Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Zajaczkowski, Andrzej

Titel

Black Africa -- Questions of the Nation and the State

Ist Teil von

• Studia socjologiczne, 1981-01, p.181-200

Erscheinungsjahr

1981

Quelle

Sociological Abstracts

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• According to Ferdinand Tonnies, the concept of "nation" denotes a community (Gemeinschaft) characterized by a particularly high & emotional identification. It differs from other communities, eg, religious, in its philosophical orientation to history & worldliness. The functioning of the nation requires organization, & therefore, a strong connection between the national community & the state (Gesellschaft). In Africa, the basic community is a tribe, ie, an ethnic group similar to a religious community due to its transcendental, cosmological orientation. The contemporary African state is an agglomeration of ethnic groups of tribal nature. It denotes the primacy of regional interests of each of them over others & the superior organization of the state. The result of this traditional ethnocentrism & cultural homogeny is the existence of tribal monopolies of economic & political authority. Slogans of national integration are now widely propagated in the independent African states, but these derive from aspirations of the ruling elites, whose survival is dependent on the state. Integration is opposed not only by tribalism, but also by political isolation of the elites. The elements of the nation are found in ethnic groups, not individuals or political elites. 14 References. J. Syzmanska & D. Pawlowska