Abstract

SOUDIEN, Crain. Renaissances, African and modern: Gandhi as a resource?. Historia [online]. 2009, vol.54, n.1, pp.92-111. ISSN 2309-8392.

The purpose of this article is to understand the significance of Gandhi for the discussion about the African Renaissance. The article begins with the argument that the critical process of self-reflection begun in India about its past as a resource for imagining its future is central to any possibility of a renaissance in Africa. It draws on Gandhi in terms of what an examination of his central ideas might tell us about a future post-colonial Africa. Two of these ideas relate to the role of women in society and the attendant impact this view has on dominant masculinist tropes found in colonial historiography. Using these, the article looks at Gandhi not for the political and strategic choices he makes, but for understanding the kind of ethical identity or, the humanness which Gandhi's life represents.

Keywords : African historiography; African modernities; African politics; African Renaissance; African Studies; cultural studies; Gandhi and Africa; Gandhi and masculinity; post-colonialism; South-South relations.

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