Final answer:
Pan-Africanism is a movement aiming to unite African nations and the global African diaspora, emerging in the 19th century and promoted by scholars like Cheikh Anta Diop. Events such as the first Pan-African Congress and the rediscovery of African arts by European cultural elites contributed to its growth. This movement reconceptualized African identity, encompassing cultural, political, and historical dimensions of the African experience.
Step-by-step explanation:
Pan Identities and Their Emergence
Pan-Africanism is a political and cultural movement that seeks to unify African nations as well as people of African descent around the globe. It gained traction in the mid to late 19th century among both Africans and non-Africans, spurred by scholarly activities, political activism, and a rising consciousness post-slavery. Prominent figures such as Cheikh Anta Diop were pivotal in connecting ancient Egyptian civilization with broader African heritage, thus reclaiming Egyptian art as a symbol of Pan-African identity. The Metropolitan Museum of Art's 2021 show "The African Origin of Civilization" highlighted such connections.
Early 20th-century developments in the Pan-African movement were marked by events like the first Pan-African Congress in 1918, organized by W. E. B. Du Bois. Despite little immediate impact, the congress planted seeds for later African nationalism. The mid-20th century saw an intellectual and cultural renaissance among African American communities, with scholars such as Molefi Kete Asante and Maulana Karenga advocating for a cultural revolution and reconnecting African Americans to African cultural roots. However, ideological divides between political and cultural strategies revealed differing methods for combating African American oppression.
In the African Period, Europeans were mesmerized by African art as African artifacts made their way to Parisian museums, with parallel cultural discoveries leading to a surge in appreciation for non-Western art forms. Basil Davidson's historic view characterizes African societies as proto-states, highlighting their complexities and contributions to statehood and nation-building prior to colonization. These developments laid groundwork for the Pan-African narrative that Africa had pre-colonial cultural and political significance which transcended colonial narratives.