US-Africa relations over the last century: an African perspective

Social Research, Winter, 2005 by Sulayman S. Nyang

One most widely known case is that of Kenyan-born Ali a. Mazrui. This African Muslim may well be remembered as the most famous beneficiary of this endowment at the State University of New York at Binghamton. Mazrui has written about the circumstances which led to his selection by Governor Mario Cuomo and the feelings he had about the man whose reputation and legacy he to some extent now embodies. Reading the writings of Mazrui over the years and being somewhat familiar with the writings of Albert Schweitzer, one is tempted to conclude that history has a way of humbling us through the gradual exposure of our ignorance of what the future holds and of humanizing us through the paradoxes and ironies that are part of the larger history of unintended consequences. Africa-America relations, as indicated in the sagas of Azikwe and Nkrumah, have made it categorically clear that these two geographic zones and peoples are inextricably linked by the sins of the past as well as the potentials that lie deeply buried in the wombs of these two partners in the trilateral relationship between Africa, America, and Europe. Whatever the future holds for both parties, the fact remains that African perceptions of America is going to be determined both by the forces of globalization and by the mutual feelings on either side of the Atlantic Ocean.

With respect to East and Southern Africa, one can say that African opinions on and attitudes toward America has been defined by the common heritage of settler colonialism and the responses of Americans to the Mau Mau movement in the 1950s. Because both the United States and Kenya had the common experience of settler colonialism, many Kenyan nationalists saw America as the mirror image of their situation. Even though the parallel between the two political experiences was not lost on many of the Kenyan Pan-Africanists, there is reason to believe that African opinions on and attitudes toward America were filtered through British lenses. Another filter that affected the opinions and attitudes of Kenyans and other East Africans was the missionary activities of certain Americans. East Africa, being a latterday receiving station of evangelical drives, would come to know and learn about America through its movies. As in other parts of Africa, the Tarzan movies and other staples of Hollywood would bring East African peoples together with American adventurers on safaris, as was the case of President Teddy Roosevelt.

If we look farther to the south of Kenya, we see that America's image among East and Southern Africans has been to some extent shaped by the limited encounter with Americans and by the writings of fellow Africans who traveled to America. Two men from East and Central Africa whose writings and travels have entered the history books are John Chilembe of Malawi and Chief Nyabongo of Toro in Uganda. These men lived among Americans and their opinions and attitudes were affected by their American experience. Although in retrospect one can argue that their influence among their people was limited, they still constituted an important window on America for their generation. The issue of influence and how that influence has affected America's image in Africa becomes more prominent in the case of South Africa. There are two important points about the South African experience. First is the parallel between America and the Union of South Africa, as it was known to Americans of the interwar period. The second is the role and place of the African National Congress (ANC).