Panel 105: Celebrating Fifty Years of Independence: The Politics of National Commemoration in Africa

In 2010, seventeen African states are celebrating their independence jubilees. These events invite an exploration of the politics and poetics of commemoration, which are an integral part of the nation-building process. The debates surrounding the festivities’ organisation, and the imagery and performances they employ, reflect the fault lines with which African nation-states have to contend such as competing political orientations, issues of social class and gender, and religious, regional and ethnic diversity. At the same time, the celebrations in themselves represent constitutive and cathartic moments of nation-building, aiming to en-hance citizens’ emotional attachments to the country, and inviting to remember, re-enact and re-redefine national history. They become a forum of debate about what should constitute the norms and values making up national identity, and, provide space for the articulation of new demands for public recognition. A study of the independence celebrations thus enables scho-lars to explore contested processes of nation-building and images of nationhood.

We invite contributions that provide a comparative perspective on the politics of memory, particularly on the organisation of the independence jubilees. Papers might explore

− strategies of referring to the pre-colonial and colonial past (e.g. an emphasis on continuities or ruptures with the present); − ways of linking national and regional or ethnic identities (e.g. concepts of ‘unity in diversity’ versus ‘unity through homogeneity’); − styles of communication and public debates on (national) history and cultural representations of the nation; − tensions between ‘branding’ unique nations and international, travelling models of festive formats.