African colonial boundaries and nation-building

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorGbenenye, Emmanuel M
dc.date.accessioned2020-01-17T07:05:12Z
dc.date.available2020-01-17T07:05:12Z
dc.date.issued2016-01
dc.descriptionPeer reviewed article published under Inkanyiso journal, Volume 8 Number 2, Jan 2016, p. 117 –124en_US
dc.description.abstractThis paper is an attempt to examine the consequences of the Berlin Colonial Conference of 1884-1885 as an artificial creation and indicate that this artificatility has created a number of problems that bedevil nation-building in Africa today. The paper has adopted qualitative content analysis of archival material, national dailies and some secondary sources. The first concern is the fact that some of these boundaries cut across pre-existing ethnic groups, states and kingdoms. This has caused widespread social disruption and displacement. Today, some of the Ewe live in Ghana, some in Togo and some in Benin Republic. The Somalia are shared among Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia. The Senufo are found in Mali, Cote d’Ivoir and Burkina Faso. The examples can be multiplied. The paper highlights the consequences of this situation to include border disputes that have plagued the relationship between some independent African states such as those between Sudan and Uganda, between Somalia and Ethiopia, between Kenya and Somalia, between Ghana and Togo, between Nigeria and Cameroon, in particular over the Bakassi Peninsula. There is also the factor of France’s political and economic stranglehold, on her former colonies in particular. The 1961 bilateral agreement between France and her former colonies was to retain close military, economic and cultural ties. The aim of France is to inhibit the growth and stability of the ECOWAS as a sub-regional economic integration. The paper argues that this Francophone dichotomy is a divisive tendency that contributes to territorial disputes, border skirmishes, unguarded border posts and patrols, smugglings, the menace of refugees and illegal aliens on Nigeria. The case of Cameroon is more illustrative than tjat of other Francophone states. It is our findings that because of the artificiality and arbitrary nature of these boundaries, each of the African nation states is made up of people of diverse cultural backgrounds, traditions of origin and languages that pose the problem of nation-building in modern African states.en_US
dc.identifier.citationGbenenye, E.M., 2016. African colonial boundaries and nation-building. Inkanyiso: Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 8(2), pp.117-124.en_US
dc.identifier.issn2077-2815
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10530/1897
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC-64d7c2bdd
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherUniversity of Zululanden_US
dc.subjectBerlin Colonial conferenceen_US
dc.subjectartificial creationen_US
dc.subjectwidespread social disruption and displacementen_US
dc.subjectborder disputes and problem of nation-buildingen_US
dc.titleAfrican colonial boundaries and nation-buildingen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
African colonial boundaries and nation building.pdf
Size:
183.52 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
African colonial boundaries and nation-building
Download
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
license.txt
Size:
1.71 KB
Format:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Description:
Download
Collections
Articles