One of the major topics of the first three weeks in class has been the creation of African boundaries, especially since everyone had to memorize them for the map quiz last Friday. While we briefly consider the issue in class, some have raised the question why African states do not redraw the boundaries to reflect geographic and ethnic realities on the ground.
A struggle in determining how to re-draw the map is reflected in a recent interactive map published on The Guardian's website. The interactive map demonstrates that one reason countries did not redraw borders following independence is that they would have faced many different demands across the continent and perhaps from within their own territories.
The result was that the Organization for African Unity (OAU) was created to ensure that states would work together for Pan-Africanism, while also ensuring that the colonial borders would remain. Thus in the pursuit of stability, it seems that the OAU may have quashed some of the desires for greater integration that was espoused by leaders such as Nkrumah.
Another thing to consider when playing around with the map (and its tons of fun to use, or maybe that says more about myself than I am willing to admit), is that not all claims of separatism are created equally. Some of these claims are supported by armed groups or a significant portion of the population, while others are small localized movements. If we decided to redraw borders, what would be our guiding principles in doing so?
See? The map quiz could have been a lot more complicated.
A struggle in determining how to re-draw the map is reflected in a recent interactive map published on The Guardian's website. The interactive map demonstrates that one reason countries did not redraw borders following independence is that they would have faced many different demands across the continent and perhaps from within their own territories.
The result was that the Organization for African Unity (OAU) was created to ensure that states would work together for Pan-Africanism, while also ensuring that the colonial borders would remain. Thus in the pursuit of stability, it seems that the OAU may have quashed some of the desires for greater integration that was espoused by leaders such as Nkrumah.
Another thing to consider when playing around with the map (and its tons of fun to use, or maybe that says more about myself than I am willing to admit), is that not all claims of separatism are created equally. Some of these claims are supported by armed groups or a significant portion of the population, while others are small localized movements. If we decided to redraw borders, what would be our guiding principles in doing so?
See? The map quiz could have been a lot more complicated.
