Africanism, noun

/ˈæfrɪkənɪzm/
Origin:
EnglishShow more African noun1 sense 1 + English suffix -ism, forming the name of a system or theory.
A philosophical and political creed based on the belief that Black African values should predominate in Africa and that Black Africans should achieve political control without assistance from White people. See also PAC. Cf. Black Consciousness.
1952 Z. Mothopeng in Drum July 10The present basis of the struggle is Africanism — we must broaden the basis.
1957 W.M. Hailey Afr. Survey 251It seems advisable on this occasion to give prominence to the use of the term ‘Africanism’ rather than ‘nationalism’.
1959 Cape Times 14 Apr. 8Africanism can be accepted as a solution in one sense, viz. that Africa in future must belong to the Africans, that is to those peoples who have chosen Africa as their home.
1964 M. Benson Afr. Patriots 243‘Africanism’ had an obvious emotional appeal especially to younger men, not only in a negative retaliation to Afrikaner nationalism but in positive identification with what was happening in other African countries.
1986 P. Maylam Hist. of Afr. People 184Africanism in the 1940s found its main institutional expression in the ANC’s Youth League.
1986 Sowetan 17 Nov. 2More than 1 000 SA Black Municipal and Allied Workers delegates yesterday adopted Africanism as a ‘guiding factor’ in the black liberation struggle.
1988 P. Lawrence in Saturday Star 9 July 11Africanism..sees the struggle in South Africa as primarily a struggle against colonialism and for ‘national liberation and self-determination’ of the indigenous people.
1990 Weekend Argus 17 Feb. 13Some..proclaim a policy of ‘non-racialism’ and others..a more racially exclusive one of ‘Africanism’.
A philosophical and political creed based on the belief that Black African values should predominate in Africa and that Black Africans should achieve political control without assistance from White people.
Entry Navigation

Visualise Quotations

Quotation summary

Senses

19521990

Browse Related Words

By Category

Ethos and Ideology

By Origin

English
African daisy, noun phrasen. phr.Africanist, nounn. & adjectiveadj.
Copyright © 2025 Dictionary Unit for South African English