The Global Politics of African Identity: Pan-Africanism and the Challenge of Afropolitanism

Seminar Series

04 October 2023

15:30 - 17:00

In-person
Chrystal Macmillan Building, Seminar Room 1

Speaker: Dr Farai Chipato (University of Bristol)

Discussant: Dr Sam Spiegel, CAS, University of Edinburgh

Chair: Dr George Karekwaivanane, CAS, University of Edinburgh

The paper examines the development of Pan-Africanism, and foundational ideas of race,

modernity and identity that remain as important elements of some strains of the ideology. This

is further explored by examining the relationship between these ideas and the rise of nativism,

demonstrating the ways that essentialist conceptions of African identity can justify violence and

authoritarianism.

Finally, it stages an engagement between Pan-Africanism and Afropolitanism,

examining the ways that Afropolitan approaches provide an important critique of nativist forms

of Pan-Africanism, as well as offering more productive ways of engaging with African identity.

When: Wednesday 4th October 2023 (3.30pm-5pm BST)

Where: Chrystal Macmillan Building, Seminar Room 1

To attend this event: Please register in advance on Eventbrite.

Speaker Biography:

Dr Farai Chipato is a lecturer in Black Geographies at the School of Geographical and Earth Sciences, University of Glasgow. Prior to that, he was an Alex Trebek Postdoctoral Fellow at the Centre for International Policy Studies at the University of Ottawa. His research interests include international development, democracy promotion and Black and African political thought. His work has been published in Security Dialogue, Third World Quarterly, Global Society and Political Geography.

He gained his doctorate at the School of Politics and International Relations at Queen Mary University of London, supervised by Clive Gabay and David Williams. He also has an MA in International Politics from the University of Manchester and a BA(Hons) in History and Politics from the University of Liverpool.

Before entering academia, he worked in local government economic policy in the public sector and in evaluation, strategy development and project appraisal in the private sector, across a range of projects.