POST-COLONIAL AFRICA: the problem of national identity

Abstract

The research seeks to find an answer to the following problem: how to explain the question of the search for a national identity on the African continent? Its time frame is the postcolonial period in Africa. After the Second World War, with Europe weakened, the European colonies
on the African continent will mobilize, aiming to gain their own freedom. Freed, each country or territory on the African continent will have to face the challenge of preserving its unity. Linked to this is the need to deal with issues relating to identity (of African, but also respectively of Ghanaian,
Mozambican, Angolan, South African, Nigerian etc.). However, the construction of a national identity is, in itself, a very complex task and a problem that is difficult to solve. In the African case, understanding the issue of national identity requires those willing to face this task to observe several elements, for example: a) the challenge of keeping the new State united; b) the post-colonial period
bears the mark of historical novelty; c) the difficult politics on the continent; d) Tradition as a defining element.