African nationalism can be grouped into two stages or phases, namely.
(1) Nationalism before 1945
(2) Nationalism after 1945 i.e after WWII
ORIGIN OF AFRICAN NATIONALISM
The origin of African nationalism can be traced back from the early African resistance in which most of African societies took up arms to fight and gain their freedom which was lost during the colonial occupation. Nationalism happened at the time when people became united beyond tribal level for a common purpose against colonialism with intention to gain self-national independence.
African Nationalism before 1945
Refers to the elementary and primitive ways of regaining African lost independence.
African nationalism at this time was characterized by Tribalism, classes, regionalism and the like.
These forms of demanding independence were disorganized and since they had no national or collective agenda they lacked national unity and thus they were easily crushed.
Characteristics of the Anti-colonial Movements Before 1945.
i. They were characterized by Tribalism and Ethnicity.
By this time nationalism was at the level individual tribes, ethnic groups, welfare associations and independent church movements. Since this form of struggle was based much on ethnicity and tribalism therefore the movement lacked national scope and these movement were easily crushed by the colonialists.
ii. They were apolitical and most of them lacked a clear political focus.
That is to say, they lacked political agenda, they were fighting for social welfare of their society E.g High wages, land alienation, cultural alienation, F,GM and the like example the Kikuyu in Kenya formed the Central Kikuyu Association (C.K. A) in 1920s to fight against land alienation, low wages, right to grow certain cash crops and the like in Kenya but the association did not fight for the interests of all Kenyans.
iii. Lacked well-organized and systematic form of resistance.
-most of them were sporadic
They were all the result of internal grievances such as cattle confiscation and land alienation.
iv. They were motivated by the need to restore the pre-colonial order. For example the Nama and Herero, the C.K.A, the Abushiri and Bwana Heri resistances to mention but a few.
v. Most of the early form of African nationalism (Anti-colonial movements) were easily suppressed by the colonialists For Example the Majimaji (1905-1907) resistance, the Chimurenga (1896-1897), Samori Toure’s resistance (1891-1898), Nama and Herero (1904-1907) and the like.
vi. They were elites based. They were mostly organized by those who were working for the colonial government in urban areas. They organized themselves and begun to ask for their rights. The interests they represented were mainly related to the cooperation with colonialism. E.g. Harry Thuku a clerk in colonial government services, in1922 he founded the Young Kikuyu Association in Nairobi Kenya.
vii. Poorly organized. They lacked well organized and systematic form of resistance. Most of the causes of the uprising were sporadic in nature and generated internally rather than externally e.g. cattle confiscation, land alienation, cultural interference and others.
