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African Renaissance (lead theme: The Slavery Debate Continues) Vol 7 Nos 3-4 2010

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ISSN : 1744-2532 (Print) 2516-5305 (Online)

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The slavery debate, especially as it concerns the demand for reparation, was recently re-ignited by Henry Gates Jnr in an Op-ed to the New York Times on April 22 2010 (‘Ending the Slavery Blame Game’) where he contended that the role played by Africans is often underplayed in the slavery blame game. He argued:

Advocates of reparations for the descendants of those slaves generally ignore this untidy problem of the significant role that Africans played in the trade, choosing to believe the romanticized version that our ancestors were all kidnapped unawares by evil white men, like Kunta Kinte was in “Roots.” The truth, however, is much more complex: slavery was a business, highly organized and lucrative for European buyers and African sellers alike. (Gates Jnr: 2010)

Gates contended that that the complicity of Africans makes it difficult to talk about reparation as it would be difficult to determine the level of culpability of the White slave dealers and their African counterparts. Understandably various reactions followed the opinion piece from Professor Gates’s piece.

In this edition we have brought two articles that are in many ways relevant to the slavery discussion. While they are not specifically contributions to the debate on reparation, we believe they will help to shed light on the complex nature of the subject.

In their contribution, Omar A. Eno & Mohamed A. Enodiscuss how ethnic diversity played a significant role in determining the nature of slaves exported overseas in some African countries, arguing that these slaves carried with them their cultural identities. They note that the “Yoruba exported as slaves to the Americas, to such destinations as Cuba, Brazil, the Caribbean and other parts of the world, carried with them and maintained in the Diaspora at least a considerable portion, if not most, of their African culture and tradition”. This seems to imply that different slaves carried with them different cultural identities, raising in turn the question of the role of these different identities, if any, on the worldview of the slaves.

Ezeibe Christian Chukwuebuka discusses the nexus between child trafficking and African history of extraction, namely slave trade and colonialism and argues that child trafficking in sub Saharan Africa amounts to subtle continuation of slavery. He contends that the “end product of child trafficking obviously is to provide labour /services (child labour / services). The child is usually subjected to all types of inhuman treatment - just like a slave in the process of capture, transport and sale.”

There are four other articles in this edition:

In “Michelle Obama and the Black Female Diaspora: The Most Influential Black Woman in History?”Amadu Jacky Kaba draws several analogies between Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, noting for instance that just as “Barack Obama is the most known male member of the Black World in the 21^st century, so also his wife First Lady Michelle Obama is the most known female member of this racial group.”

In ‘Gender Equity And Food Security’ Tunde IRUONAGBE argues that Africa is already on the throes of food crisis, arguing that whileagricultural production and population grew at annual rates of approximately 3.3 percent between 1985 and 2000, per capita food production increasingly declined. O.K. EDU discusses corporate social responsibility, using the multinational companies in the Niger Delta as a case study. He argues that while the MNCs have been involved in some corporate social responsibility projects like the award of scholarships, building of classroom blocks and cottage hospital and construction of roads, many of the projects they are involved in are either inappropriate for the communities that are supposed to be the beneficiaries while the fundamental needs of the benefitting communities or poorly designed and incompetently executed.

In ‘Surveying through the Narratives of African Identity’ Mohamed A. Eno and Omar A. Eno discuss the issue of African identity , noting that “immigration, whether voluntary or forced, has taken its toll on the formation of African identity”. A.A. Karim and Muhammad Nasiru Adeoye discuss the imperative of inter-religious dialogue in a multi-faith country like Nigeria. They contend that the rising antagonism between Muslim and Christian communities has “reinforced negative stereotypes about religion and culture of both faith communities, and has created important challenges to peace that must be addressed.”

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Reference

Gates, Louis Gates Jnr. (2010): ‘Ending the Slavery Blame Game’, (New York, New York Times

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