Explain the challenges facing Africans in Diaspora. As well explain impacts of African Diaspora

to continent Africa and the rest of the world.

Africans in Diaspora means a collection of the voluntary and involuntary movement of Africans

and their descendants to various parts of the world during the modern and pre-modern

periods.

African diaspora groups have become the subject of increased attention. The history of their

migration is different from other migrants who came here for work from other countries.

Africans came either in ancient times as slaves and later as either students to further their

education and improve their job opportunities back home, as overseas workers, as political

asylum running away from oppressive governments or as refugees following wars in their

countries. To this day, many African political leaders, professionals and academics were

educated in countries such as UK and the US. There is limited knowledge of how people of

African diaspora dealt with aspect of their race, class and nationality. Their experiences is

generally simplistically compared to those of the local black.

Africans in diaspora almost share common challenges as addressed in this article.

American capitalism needed Black labor. This is the link between America and the imperative of

labor. In its maturation in the twentieth century American democracy needed the civil rights

movement and deradicalization to realize its original concept that "all men are created equal."

It was Blacks who held American democracy accountable to its own ultimate ideals. The echoes
were heard all over Africa in the new Afro-World Wide Web. The Afro-Atlantic paradigm was at

work again.

The civil rights movement fed into the feminist movement. Young capitalism often needed

young black labor; but more mature U.S. democracy needed more mature Black stimulation.

The World Wide Web has forged U.S. links. The African presence in America has also deeply

influenced music, literature, food culture, sports and the performing arts.

The great majority of African Americans are a product of the Diaspora of Enslavement. The

term "African Americans" can be either hemispheric (meaning all descendants of enslavement

in the Americas) or national (meaning all descendants of enslavement in the United States).

American Africans (or America-Africans) on the other hand, are products of the Diaspora of

Colonization. They are usually first- or second-generation immigrants from Africa to the

Americas. They may be citizens or permanent residents of Western hemisphere countries.

Enslavement meant much suffering.

The issue of labor gave birth to human trafficking inform of slave trade. This movement can be

considered as what triggered the constitutionalism of the first African group out of Africa. This

resulted in the establishment of the Africans in Diaspora, and they always felt themselves to

belong to the same community. The members of the diaspora are not attached to a specific

country in African, but they all view themselves as Africa1.During the colonial period, the

Africans established strong relationships, which are still inexistence today, with their colonial

masters. These relationships helped to strengthen both the social and economic ties between

the countries involved. However, the European countries were benefiting more at that time
compared to their African counterparts. The Europeans exploited Africans, enslaved them and

took their resources away. The cultural and economic bonds created later facilitated the

movement of Africans into these European countries and facilitated the creation of an African

diaspora in Europe. This is the reason why a significant number of African diasporas can be

found in European countries which have an African colonial history

Social Inequalities, Xenophobia, Stigmatization and

Discrimination

Nelson Mandela, shortly after becoming the first democratically elected president of South

Africa, spoke to both his countrymen and women—indeed, for Africans everywhere—when he

declared, “We must work together to ensure the equitable distribution of wealth, opportunity

and power in our society.” This statement illustrates the need to link peace-building with social

inclusion, balanced power relations, the fight against all forms of discrimination, and the

promotion of regional solidarity and integration.

One obstacle to higher incomes for all has been the region’s entrenched economic and social

inequalities. The contrast between the visible wealth of elites and the daily misery of most

ordinary people makes the disparities seem unjust, driving popular anger and contributing to

protest and rebellion. The root causes of inequality are rarely the same from country to country

and may include restricted access to land, capital and markets; inequitable tax systems;

excessive vulnerability to unfavorable global markets; rampant corruption; and the patrimonial
allocation of public resources. Although gender inequalities exist in all countries and are

particularly severe in Africa, they are generally underestimated in most standard measures,

which rely on household income or consumption data. Such estimates tend to assume equal

spending powers among all family members.

On the one hand, the increase in various forms of violent conflicts – essentially non-state

conflicts – across sub-Saharan Africa has led scholars and policy makers to raise questions

about the correlations between demography, social exclusion and inequalities, peace and

security. In regions such as the Sahel, peace and development have in recent years been

threatened by increasing internal and cross borders security challenges including armed

conflicts, extreme terrorist attacks (by jihadist groups such as Boko Haram, Al Qaeda, or IS-

affiliated groups, and the separatist Tuareg rebel) and organized crime. The region has

observed a devastating surge in terrorist attacks, with its so-called Sahel countries such as Mali,

Niger and Burkina Faso witnessing terrorist-related casualties increasing fivefold since 2016 (UN

News, 2020). The situation is further exacerbated by environmental degradation, poor

governance, and social inequalities.

Racial discrimination fuels worse mental health among African migrants living in China.

Discrimination and stigma affect health by increasing stress and depriving access to needed

services and protective resources. Many Chinese people maintain stereotypes toward Africans

partly due to the minimal contact they have with them but also because of the color of their

skin. For some, Africans are viewed as having a propensity to violence and posing risks to public
health through spreading diseases.5 Discrimination is seen in business interactions and in their

daily life (to rent apartments, to take a taxi, to go to restaurants).cans in south China face social

and health barriers

The largest African diaspora in Asia resides in Guangzhou. Estimates for the population of

Africans living in Guangzhou vary greatly—ranging from 20 000 who have temporary residency

status to 130 000 when including short-term and irregular migrants. These numbers are most

probably underestimating: the size of this population is difficult to discern given the transient

nature of the community. Racial discrimination, restrictive visa policies, and poor access to

health care are key issues affecting migrants’ quality of life.

Language barrier A language barrier is any linguistic limitation that creates confusion or

prevents comprehension. A barrier could refer to national and cultural languages, but it may

also include specialized knowledge or speech impairments. Whatever the source of the

problem, it's crucial to identify language barriers and manage them. Africans faced language

barrier since most of them only knew their native languages especially those who were

transported from Africans as slaves.

Police brutality

Police brutality toward Blacks in the United States is not new. However, in the absence of a

standard definition or good data, the extent of police brutality remains difficult to quantify.

Historical evidence of public harming of Black bodies by police dates back at least to the era of

slavery, when police disciplined Blacks and recaptured those who escaped enslavement.1 With

current technology, police killing of Black people is recorded for public scrutiny and
consumption. Access to these videos has led to unprecedented public discourse on what

constitutes brutality, its connections to White supremacy, and the consequences for Black lives.

After a former police officer was found guilty of murder over the death of George Floyd, there's

a renewed focus on the experience of African-Americans when it comes to law enforcement in

the US.

Inequality mostly in jobs and education sector

higher education partnerships have become too elitist, with national and institutional

authorities in Africa expressing a clear preference for collaboration with countries and

universities that are highly positioned within the world academic ranking systems.

“This is a clear signal that higher education partnerships have developed and consolidated

unequal power balances that restrict linkages that would promote inclusion and social justice

Slavery

Beginning in the 8th century, Arabs took African slaves from the central and eastern portions of

the African continent (where they were known as the Zanj) and sold them into markets in

the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent, and the Far East. Beginning in the 15th century,

Europeans captured or bought African slaves from West Africa and brought them to the

Americas and to Europe. The Atlantic slave trade ended in the 19th century.[44] The dispersal

through slave trading represents the largest forced migrations in human history. The economic

effect on the African continent proved devastating, as generations of young people were taken

from their communities and societies were disrupted. Some communities formed by
descendants of African slaves in the Americas, Europe, and Asia have survived to the present

day. In other cases, native Africans intermarried with non-native Africans, and their

descendants blended into the local population.

Cultural differences

As members of the Diasporas come from different countries in Africa with distinct cultures,

sometimes it has proved to be a challenge for them in adopting some of the western cultures.

These cultures often define their interaction with the communities found in the host country.

Often, it might take quite sometimes for the diasporas to adopt such cultures 1.

these African ancestors landed in regions that featured different local foods and cuisines, as

well as other cultural influences, that shaped their unique cooking styles. The overall pattern of

a plant-based, colorful diet based on vegetables, fruits, tubers and grains, nuts, healthy oils and

seafood (where available) was shared throughout these four regions, but their cultural

distinctions have reason to be celebrated. Their tastes can be shared and tried by people

everywhere.

The US prison population is defined as inmates sentenced to more than a year in a federal or

state prison.

Imprisonment rates have dropped for African-Americans over the last decade, but they still

make up more of the prison population than any other race.

More African-Americans are imprisoned

African-Americans are imprisoned at five times the rate of white Americans and twice the rate

of Hispanic-Americans, according to the latest data.

African-Americans are more likely to be pulled over

Studies have shown that black people are more likely to be pulled over in traffic stops by police.

One of the most recent, a 2020 study by Stanford University, analyzed 100 million traffic stops

by police departments across the US, and found black drivers were about 20% more likely to be

stopped than white drivers.

The study also found that once stopped, black drivers were searched up to two times as often

as white drivers, although they were statistically less likely to be carrying illegal items.

African-Americans are arrested at a higher rate for drug abuse

African-Americans are arrested for drug abuse at a much higher rate than white Americans,

although surveys show drugs are used at similar levels.

Impacts of African diaspora to the world

Partnerships between China and African countries create economic opportunities. Decreasing

racial discrimination through increased intercultural exchanges, revising visa policies, and

improving access to health care could improve African migrants’ lives.

One development in black internationalism—the emergence of the concept of the "Black

Atlantic"—figures in the future of Pan-Africanism. The idea was originally introduced by black

British scholars, most famously Paul Gilroy, who emerged from the Cultural Studies group

under the leadership of Stuart Hall at Birmingham University and whose work focuses heavily

on African American and black British literature and popular culture.

The notion of the Black Atlantic injected new life into attempts to examine the historical

formations outside of the analytic framework of the nation-state by highlighting the singular

importance of the legacy of the Middle Passage and African slavery around the Atlantic. In Black

Atlantic (1993), Gilroy offered a compelling critique of the increasingly unproductive impasse

between "essentialist" and "anti-essentialist" positions on racial and ethnic difference and what

became known in the late twentieth century as "identity politics." Many of the insights—as well

as the potential pitfalls—of this approach have been picked up by academics in the Americas,

and especially the United States. For example, Brent Hayes Edwards expands on this

scholarship while also exposing the tendency of much work on the African diaspora to

overemphasize similarities and obscure differences rather than recognizing the management of

difference (cultural, economic, linguistic, etc.) as an inescapable and, indeed, constitutive

aspect of the elaboration of any particular vision of diaspora.

During the colonial period, the Africans established strong relationships, which are still in

existence today, with their colonial masters. These relationships helped to strengthen both the

social and economic ties between the countries involved. However, the European countries

were benefiting more at that time compared to their African counterparts. The Europeans

exploited Africans, enslaved them and took their resources away. The cultural and economic

bonds created later facilitated the movement of Africans into these European countries and

facilitated the creation of an African diaspora in Europe. This is the reason why a significant

number of African diasporas can be found in European countries which have an African colonial

history.1

During the early periods of the post-independence era and the late colonial period, Africans

were willingly migrating to Europe and North America. Their move was based on different

reasons including to search for good jobs and education. In fact, the western culture was so

highly valued that then Africans were willing to learn and understand it better. Back at home in

Africa, many people had to start adopting it and incorporate it into their ways of life.

The African Diaspora represent one of the most active groups of communities outside their

countries. The group has put much effort to reconnect with their mother countries. They want

to see economic development in the countries where they came from. In an attempt to see this,

happen, they have always been participating in economic development forums which are held

between their mother states and the states they live in currently. The African diaspora has also

put so much effort on ensuring that democracy is upheld in Africa. Most of the African

countries are led by leaders who don’t want to give out power or rather leaders who do not

1
recognize democratic rights of their citizens. The Africans in the diaspora have always taken a

front line in condemning such kind of leaders. Also, for the African Diaspora to ensure

democracy is upheld, they have always taken part and participated in choosing the people to

lead them in their mother countries. By so doing, they demonstrate that they care and want to

facilitate democracy in their mother countries.

4. Creativity

They learn how to apply creative solutions to both simple and complex problems. This could be

as simple as acting out charades to communicate with a Spanish speaker, or as complex as

creating a workshop to identify environmental issues in your host country. Either way, you will

learn unique techniques to demonstrate to future employers that you can solve problems

innovatively.

Economic support to the country - This means applying differentiated policies, to differentiated

needs - highlighting the importance of programs that take into account the interdependence

between different sectors (for example matching investments in road paving with the location

of schools) and the relationships between the different government levels.

Individual development

Promotion of trade and foreign direct investment

Foreign direct investment (FDI) has proved to be resilient during financial crises. For instance, in

East Asian countries, such investment was remarkably stable during the global financial crises of

1997-98. In sharp contrast, other forms of private capital flows—portfolio equity and debt
flows, and particularly short-term flows—were subject to large reversals during the same

period 

FDI allows the transfer of technology—particularly in the form of new varieties of capital inputs

—that cannot be achieved through financial investments or trade in goods and services. FDI can

also promote competition in the domestic input market.

Recipients of FDI often gain employee training in the course of operating the new businesses,

which contributes to human capital development in the host country.

Profits generated by FDI contribute to corporate tax revenues in the host country.

Creates business

Technological impacts, knowledge Until now, Africa and its diasporas have often been

presented as distinct groups, separated by oceans, that have had only sporadic contact during

brief historical moments. The writers of the new volumes of the General History of Africa wish

to break with this binary and simplistic perspective of relations between Africa and its diasporas

Brain drain

Brain drain is defined as the migration of health personnel in search of the better standard of

living and quality of life, higher salaries, access to advanced technology and more stable

political conditions in different places worldwide

Brain drain occurs when there is a lack of opportunity in a certain area. For

instance, professionals living in a developing nation may leave in search of better

opportunities in parts of the developed world.

In conclusion, it is true that the presence of a relationship between the African diasporas and

their offspring exists. The diasporas recall their motherland issues and also their people and any

corporate they have in their homeland.

References

 Palmer, Colin A. "Defining and studying the modern African diaspora." The Journal of Negro

History 85.1-2 (2000): 27-32.

 Koser, Khalid. "New African diasporas: an introduction." New African Diasporas. Routledge,

2003. 21-36.

 Matsuoka, Atsuko Karin, and John Sorenson. Ghosts and shadows: Construction of identity and

community in an African diaspora. University of Toronto Press, 2001.

 King, Joyce Elaine. "Diaspora literacy and consciousness in the struggle against miseducation in

the Black community." The Journal of Negro Education 61.3 (1992): 317-340.

 Edwards, Brent Hayes. "The uses of diaspora." Social Text 19.1 (2001): 45-73.