Pan-Africanism or Black internationalism? Evoking African political thought as political activism

Abstract

The article examines the ideas of Pan-Africanism and Black internationalism as African political thought and core concepts in African International Relations. They acquire significant meaning through their framing as political activism or as theoretical frameworks aimed at advancing social and political change. Pan-Africanism has been understood as an idea and a movement for African peoples’ self-determination and solidarity worldwide and has been linked to the concept of internationalism, specifically Black internationalism. Both concepts call for solidarity between Africa and its diasporas worldwide, and they both evoke the ideals of self-determination and Black liberation. The article argues that the two concepts are deployed not as problem-solving theories but rather as intellectual activism. They are central pillars of African intellectual exercises that seek to change or transform the international system to reflect the experiences of Africans and Black people, who have historically been marginalized in both scholarship and practices of international politics.