Pan-African Integration from Below: Language, Publics, Culture

Would a decolonial theory of Pan-Africanism that is built from below – that is, from the perspective of lived experiences of diverse African communities of practice (the publics) – facilitate the realisation of the Pan-African dream that has eluded mainstream political initiatives for decades? This book brings linguistic, cultural, and grassroots mediators of identity narratives to the well-trodden, but elusive, project of Pan-Africanism. It pulls together three distinct, yet interrelated, strands of social-scientific theorisation—language, publics, and culture—in crafting the vernacular discourse approach as a fruitful pathway for Pan-Africanism that might work for all. The vernacular discourse approach advanced in this book pays attention to the agency of local actors in carving social, cultural, and...