{"id":39948,"date":"2021-12-20T09:47:40","date_gmt":"2021-12-20T09:47:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jazairhope.org\/?p=39948"},"modified":"2021-12-20T09:47:40","modified_gmt":"2021-12-20T09:47:40","slug":"algeria-and-a-question-of-identity-who-counts-as-african","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jazairhope.org\/en\/algeria-and-a-question-of-identity-who-counts-as-african\/","title":{"rendered":"Algeria and a question of identity: Who counts as African?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"A<\/span>IMAGE SOURCE,<\/span>GETTY IMAGES<\/span><\/div>
Image caption,<\/span><\/p>\n
North African football fans love attending the Africa Cup of Nations tournament<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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In our series of letters from African writers, Algerian-Canadian journalist Maher Mezahi considers what it means to be African as the continent gears up for its biggest football extravaganza.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Short<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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A few weeks ago I stumbled upon a quote from one of the purveyors of pan-Africanism, the late great Kwame Nkrumah, who led his country Ghana to independence in 1957.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“Africa is one continent, one people, and one nation.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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“The notion that in order to have a nation it is necessary for there to be a common language, a common territory and common culture has failed to stand the test of time or the scrutiny of scientific definition of objective reality.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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This passage aroused my interest as I have often tussled with the concept of us Africans identifying with cultures, nationalities and identities beyond those native to the continent.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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That is especially the case on the coastlines where Africans have most interacted with other cultures and nations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The Maghreb, for example, has an indelible Mediterranean flavour while many East Africans link their customs back to merchants of the Arab Gulf and Indian sub-continent.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The recorded history of Cape Verde begins with Portuguese colonial expansion and forced slavery in the 15th Century.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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African v Arab limbo<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n
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I do think the principal reason why Nkrumah outlined the impossibility of a common language, territory and culture for the continent is the size of Africa.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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I only understood that completely after my visits to the Sahara desert.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Anyone that has visited the vast sandy expanse will tell you that it will forever change your life.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Sand<\/span>IMAGE SOURCE,<\/span>GETTY IMAGES<\/span><\/div>
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The vast expanse of the Sahara is awe-inspiring<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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Its immensity will leave you juggling with feelings of solitude, humility and a strange peacefulness.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Its immensity also constructs a very real barrier between North Africa and the rest of the continent.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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I once read that Algiers – Algeria’s capital – is closer to Helsinki than it is to Lagos, closer to Dubai than it is to Nairobi, and closer to New York than it is to Harare.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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In addition to the distance, colonial ties and mass emigration have drawn a subset of Africans into an increasingly common modern-era identity limbo.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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As troubling as it is, I am never really surprised when fellow Africans ask me: “Why don’t North Africans consider themselves African?”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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It is a question I am anticipating as I prepare to head to Cameroon for the Africa Cup of Nations – a football tournament which North Africans love to compete in (Algeria are the current champions).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Admittedly, a minority of North Africans sometimes problematically trumpet their heritage as somehow superior to being “African”, whatever that means.<\/p>\n

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I can hold no sympathy for such views that are best treated with the contempt they merit.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Maher Mezahi<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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In the ongoing 2021 Fifa Arab Cup, some of my African football journalist colleagues have questioned why Algeria are playing in an Arab competition”<\/div>\n