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African Isms:
Africa and the Globalized World
Abdul Karim Bangura, Editor

The impetus for this book emerged from our belief that as Africans
across the globe are confronted with a myriad of challenges that have
been birthed by globalization (i.e., the process of going to a more
interconnected world by diminishing the world’s social dimension and
expansion of overall global consciousness), they must turn to their own
ideas for solutions. While many books exist on individual African Isms,
such as Afrocentrism, Nasserism, and Pan-Africanism, none exists that
has looked at a series of these Isms together. This book is the first to do
so and, thus, its justification. Consequently, through this edited volume,
we address the applicability of different African Isms to various issues,
particularly current issues, on the continent of Africa. Each chapter
provides a theoretical framework and topics or issues concerning African
people of the continent. It is therefore an innovative scholarly work as
no other work has examined these Isms in this manner. Thus, the ideas
are quite appealing. Reexamining and applying each of the African Isms
in order to challenge Eurocentric myth and reality in current African
political, economic, cultural, and social matters is quite logical and clear.
Abdul Karim Bangura is a Senior Mentor of the CODESRIA College of

Mentors and a Researcher-in-Residence of Abrahamic Connections
and Islamic Peace Studies at American University’s Center for Global
Peace. He holds five PhDs in Political Science, Development Economics,
Linguistics, Computer Science, and Mathematics.
www.peterlang.com
Cover image: ©iStock.com/Hibrida13

African Isms
This book is part of the Peter Lang Political Science, Economics, and Law list.
Every volume is peer reviewed and meets
the highest quality standards for content and production.
PETER LANG
New York • Bern • Berlin
Brussels • Vienna • Oxford • Warsaw
African Isms
Africa and the Globalized World
Edited by Abdul Karim Bangura
PETER LANG
New York • Bern • Berlin
Brussels • Vienna • Oxford • Warsaw
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Bangura, Abdul Karim, editor, author.
Title: African isms: Africa and the globalized world /
edited by Abdul Karim Bangura.
Other titles: Africanisms
Description: New York: Peter Lang, 2021.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020031575 (print) | LCCN 2020031576 (ebook)
ISBN 978-1-4331-8381-2 (hardback) | ISBN 978-1-4331-8382-9 (ebook pdf)
ISBN 978-1-4331-8383-6 (epub) | ISBN 978-1-4331-8384-3 (mobi)
Subjects: LCSH: Philosophy, African—20th century. | Philosophy, African—
21st century. | Africa—Civilization—Philosophy. | Afrocentrism. | Pan-Africanism. |
Ubuntu (Philosophy) | Mandela, Nelson, 1918–2013—Influence. |
Nasser, Gamal Abdel, 1918–1970—Influence. | Globalization—Africa.
Classification: LCC B5320 .A327 2021 (print) | LCC B5320 (ebook) |
DDC 320.54096—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020031575
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020031576
DOI 10.3726/b17800
Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.

Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the “Deutsche
Nationalbibliografie”; detailed bibliographic data are available
on the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de/.
© 2021 Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., New York

80 Broad Street, 5th floor, New York, NY 10004
www.peterlang.com
All rights reserved.

Reprint or reproduction, even partially, in all forms such as microfilm,
xerography, microfiche, microcard, and offset strictly prohibited.
Members of the CODESRIA College of Mentors Family, especially
Dr. Patrick Esiemogie Idode who died a few months after completing the
chapter with his coauthors, who must keep the struggle alive and triumph!
Table of Contents
Preface ix
A bdul K arim Bangur a
Acknowledgments xi
1. General Introduction: African Isms: Africanisms
and Linguistic Backdrops 1
2. Africanism 11
K ingsley Chinedu Dar aojimba , Chinwe Beatrice Ezeoke ,
H adizat Audu Salihu and Patrick E siemogie I dode
3. Afrocentrism: A Mazruiana Perspective 35
A li Kunda
4. Mandelaism 63
Julius Niringiyimana , Robert K akuru, I bilate Waribo-Naye
and Judith I rene Nagasha
5. Nasserism 85
6. Ubuntuism 109
E sther Nkhukhu-Orlando, Chick L oveline A yoh Ndi
and C harles M assimo
7. General Conclusion and Postscript 131

viii Table of C ontents
Bibliography 143
About the Contributors 157
Index 159
Preface
The impetus for this book emerged from our belief that as Africans across
the globe are confronted with a myriad of challenges that have been birthed
by globalization (i.e. the process of going to a more interconnected world
by diminishing the world’s social dimension and expansion of overall global
consciousness), they must turn to their own ideas for solutions. Just as the
ideas of Pan-Africanism, birthed by Henry Sylvester-Williams and others
in the late 1800s, and Négritude, ushered by Aimé Césaire and others in
the early 1900s, emboldened many African thinkers and leaders to push
for independence across the continent, so will these ideas help Africans to
address current challenges that are stifling their advancement. Also, just
like Afrocentricity and other ideas birthed by major contemporary African
thinkers in the Diaspora, which gave rise to the Africanist Perspective on
the Motherland to place Africa at the center of all intellectual discourses per-
taining to African people everywhere while at the same time challenging the
pervasive and pernicious Eurocentric myth of African people being inactive
agents in history, so will these ideas serve as wellsprings for combating the
current vagaries Africans are facing. Correspondingly, what the chapters in
this book do is delineate the essentialities of a group of African Isms in order
to generate suggestions on how to address contemporary challenges with
which Africans are grappling. Inevitably, the chapters interrogate past, pres-
ent and future issues dealing with the African continent, people of African
descent, institutions in the continent and the Diaspora, and relationships
between Africa and other countries and regions across the globe.
While many books exist on individual African Isms, such as Afrocentrism,
Nasserism, and Pan-Africanism, none exists that has looked at a series of
these Isms together. This book is the first to do so and, thus, its justification.
Consequently, through this edited volume, we address the applicability of
x P r eface
different African Isms to various issues, particularly current issues, on the

continent of Africa. Each chapter provides a theoretical framework and top-
ics or issues concerning African people of the continent. It is therefore an
innovative scholarly work as no other work has examined these Isms in this
manner. Thus, the ideas are quite appealing. Reexamining and applying each
of the African Ism in order to challenge Eurocentric myth and reality in cur-
rent African political, economic, cultural and social matters is quite logical
and clear.
As such, the book is suitable as a main or supplementary text for under-
graduate and graduate students taking courses in African/Afro-American/
African American/Africana/Black Studies, History, Political Science,
Philosophy, and Social Studies from which the various epistemologies cov-
ered in the book have sprung. It also is useful to professors teaching about
and scholars doing research in these areas. In addition, policy makers in these
areas will be interested in the valuable information that the book provides.
Furthermore, relevant political activists and advocacy groups will be inter-
ested in the book to pursue their objectives.
Abdul Karim Bangura
Washington DC, USA
Summer 2020
Acknowledgments
We, and hopefully many readers, owe gratitude to:

The Creator, for giving us the good health and fortitude to do this work.
Our African ancestors, for providing us spiritual guidance throughout
this endeavor.
Scholars in Africa and the Diaspora, for listening to and providing useful
comments on the subject. Asking difficult questions often leads to better
answers.
Immediate and extended family members across the globe, for offering
encouragement and prayers.
The anonymous manuscript reviewers, for providing suggestive evalua-
tions. All shortcomings, of course, rest with us.
1
General Introduction
African Isms: Africanisms and Linguistic
Backdrops
A bdul K ar im Bangur a
The chapters in this book are the contributions of professors and doctoral
candidates affiliated with the Council for the Development of Economic
and Social Research in Africa (CODESRIA) College of Mentors with
headquarters in Dakar, Senegal. The impetus for this work emerged from
our belief that as Africans across the globe are confronted with a myriad
of challenges that have been birthed by globalization (i.e. the process of
going to a more interconnected world by diminishing the world’s social
dimension and expansion of overall global consciousness), they must turn
to their own ideas for solutions. Just as the ideas of Pan-Africanism, birthed
by Henry Sylvester-Williams and others in the late 1800s, and Négritude,
ushered by Aimé Césaire and others in the early 1900s, emboldened many
African thinkers and leaders to push for independence across the conti-
nent, so will these ideas help Africans to address current challenges that
are stifling their advancement. Also, just like Afrocentricity and other ideas
birthed by major contemporary African thinkers in the Diaspora, which
gave rise to the Africanist Perspective on the Motherland to place Africa
at the center of all intellectual discourses pertaining to African people
everywhere while at the same time challenging the pervasive and perni-
cious Eurocentric myth of African people being inactive agents in history,
so will these ideas serve as wellsprings for combating the current vagaries
Africans are facing.
Correspondingly, what the chapters in this book do is delineate the
essentialities of a group of African isms in order to generate suggestions on
how to address contemporary challenges with which Africans are grappling.
2 A bdul K ar im Bangur a
Inevitably, the chapters interrogate past, present, and future issues dealing
with the African continent, people of African descent, institutions in the con-
tinent and the Diaspora, and relationships between Africa and other coun-
tries and regions across the globe.
In order to provide a setting for what follows in the rest of the book, the
ensuing discussion is divided into two main sections entailing African and
linguistic backdrops. In the end, the basic organization of the rest of this
book is stated. It behooves me to note here that while the African backdrop
may appear more relevant to most, if not all, readers, the linguistic backdrop
may not seem so to them. But, it is imperative that a reader gets a sense of the
linguistic aspects that undergird the general notions and theoretical compo-
sitions of isms.
Africanisms Backdrop
Many sources have provided definitions for Africanisms, with some focus-
ing on specific aspects, others focusing on general aspects, and still others
focusing on both general and specific aspects of the concept. For example,
the Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines the concept as “(1) a characteristic
feature of African culture; (2) a characteristic feature of an African language
occurring in a non-African language; (3) allegiance to the traditions, inter-
ests, or ideals of Africa” (2018, p. 1). The dictionary then goes on to add that
the first known use of the concept was in 1641 (2018, p. 1). The Encyclopedia.
com describes the idea as “any cultural (material or nonmaterial) or linguis-
tic property of African origin surviving in the Americas or in the African
diaspora” (2018, p. 1). The Collins English Dictionary elucidates the notion
as “(1) an African custom, characteristic, or belief; (2) a word, phrase, gram-
matical construction, or other feature originating in or peculiar to an African
language; (3) devotion to African customs, traditions, etc.; specif., advocacy
of independence for African states or of Pan-Africanism” (2018, p.1). The
Oxford Dictionaries proffers the explanation of the thought as “(1) a feature
of language or culture regarded as characteristically African”; (2) the belief
that black Africans and their culture should predominate in Africa—‘some
proclaim a policy of non-racialism, others a more racially exclusive one of
Africanism’ ” (2018, p. 1). And, The Free Dictionary explains the conception
as “(1) a characteristically African cultural feature, such as a belief or custom;
(2) a linguistic feature of an African language occurring in a non-African
language” (2018, p. 1).
It is quite evident from the preceding definitions that the sources offer
similar and dissimilar features for Africanisms. In this book, the reader will
discern the preceding attributes and more on the concept.
General Introduction 3
Linguistic Backdrop
The term ism, which can be defined as a distinctive practice, system, or phi-
losophy, typically a political ideology or an artistic movement, is from a lin-
guistic point of view a suffix. As I point out in our book titled Fettered –tions
and –isms (Bangura 2011a), from which what appears in the rest of this sec-
tion is culled, grammarians generally define a suffix such as –ism as an affix
or a derivational or an inflectional bound morpheme that is attached at the
end of bases or stems and that changes the meanings or syntactic functions of
the words to which it is attached—for example, Africanism. Over the years,
many phenomena in the world, some of which are examined in this book,
have been labeled with the ism suffix. The other types of affixes are called
(a) prefix—that which is attached to the front of its stem, for example, unAfri-
can disappear, replay, illegal, inaccurate; (b) infix—that which occurs within
another morpheme, for example, expletives such as guaran-damn-tee, abso-
bloody-lutely; and (c) reduplicative—that which duplicates all or part of the
stem, for example, putt-putt, chop-chop, so-so, bon-bon, boo-boo (for more on
these, see O’Grady et al. 1989, pp. 95–96; Bangura 2011a, pp. 1–7).
In particular, according to Stuart Robertson and Frederic Cassidy, –ism
is a suffix that English borrowed through French and Latin from Greek. The
very mention of it, with its suggestion of the prevalence of “isms”, is perhaps
enough to indicate how English affixes have often yielded ground to bor-
rowed ones (1954, p. 197). From a phonological perspective, -isms, because
of their linguistic origin, when they are added to words show a shift of stress.
In contrast, when a prefix or suffix of Old English origin is added to a word,
it has no effect on the position or stress (Bangura 2011a, p. 2).
Affixes can have varying effects when they are added to roots (Langacker
1967, p. 74; Pyles & Algeo 1982, p. 5). For example, when s is added to
giraffe to form giraffes, the effect is to further specify giraffe with respect
to the number of those animals. Both giraffe and giraffes are nouns; add-
ing the plural morpheme s does not change the grammatical class of the
word. Similarly, suffixing the past tense morpheme of the verb knock yields
another verb, knocked. However, swift and swiftly belong to different gram-
matical classes; swift is an adjective, but swiftly is an adverb. There are still
other affixes that relate to other grammatical classes (Bangura 2011a, p. 2).
Thus, linguists often distinguish between inflectional and derivational
affixes (e.g. Langacker 1967, p. 74; Pyles & Algeo 1982, p. 5). Giraffe and
giraffes, intuitively, are alternate forms of the same entity, as are swift and
swiftly. The endings added to giraffe and knock are inflectional affixes.
English nouns like giraffe can be inflected for number. Knocked contains an
inflectional ending to indicate past tense (Bangura 2011a, p. 2).
However, the relation between swift and swiftly is of a different kind.

When ly is added to swift, it does not serve to mark agreement with some
other element of the sentence or to qualify the root with respect to number,
tense, or any other comparable entity. It does not simply yield another version
of the same entity; instead, it derives from it an entity that is quite distinct.
Therefore, ly is considered a derivational affix. In addition, derivational affixes
do not always affect a change in grammatical class (Langacker 1967, p. 75;
Pyles & Algeo 1982, pp. 5–6). For instance, the derivational prefix re relates
construct and reconstruct, yet both are verbs. Also, compare make/remake,
happy/unhappy, and plausible/implausible (Bangura 2011a; p. 2).
Consequently, as Langacker observes, “the lexicon of a language is its
inventory of morphemes, together with information about how these mor-
phemes can be combined to form more complex lexical items, such as words”
(1967, p. 76). In certain cases, the combination of morphemes into com-
plex units is a regular exercise. For example, the past tense can be added to
most English verbs. Therefore, we have hack/hacked, mince/minced, blow/
blew, catch/caught, will/would, is/was, light/lit, praise/praised, etc. The com-
bination of roots with derivational affixes tends to be less regular (Langacker
1967, p. 76; Pyles & Algeo 1982, pp. 5, 8). One can undo a tie, but s/he
cannot unopen a window (Bangura 2011a, p. 2).
Furthermore, affixes take on very interesting characteristics in pronunci-
ation. The following discussion is based on extensive notes I took as a grad-
uate student of linguistics at Georgetown University in Washington, DC in
courses taught by the late Professor Charles W. Kreidler, one of the leading
experts on Phonology at the time (Bangura 2011a, p. 2).
Suffixes and Mobile Stress

When a prefix or suffix of Old English origin is added to a word, it has no
effect on the position of stress; for example (Bangura 2011a, p. 3):
‘brother ‘brotherly ‘brotherhood

‘thoughtful un’thoughtful un’thoughtfulness
In contrast, words of Greek, Latin and Romance origin often show a shift
of stress when an affix is added or changed; for instance (Bangura 2011a, p. 3):
‘origin o’riginal o,rigi’nality

‘photo,graph pho’tography ,photo’graphic
As a result, the full vowel of one word becomes a reduced vowel in a

related word, and vice versa. Compare the first vowel of origin and original,
the second vowel of photograph and photography (Bangura 2011a, p. 3).
Neutral Suffixes
As noted above, when a suffix of Old English origin is added to a word,
stress does not change; for example, ‘neighbor, ‘neighborly, ‘neighborliness,
‘neighborhood. Thus, linguists say that suffixes of Old English origin (and a
few others) are NEUTR AL: that is, they are added to independent words
and have no effect on the stress. For example, the words ab’sorbing, ‘interest-
ing, pre’vailing, and ‘terri,fying have the same stressed syllables as the words
without the suffix -ing. This -ing is a neutral suffix, and so are -hood, -ly, and
-ness, as illustrated above. It should also be noted that although most neutral
suffixes are of Old English origin, this does not mean that words in which
they occur are necessarily of Old English origin (Bangura 2011a, p. 3).
Prefixes
Classifying the pieces of language is never a simple task. We call words like
down and up particles of prepositions, depending upon how they act in com-
pound verbs. Consider the following sentences (Bangura 2011a; p. 4):
The boat floated down the stream.
The boat floated downstream.
It is usual to say that the first sentence contains a phrase down the stream,
consisting of a preposition down and a noun phrase the stream, and that
the second sentence has a compound adverb downstream. However, the dif-
ference is certainly not great. Furthermore, we might equally well say that
downstream is composed of a prefix down- and a base stream (Bangura 2011a,
pp. 3–4).
Earlier, a distinction was made between neutral suffixes, which are added
to independent words (e.g. arriv#al, build#ing, procure#ment), and other suf-
fixes which are attached to bases that typically have no independent prefixes
which can be called neutral and others which are non-neutral. The distinc-
tion is seen, for example, in the following (Bangura 2011a, p. 4):
re-cover “to cover again”

recover “to get over an illness; to re-gain possession of”
The first, which we represent as re#cover, has a neutral prefix; the second,
re=cover, does not. Generally, neutral prefixes are either tonic (the place of
greatest prominence in an intonation unit) or countertonic, and non-neutral
prefixes are atonic, unstressed (Bangura 2011a, p. 4).
Four non-neutral prefixes, a-, be-, for-, with-, occur in various types of
words—nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs—always unstressed; for example
(Bangura 2011a, p. 4):
arise award asleep ahead

behold belief beneath beside
forbear forget forgive forsake
withdraw withhold withstand
In contrast, such neutral prefixes as after-, by-, down-, fore-, in-, off-, on-,
over-, under-, and up- are typically stressed on the prefix in nouns and on the
base in verbs (with half-stress on the other part) (Bangura 2011a, p. 4).
Nouns: afterthought bylaw downfall forearm

infield onset outbreak overcoat
underbrush upkeep
Verbs: foreclose infringe offload outgrow

overcome undergo uphold
There are several noun-verb pairs, written alike, which differ in speech
because the nouns are stressed on the first syllable, the verbs on the second
offset overflow overlap overthrow

overlook upset upturn
Compare also these verb-noun pairs (Bangura 2011a, p. 5):
,fore’see ‘fore,sight
,out’grow ‘out,growth
,over’draw ‘over,draft
In a few cases, such as ‘by,pass and ‘out,line, the verbs have been derived
from the nouns and so are identical in stress. On the other hand, nouns formed
from verbs by addition of a neutral suffix, such as,under’stand and,with’drawal,

have the stress pattern of the base word (Bangura 2011a, p. 5).
Adverbs with these prefixes have main stress on the second element, the
base, as in,down’stairs,,off’stage,,over’head. Since some of these prefixes exist
in contrastive pairs—down and up, on and of, in and out, stress may shift in a
contrastive focus (Bangura 2011a, p. 5):
‘on,stage and ‘off,stage
‘in,side or ‘out,side
The neutral prefix mis- is regular so far as verbs are concerned:

,mis’judge,,mis’lead,,mispro’nounce,,mis’spell, etc. Nouns are less regular;
‘mis,fit and ‘mis,print are stressed on the prefix, but others are stressed on
the base, for example,,mis’deed,,mis’fortune; thus, there are some verb-noun
pairs which are homophonous:,mis’rule,,mis’trust (Bangura 2011a, p. 5).
The prefix un occurs in verbs, nouns, adjectives, and derived adverbs.
The following are some examples (Bangura 2011a, p. 5):
unbutton undo unfurl unpack

unbelief unconcern unrest untruth
uncertain unclean unfair unreal
unmercifully unquestionably unsuitably
In all of these, the main stress is on the base and half-stress on the prefix.
However, un-, like mis-, is often in contrast with zero (the absence of a prefix)
and, therefore, capable of a contrastive stress as in the following examples
‘deeds and ‘mis,deeds
‘locked or ‘un,locked
All the prefixes discussed so far are of Germanic (Old English or

Scandinavian) origin. In words which have come from Latin, directly or
through French, the number of prefixes is larger (about two dozen), the bases
to which they are attached are numerous and, of course, the number of words
formed this way is large. Some prefixes vary in form according to the first
segment of the base to which they are attached, but most of the variations are
just a matter of spelling (Bangura 2011a, pp. 5–6).
abs=tract ab=solve
ad=apt ac=quire af=fect al=ly an=nex
ap=pend as=sume at=tend

con=cern com=bine co=here col=lect
cor=rect
contra=dict
de=tract
dis=tract di-vide dif=fuse
ex=tract e=vict ef=fect
in=tend im=pose il=lude ir=rupt
inter=rupt
intro=duce
ob=struct oc=cur of=fend op=press o=mit
per=fect
post=pone
pro=vide
re=sume
se=lect
super=sede
sub=sume suc=ceed suf=fuse sug=gest
sup=press
In all the preceding verbs, one can observe a morphological rule for
stress: A verb which consists of a prefix plus a one-syllable base is stressed on
the base. One can observe further the following (Bangura 2011a, p. 6):
(1) Most of the bases are heavy syllables, with a tense vowel (post=pone, re=-
sume, suc=ceed) or a cluster of consonants (de=tract, in=tend, sug=gest), so
that the base, the ult of the word, is properly stressed by the phonological
rule as well as the morphological rule.
(2) Some bases are not heavy syllables—e.g., o=mit, pro=pel, sup=press; the
basic verb rule would put stress on the penult, i.e. the prefix; stress in these
verbs is determined by the morphological rule alone.
(3) Some verbs have bisyllabic prefixes—e.g., contra=dict, inter=rupt, super=-
sede; the basic verb rule would have stress on the antepenult, but they are
stressed on the ult because the morphological structure is prefix plus base.
The morphological rule takes precedence.
(4) A few verbs contain two prefixes and a base. The stress is on the base:
com=pre=hend cor=re=spond re=pre=sent

re=co=lect re=sur=rect
For the purpose of this chapter it should be noted that stress is not only
a possible way of distinguishing between parts of speech, it also can be a
marker for contrast between words which are similar in form but opposite in
meaning (Bangura 2011a, p. 7).
Basic Organization the Rest of this Book

In order to ensure coherence and cohesion throughout the book, each
of the main chapters is divided into four sections. The first section is an
introduction that discusses what the chapter is about. The second section
discusses the theoretical basis of the African Ism investigated. The third
section analyzes three related isms or issues. The fourth section entails the
conclusion that summarizes the main points in the chapter and sugges-
tions on how the ism can be utilized to meet Africa’s challenges. Also at
the end of the book is the concluding chapter that presents an interpretive
overview of what is covered in the preceding chapters, thereby reinforcing
the analyses in them. Next, the chapter shows what unites all of them.
Thereafter, it ends by stating the implications of the findings and present-
ing a postscript.
What ties the chapters in this book together may seem somewhat com-
mon. But many of the discernments about Africa are so manifest, so basic,
that they are hard to assimilate, value, and convey with newfangled lucidity.
Some of the more fundamental perspectives are segregated from delineations
of analysts who have gained the reverence of their peers. The inventiveness of
this book therefore hinges upon the coherence with which well-known actu-
alities of the African isms investigated are organized into a straightforward,
analytically persuading wholeness.
References
Bangura, A. K. (2011a). Fettered –tions and –isms. San Diego, CA: Cognella.
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November 20, 2018 from https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/
english/africanism
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from https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-
and-maps/africanisms
Langacker, R. W. (1967). Language and Its Structure. New York: Harcourt, Brace &
World, Inc.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary Online. (2018). Africanism. Retrieved on November 20,
2018 from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Africanism
O’Grady, W., Arcgibald, J., Aronoff, M. and Rees-Miller, J. (1989). Contemporary
Linguistics: An Introduction. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
Oxford Dictionaries. (2018). Africanism. Retrieved on November 20, 2018 from https://
en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/africanism
Pyles, T. and Algeo, J. (1982). The Origins and Development of the English Language 3rd
ed. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc.
Robertson, S. and Cassidy, F. F. (1954). The Development of English 2nd ed. Englewood
Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc.
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https://www.thefreedictionary.com/Africanisms
2
Africanism
K ingsley C hinedu Dar aojimba , C hinwe Beatr ice E zeok e ,
H adizat Audu Salihu and Patr ick E siemogie I dode
A critical reflection on the concept of Africanism is presented in this chapter.

Arguments presented herein are influenced by African historical, political,
philosophical and sociological ideologies. Employing a descriptive approach,
the chapter investigates the concept of Africanism, which denotes cultural
elements of African origin found outside (White culture) the African space.
These African elements are seen manifested in many aspects (language, food,
music, architecture, fashion, and so on) of the host culture. There is no doubt
that the acculturation process was mutual, as Africans also assimilated the
White culture. However, putting into perspective the several derogatory
descriptions of the African continent by some scholars as being relegated in
the backwater without civilization and denying Africa its place in the root
of world civilization, this chapter argues for the significant role played by
African technological and cultural knowledge in sustaining the African cul-
ture and reshaping other non-African cultures.
For a systematic analysis of the concept of Africanism, this chapter is
divided into four sections. This introductory section, which constitutes the
first, continues with a look at the ideas and ideals of Africanism, what insti-
gated its conception, how it was used, and its accomplishments and limita-
tions. The second section discusses Pan-Africanism as a basis of the concept
of Africanism and examines the theoretical propositions surrounding the idea
of Africanism as articulated by various scholars. The third section involves a
discussion of three issues related to Africanism: (1) trans-atlantic cultural
influences in the New World, (2) controversy over Gandhi at the University
of Ghana, and (3) African health crisis and wellbeing. The political aspects
arising from these issues are also highlighted. The final section is the conclu-
sion, which discusses how Africanism can be used to address some contem-
porary challenges facing Africa, implications of the findings, and suggestion
for future research.
12 K ingsley C hinedu Dar aojimba , et al .
Ideas and Ideals of Africanism

Africa is one of the most privileged continents with enormous human and
material resources capable of taking it to greater heights above other conti-
nents. However, the scramble for Africa during the colonial era where Africa
played a crucial role in developing Europe, America and beyond, and the
imposition of extractive institutions left Africa the least developed continent
in the world. In this way, Africa has commonly been referred to as a “dark
continent,” a region that is backward in ideology and development. Also,
Africa has been described as a “hopeless continent” by an influential British
weekly magazine, Economist (Oguh 2015). These disparaging descriptions of
Africa are made explicit by Michira (2002) who states that the low opinion
about Africa not only depicts Africa as a region without a history but also
with backward traditions and practices, superstitions, and weird outdated
beliefs, and a place where repugnant rites are prevalent.
It should be noted that no two nations can be exactly the same in all
respects. There is always room for variation because of the peculiarity of each
nation. Suffice it to say that no nation can claim superiority over the other.
In light of this truism, one of the ideals of Africanism is the notion of self-
worth which is aimed at promoting confidence in personal/group values and
worth. Therefore, Africanism is a movement intended to give Africans a voice
to be heard among the multitude of nations. The ideology of Africanism is
not intended to portray the African race as being better than other cultures
or neither subjugate nor downgrade them. It was and continues to be only a
way of saving the African people.
Driving Force for and Use of Africanism

In relation to the force behind the ideology of Africanism, a number of
stimuli can be noted to have instigated it. One stimulus, and probably the
most important, was the need to create a sense of African independence and
detachment from colonial subjugation or cultural imperialism. A similar drive
was to appreciate the African worth and originality.
Pertaining to the use of Africanism, the ideology was applied to under-
standing how Africans shaped the landscape of the New World. It has also
been applied to understand how Africans thrived in a challenging environ-
ment for over several millennia.
Accomplishments of Africanism
The political philosophy of Africanism can be said to have had several accom-
plishments especially with regard to the promotion of Africanity enshrined
Africanism 13
in a sense of identity, self-respect, and independence. Africanism can be seen

to have cushioned the ideological effect of colonialism to some extent, albeit
not in total. With colonialism, African values were altered and modified with
Africans being set against one another. Just as Chinua Achebe narrated in his
novel, Things Fall Apart (1958), how the coming of the Whites made things
fall apart in the community, so did slavery and colonialism tear Africans
and African values apart and broke the unity between Africans. With these,
African values were seen exhibited in batches all over the world. With the
end of slavery and colonialism and with the quest for independence, African
consciousness was awakened. Africans at home sought to unite with Africans
in the Diaspora so as to still maintain the Africanness between them. The
endeavor went as far as calling the Africans in the Diaspora to come back
home for the benefit of African people. To strengthen this call, Bob Marley in
his album titled “Survival” (1979), in one of the tracks titled “Africa Unite,”
called on Africans to unite. He described the unity of Africans as moving
right out of Babylon and going to their father’s land.
African cultural values embedded in Africans explain why they did not
die with slavery and colonialism; yet, we cannot deny the effects of slavery and
colonialism on African cultural values to this day. The question to be asked
now is the following: Can the unification of Africans in terms of Africans in
the Diaspora coming back home to African soil still be possible? The answer
is NO! The reason for this is because many who were sold to slavery lost
contacts with their families and places of origin but not their roots or ethical
origin. These people because they have been displaced and cannot be settled
in their original homelands and because they are already established where
they were, yet retaining their African values, the call for African unity took
the dimension of Africanism: that is, maintaining the characteristic features
of African culture and allegiance to the traditions, interests or ideals of Africa.
This also refers to characteristics of African culture that can be traced through
societal practices and institutions of the African Diaspora. This is possible
because throughout history, the dispersed descendants of African people have
displayed many forms of cultural retentions of their African ancestry.
Limitations of Africanism
Some of the effects of slavery and colonialism also range from scattering
Africans and African cultural values abroad and exposing African values
to modifications and alterations. The more the people moved around the
Diaspora, the more African cultural elements were transmitted, assimilated
and modified, thereby losing their originality over time as can be seen in the
modified culinary, music, and language more so in the Diasporic cultures.
One of the proposals of Africanism is the struggle for a united Africa.

However, will federalism reunite areas sectionalized not only by ethnicity,
ethos, social class or world view, but also by boundaries established by colo-
nialism? Efrat (1964) highlights three obstacles, among others, which con-
front the achievement of Africanism. First, the problem of leadership is a very
common limitation which is present in African contemporary society because
a federation has only one position at the top. Allegiance to that federal author-
ity will imply surrender of power by other nations. This, many nations may
not be willing to key into in a hurry. This may be associated with the failed
attempt to achieve a united states of West Africa. Second, independence from
bitter years of humiliation and colonialist exploitation will not encourage any
nation to subjugate itself under any rule or central authority again. Third,
local problems of diseases, erosion, poverty, drought and other catastrophes
require grassroots approaches. Nations are therefore preoccupied with solv-
ing these local issues; hence, they downplay the idea of federalism.
Pan-Africanism as a Basis of Africanism: A Historical

and Conceptual Analysis
Pan-Africanism is a concept which stretches as far back in time as the 17th
Century when diasporic enslaved Africans yearned to return to their African
motherland (Odamtten 2014). It is a movement of New World origin which,
according to Colin Legum, expresses two fundamental facts: (1) the desire
for African unity as well as (2) a sense of unity between all peoples whose
ancestors originally came from Africa (Legum 1966). Suffice it to say that
Pan-Africanism brought new meaning to the ways people of African descent
identified with Africa (Essien 2014). Pan-Africanism advocates that the term
Africa refers to what Marcus Garvey called “the Negro world.” It does not
only refer to the Africans within the African continent, but also to the Africans
beyond the sea: that is, the Blacks in America and the West Indies. In recent
times, the use of the word ‘Negro’ to describe the Black race has been seen
as a ridiculing descriptor (Odamtten 2014). This is partly essentially because
of its racial connotation and for its lack of any geographical reference (Diagne
1979). However, the use of ‘Negro’ by two Pan-Africanists, W. E. B, Du
Bois and Marcus Mosiah Garvey, indicates the popular use of the term to
unite Africans all over the world in the early 20th Century (Odamtten 2014).
Pan-Africanism therefore posed as a centrifugal mother reaching out to scat-
tered Black people in order to unite them under one umbrella. The funda-
mental assumption of Pan-Africanism “is the brotherhood of Black peoples
everywhere—in Africa, North America, and the West Indies” (Legum 1966,
Africanism 15
p. 528). Pan-Africanism sought to arouse in the Black people a consciousness

of their common African identity and suffering, and by so doing expose them
to the reason why Africa must unite in a world where the Black race had been
bastardized, denigrated, and considered as sub-human.
Two historical circumstances necessitated the unity of the Black
world: these were (1) the difficult experience of the Blacks in America and
West Indies in one hand as well as (2) the ordeals of the African continent
on the other hand. The former refers to the issue of freedom without equal-
ity, which the Africans in the Diaspora, the descendants of the ex-enslaved
Africans, suffered in the 1800s. The later refers to the partition of Africa by
the European powers at the Berlin Conference convened from September
1884 to February 1885 and which legitimatized the European colonialism
of Africa when it declared that “all claims to territories in Africa by any
European power must be backed by effective occupation. This would mean
setting up an administration in the area” (Eluwa et al. 1996, p. 181). In
order to liberate the Black world from the inferior realm into which they
have been relegated by two evils of the 19th Century, namely (1) the racial
inequality and (2) colonialism, the ideal of Pan-Africanism came up: that is,
Africa must unite to free Africans. The watch-word of Pan-Africanism is “a
victory of Negroes over segregation in America is as important as a victory
over colonialism in Africa” (Webster et al. 1967, p. 297). Prior to the 19th
Century, Pan-Africanism was only an expression without any organization.
It was a movement of emotions and ideas that had no organizational struc-
ture. Nonetheless, Pan-Africanism began to put on an organized appear-
ance when in 1900, H. Sylvester Williams, a Trinidadian lawyer, convened
the maiden Pan-African Conference in London which can be considered
the birthplace of the Pan-African ideology and movement. The conference
was attended by Black students from America, West Indies and Africa who
were studying in England. Among these African students was William
E. Burghardt Du Bois who was the Secretary General at the moment and
later became the leader of Pan-Africanism. Under the leadership of Du Bois,
Pan-Africanism evolved into an organization with policies of its own. Still
under his leadership, Du Bois organized the second, third and fourth Pan-
African Conferences convened in 1921, 1923 and 1927, respectively. Of
these three conferences, the third Pan-African Conference of 1923 stands
out with regards to its manifesto. The third Pan-African Conference which
was held in both London and Lisbon came out with a manifesto demanding
from the world that Black folk be treated as men (Legum 1966). This was
a call to end racial inequality in America and the West Indies as well as the
end of colonization of Africa. The history of these assemblies sheds light
on the change of ideology and movement from Pan-Negro to a continental

Pan-Africanism.
Pan-Africanism as an organization gave rise to other movements which
embraced Pan-African ideas. Chief among these was the Universal Negro
Improvement Association (UNIA) of Marcus Garvey (Uzoigwe 2014). The
UNIA was formed as a result of the disagreement between Du Bois and Marcus
Garvey over the future of the Blacks in the Diaspora. While Du Bois believed
that Diaspora Africans should fight to establish their rights in exile, Garvey
argued that their only future lay in a return to Africa: that is, “back to Africa.”
Although they both fought for Black/African solidarity against colonialism and
racism, they both differed significantly in their methods of approach (Uzoigwe
2014). Pan-Africanism yielded significant result as it enabled the people of the
Black world to see themselves as one. In keeping with this “Black brother-
hood,” the suffering of Black people anywhere drew the attention of the whole
Black world. For instance, the invasion of Ethiopia by the territory-hungry
Italy elicited reactions and condemnation from the Black world and this was
in fidelity to the Pan-African principle: “a Black man could not carry himself
with dignity, no matter his degree of freedom, as long as brother members of
his race were being humiliated elsewhere in the world” (Webster et al. 1967,
p. 297). Some other major adherents who contributed to the ideas of Pan-
Africanism directly or indirectly included Edward Blyden, Langston Hughes,
George Padmore and Cheikh Anta Diop, just to mention but a small number.
Theoretical Discussion of Africanism

This section of the chapter deals with the theories, views, and discussions
on Africanism. It is the belief of African scholars such as Osabu-Kle, Njaka,
Philips, Sow, Balogun, Aguessy and Diagne that until Africans learn, under-
stand and practice their culture, they will not be able to appreciate and tri-
umph in Africa and the outside world.
Africa and its people have undergone many transformations due to the
influence of the West since the 15th Century. The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade
which contributed to the massive exodus of Africans into Europe, America,
and Asia left a lasting imprint on the culture of the African people and, in
a subtle way, Africans also impacted on the culture of the colonizers. The
Africans who were forcefully taken to the other world had to survive, and
in the process of survival copied the Western ways of life. For a revival and
accurate study of African culture by Africans on the continent and in the
Diaspora, there is the need to devise a methodology and concept that would
help in this endeavor. Africanism is proposed as an appropriate name for the
Africanism 17
concept under which African studies flourished (Njaka 1971). Africanism

can be viewed as both a science and philosophy with the main aim of freeing
Blacks from the bondage of culture and value which have been forced upon
them by Europeans. It seeks to liberate the mind of the Blacks, enabling them
to search and imbibe African concepts and values as well as create new ones.
According to Njaka,
Africanism encourages the creation of culture characterized by rationalism,
which gives rise to the discovery of other elements, empirical and/or normative,
intrinsic to the culture. Africanism lays the ground work for authentic human-
ism. The concept covers a varied aspect of human life which includes arts,
beliefs, culture, history, music, philosophy, politics, science and areas such as
nationalism and Pan-Africanism. The concept concerns itself with Africans and
the African Diaspora, namely Afro-Americans, West Indians, Afro-Europeans,
Afro-Asians, Afro-Arabians and others (1971, p. 12).
Africanism is meant to reshape what has been taught and upgrade knowl-
edge about Africa. It seeks to correct actions taken previously to demean
and degrade Blacks. African self-rediscovery is about the realization that it
is a culture that makes the African what he or she is and the transplantation
of European culture into Africa can never work because Africans are not
Europeans. Africans at home and in the Diaspora can learn from Europeans
but that knowledge has to be adapted to African culture (Osabu-Kle 2018,
p. 1). Africanism also covers every African and people of African descent
all over the world. The political philosophy of Africanism postulates that
every African should be proud of his or her heritage and bear the name
African with pride, instead of the derogatory appellation such as “Negro.”
Africanism is determined to eradicate the forced Westernization of Africans
by Europeans since the slave trade era. To accomplish the aims and objectives
of Africanism, this chapter employs love, understanding and willingness to
teach those who do not know, and encourage students of Africanism to por-
tray and disseminate the wisdom of Africa for the advancement of humankind
(Njaka 1971). For people to understand, appreciate and disseminate African
culture and identities, Njaka believes that Africanism requires a thorough
educational program which will work to change people’s mindsets toward
Africa. Africanism can be subsumed into an educational program which may
feature as an academic discipline and will treat African studies (of Africa and
the Africans in Diaspora) as an entity. The discipline is hoped to introduce
students of Africanism to various realms of specialization, including the com-
munity they wish to serve.
The study of Africanism, however, will only be meaningful if Blacks are
exposed to all the actions of the Western world on Blacks since the 15th
Century and the effects of such actions. Only then will Blacks understand
and recognize the problems and proceed to solve them (Njaka 1971).
Africanism is widely supported by Africans in the Diaspora because it
helped them to understand their roots and, most importantly, practice
African culture in its entirety. These aspects include religion, medicine,
cuisine, marriage, education, trade, child upbringing, etc. Many new gen-
erations of Africans in Europe and America are faced with the daunting chal-
lenge of bringing up their children and wards to understand, appreciate and
embrace the African culture; thus, Africanism as a concept to be learned and
appreciated through its educational programs is possible. Since the late 20th
Century, many institutions in Europe and America have offered courses on
Africa which have attracted not only people of African descent but those of
other races who are curious to know more about Africa and its people. For
example, according to Philips, “Africanism in the United States today has
two general tendencies which are the documentation of specific Africanism,
often traced to a particular area in Africa, in an attempt to show the distinc-
tively African nature of African American society and the increasing acknowl-
edgement of the influence of Africanism not just on African Americans but
also on the culture of Whites in the New world” (1990, pp. 225–237).
Africanism as a concept has been criticized by some scholars who believe
that individuals can choose where they want to belong and be proud of it.
One may be an African or of African descent but European or American
in all ramifications; thus, individual choice surfaces when it comes to
Africanism. Philips postulates that Epstein and Vass believed that time and
space should be considered in Africanism documents when he states the fol-
lowing: “Epstein and Vass have documented how African influence is one
important way in which American culture differs from European. Although
their approach has done much to document the survival of African culture
in the United States, it has ultimately documented as much African culture
among Whites as among blacks” (Philips 1990, p. 225). Philips also believes
that “Peter Wood and his followers have not shied from arguing that African
cultural survival among Whites in the United States is specific and pervasive”
(Phillips 1990, p. 226). Phillips (1990) further points out that Epstein and
Vass also believed that Africanism is a means of proving points about White
society in the United States when social scientists and historians begin to
investigate systematically the survival of African culture among Europeans
and Americans. Many Blacks have also criticized Africanism for hiding their
intelligence just to survive among Whites and people of other races. Phillips
puts it this way: “The study of the legacy of African culture has an even
greater obstacle to overcome in that some Blacks are more adamant about
Africanism 19
being recognized for their contributions if they were to claim African culture
and, thus, anxious to assimilate European norms” (1990, pp. 225–237).
Competing positions include Pan-Africanism, Garvinism, and Africanist.
All these positions aimed at restoring the culture and traditions of Africans
and Africans in the Diaspora. Since the founding of the Organization of
African Unity (OAU) in 1963, the need to establish a cultural basis for that
continent-wide intergovernmental institution has led a number of Africans to
devise a new ideology, Africanity, which is presented as the body of common
points among Africans and looks beyond petty local differences and stresses a
common fundamental identity (Sow 1979, p. 15). Africanism and Africanity
are concepts aimed at fostering the spirit of Africanness among African peo-
ple; however, Africanity focuses more on Africans in the continent, especially
the geopolitical areas of Africa.
Related Issues
As stated earlier, the following related issues to Africanism are examined in
this third section of the chapter: (a) trans-atlantic cultural influences in the
New World, (b) controversy over Gandhi at the University of Ghana, and
(c) African health crises and wellbeing. For the sake of lucidity, the issues are
discussed alongside the political undertones that have arisen from them.
Trans-atlantic Cultural Influences in the New World

In African history, especially with reference to West and Central Africa, the
mention of the term “Trans-Atlantic” commonly connotes the slave trade
or maltreatment of Blacks by Whites. This is simply because enslaved West
and Central Africans constituted the largest groups to have been brought
to the United States during the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade (Joyner 2003).
Nonetheless, in this context, we are looking at how African traditions have
influenced the American landscape—thus, an Afro-Atlantic perspective. In
other words, there are notable indices indicating West and Central African
cultural contributions to the development of the American environment.
These indices are enshrined in aspects of American culture such as burial
practices, music, language, literature, architecture, culinary art, fashion,
and more.
Records indicate that beginning from the colonial era, African ethnic
groups populated the American colonies, from Maine to Florida and Mexico
to Canada (Joyner 2003). As of 1830, the United States Census Record sug-
gests that about 18% of its population comprised people of African descent
(Gomez 1998). Taking into consideration this huge number of Africans in

the American space, there is no doubt that they will have a great influence on
American culture. An example of this influence is seen in the abundance of
Bantu vocabulary in South and North America and the Caribbean (Mphande
2006). Foods such as black-eyed peas, watermelon, sorghum and millet
entered into American food ways from Africa. We can also see African signa-
tures in American arts such as Jazz, Blues, and Rock-and-Roll. Specifically,
the American banjo musical instrument was derived from the African gourd
and animal covered skin fiddle around the 1800s (Joyner 2003). In fact,
the famous music maestro, Elvis Presley, has even been accused of obviously
borrowing an African diasporic style to his music without acknowledging it
(Browning 1998).
There has been a widely-held belief that there were no African roots
in American cultural history. In his work published in 1941, The Myth of
the Negro Past, Melville J. Herskovits, an anthropologist, notes the role
of Africans in introducing their scientific and technological knowledge
systems in advancing the American culture. Herskovits’ argument was in
response to the work of a sociologist, E. Franklin Frazier, published in
1939, The Negro Family in the United States. Frazier and other scholars
who belonged to his school of thought had theorized that pressure from
slavery had a damaging effect on aboriginal ideologies causing a total dis-
appearance of Africanism (Herskovits 1941). Similarly, Robert E. Park in
line with Frazier’s ideology opined that nothing resembling colonization
was evident in Africa prior to European colonization and there was nothing
Africans could have contributed to the New World from the 16th to the
19th Century Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade (Herskovits 1941; Joyner 2003).
On the contrary, Leo Frobenius, a German scholar who explored Africa in
the early 20th Century, in his book, The Voice of Africa, rejected the notion
that Africa was without a history and went further to describe African her-
itage as “… extraordinary treasures, some of the very great beauty …”
(Frobenius 1913, p. v).
The anti-Africanism ideology by Frazier and Park prevailed for a while
until the 1960s and 1970s when Black Studies programs began to spring up
in colleges and universities, the first being launched at San Francisco State
University in 1967 (Joyner 2003). Subsequently, new research on enslaved
Africans provided an understanding of how they were able to preserve their
African heritage on the American cultural landscape and make it reflect
conspicuously in the White American and African American cultures.
Worthy of mention is Flash of the Spirit by Robert Farris Thompson pub-
lished in 1983, another blockbuster on the subject matter after Herskovits’
Africanism 21
The Myth of the Negro Past (Joyner 2003). Thompson’s research contrib-
uted greatly to the proliferation of interest in Africanism. For example,
Leland Ferguson’s research on colono-ware pottery in Virginia and the
Carolinas revealed imprints of blended cultural elements from “West
and Central African pottery skills and Native American design adapted
to regional material and European uses” (Joyner 2003, p. 5). Although
Ferguson (1992) expressed his dissatisfaction with the little contribution
of archaeology to expanding our knowledge of African American resis-
tance, Posnansky (1999) attributed this problem to the non-association of
the African cultural materials from the United States to the Black Studies
programs.
In relation to the political issues arising from the Trans-Atlantic Slave
Trade, it is clear that the massive movement of Africans into the New World
over a period of about 400 years had long-term international consequences
on Africa and the outside world. The long-term economic exploitation of
Blacks resulted in a remarkable social division between the rich White and
poor Black communities, the consequences of which still haunt American
societies (William 2019). Despite the abolishment of slavery, Blacks still
remain subjugated to Whites. The ideology of white supremacy has led to the
police, prosecutors and political officials giving a blind eye to the menace of
racial violence by Whites against Blacks. Being Black was perceived by many
as a crime and many Whites understood the script and knew how to report
cases in their favor. The poor response of the law enforcement and judiciary
to murder of Blacks by Whites in the United States has called for a cause
to worry. For example, the gruesome murder of a young Black American,
George Floyd, in May of 2020 by a negligent (or better put, insensitive)
Minneapolis White police officer in Minnesota sparked massive violent pro-
tests in the United States and some countries around the world. A couple of
murders of other Blacks such as Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor within
the same year have also occurred in the United States with impunity. All
these three victims of lynching were killed without due process within a time
period of ten weeks, with none of them being offered the opportunity to
defend themselves against the allegations (Brown 2020). From 1877 to 1950,
more than 4,400 Blacks have been lynched by White mobs with many of
them never formally accused of crimes (Brown 2020). This racial act of vio-
lence against Blacks is a threat to the future of Blacks in the United States
and perhaps beyond. And yet, one very positive factor has been witnessed in
these terrible conditions of dehumanizing the Black people: the rally around
Black communities and their anti-racist White allies to speak against this
racial menace and injustice.
Controversy over Gandhi at the University of Ghana

The idea of this subsection was conceived from the article titled “The ‘African
Personality’ Returns: The Controversy over Gandhi at the University of
Ghana” which appears in The News Magazine of the American Historical
Association (2017). The article was written by Sharika Crawford, an associate
Professor of History in the United States Naval Academy. In the short, but
thought provoking essay, Crawford narrates the protest by the University
of Ghana intellectuals against the erection of a bronze statue of Mohandas
Karamchand Gandhi at the University. The statue was unveiled by the
President of India, Pranab Mukherjee, on June 13, 2016, with the inten-
tion of inspiring Ghanaian university students to learn from India’s path to
political and economic success. The protest at the university was provoked by
Gandhi’s discriminatory statements against Blacks in the past. For example,
in an open letter of complaint written by Gandhi to the Natal Parliament on
December 19, 1894 and as documented in the Collected Works of Mahatma
Gandhi contains the following extract:
The man in the street hates him (Indian), curses him, spits upon him. The
Press cannot find a sufficiently strong word in the English dictionary to damn
him with. Here are a few samples: ‘The real canker that is eating into the very
vitals of the community’; ‘these parasites’; ‘Wily, wretched, semi-barbarous
Asiatics’; ‘a thing black and lean and a long way from clean, which they call the
accursed Hindoo’; ‘he is chock-full of vice, and he lives upon rice … I heartily
cuss the Hindoo’; ‘squalid coolies with ruthless tongues and artful ways’. The
Press almost unanimously refuses to call the Indian by his proper name. He is
‘Ramsamy’; he is ‘Mr. Sammy’; he is ‘Mr. Coolie’; he is ‘the black man’ (quoted
in Desai & Valed 2015, p. 34).
The major points of argument of the University of Ghana intellectuals as

discerned from Crawford’s narration are highlighted as follows. First, Gandhi
had earlier in his career made some racist remarks about the Black South
Africans during his stay in South Africa (1893–1906). For instance, Gandhi’s
use of the term “kaffir,” a racial insult for native South Africans, was a show
of disapproval of the Black race. A further show of his derogatory description
of native South Africans is clearly expressed in the narration of his prison
experience in Indian Opinion of March 07, 1908 as follows:
We were marched off to a prison intended for Kaffirs. There, our garments were
stamped with the letter ‘N’, which meant that we were being classed with the
Natives. We were all prepared for hardships, but not quite for this experience.
We could understand not being classed with the whites, but to be placed on the
same level as the Natives seemed too much to put up with … Here was further
proof that the obnoxious law was intended to emasculate the Indians … It is
Africanism 23
indubitably right that Indians should have separate cells. The cells for [Natives]
were adjacent to ours. They used to make a frightful din in their cells as also in
the adjoining yard. We were given a separate ward because we were sentenced
to simple imprisonment; otherwise, we would have been in the same ward [with
the Natives]… Apart from whether or not this implies degradation, I must say
it is rather dangerous … They often started rows and fought among themselves.
The reader can easily imagine the plight of the poor Indian thrown into such
company! (restated in Desai & Valed 2015, p. 110).
Second, such comments were viewed by some notable University of

Ghana academics as symbols of slavery, racism, and colonialism. Third, erect-
ing the statue of the person who was the bone of contention of the argument
within an African space and, most especially, a citadel of African thought and
philosophy was only a physical materialization of the disrespect for Africa’s
dignity and values. The move, therefore, was an attempt to remove racist his-
torical symbols from the university campuses, which was effectively executed
and led to the eventual removal of the cenotaph (Crawford 2017).
African Heath Crises and Wellbeing

The idea of this subsection was triggered by Falola and Heaton’s HIV/Aids,
Illness, and African Well-Being (2007). The edited book, comprising of
articles from many scholars, examines various arguments revolving around
health challenges presently bedeviling Africa and the role of the Western
world. There is no gainsaying of the Western perception of Africa as a “dis-
eased continent” (Falola & Heaton 2007, p. 3) or “infectious continent”
as described by Wertheimer (2007, p. 28). This erroneous notion about
Africa has trended for a long time and has affected the international image
of the continent, putting it in a very bad light. It should be noted that this
so-called infectious or diseased continent has been inhabited by Africans
who have survived overtime for several millennia because they adopted effi-
cient mechanisms for disease control and prevention. An example of this
mechanism is the use of the chewing stick to maintain oral hygiene and
wellbeing from time immemorial in both Africa and Asia (Okeke 2007).
Just only recently has the Western practitioners recognized its antibacterial
properties as being effective at preventing plaque build-up and tooth decay
(Okeke 2007).
Also, there is no doubt that the West African region presents a suit-
able environment for the breeding and proliferation of the malaria parasite
(Plasmodium falciparum, and its vector, Anopheles gambiae). However, West
African indigenous peoples have developed effective remedies to malaria with
due emphasis on maintaining a clean environment and traditional health
remedies. It may sound strange, but it is a fact that environmental sanitation

(such as bush burning, simple swamp drainage, proper waste disposal, and
others) was an integral part of African epidemiological practices prior to the
late-19th Century when the parasite causing malaria pathogen was discovered
(Njoku 2007). Unfortunately, Western medicine has almost been outworn
by new resistant strains of the parasite if not for the timely assistance of clues
from alternative medicine. Such indigenous West African plants (N’Dribala
or Cochlospermum Planchonii, Iseketu or Esoketu in Yoruba or Sida Acuta
Burm, and Pterocarpus Erinaceus Poir, among others) have been successfully
applied by local healers to treat malaria and have been endorsed by Western
scientists to be very effective in malaria treatment (Njoku 2007).
Some of the health challenges presently facing Africa could be associated
with the advent of colonialism. As exemplified by Philip (2007), the indig-
enous people of Makurdi in the central region of Nigeria exploited natural
water sources such as rivers, streams and wells without any problem of con-
tracting water borne diseases such as cholera, dysentery, typhoid, giardiasis,
schistosomiasis, etc. Nonetheless, during the period of the British colonial
administration, the area became urbanized, thereby exposing it to environ-
mental pollution.
Regrettably, it is disheartening to know that the persistent derogatory
description of Africa as an infectious continent was initiated by the wide-
spread occurrence of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) since the
early 1980s (Falola & Heaton 2007). From the statistics of the World Health
Organization (WHO), over 70% of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)
positive people worldwide reportedly live in Africa South of the Sahara
(Michira 2002). Nevertheless, regardless of the various scientific opinions
which debunked the connection of the origin of HIV to monkeys in Central
Africa, Canadian newspapers between 2000 and 2003 still held on to the
erroneous belief of the cause of the disease (Wertheimer 2007). The Western
media have even gone as far as giving AIDS an African face (Michira 2002).
As suggested by Falola & Heaton (2007), there is a need to pull to pieces the
idea of “infectious Africa” being different from the so-called civilized and
cosmopolitan West. In line with deconstructing the infectious notion about
Africa, Wertheimer expresses this beautiful Africanist view about the issue of
the health crisis in Africa when she says the following:
Of course, I do not wish to deny the suffering and loss that African peoples and
communities have incurred as a result of the HIV/AIDS pandemic; however, it
is my strong contention that Western texts … provide a very biased and inac-
curate account of the effects of and responses to the HIV/AIDS pandemic on
this rich, vast, and diverse African continent. Quite the contrary, these texts
continue to reflect and produce Western imaginings of Africa based not on an
Africanism 25
actual reality but rather on extremely colonialist and racist precedents, in the
process contributing to a perpetuation of ideological, institutional, and social
racism. If we accept Browning’s assertion that “Africanness is hardly the deadly
pathogen,” and pause to consider the violence and prejudice communicated in
these media texts and the wider ideologies that inform them, it becomes worth-
while to ask who exactly presents the biggest threat and is causing the most
harm within these dynamics (2007, pp. 39–40).
Also, Browning’s following statement reflects an attack on Africa as a threat

to the wellbeing of Westerners when she asserts that
Expansionist Western medical discourse in colonizing contexts has been
obsessed with the notion of contagion and hostile penetration of the healthy
body, as well as of terrorism and mutiny from within. This approach to disease
involved a stunning reversal: the colonized was perceived as the invader. In
the face of the disease genocide accompanying European “penetration” of the
globe, the “colored” body of the colonized was constructed as the dark source
of infection, pollution, disorder, and so on, that threatened to overwhelm white
manhood (cities, civilization, the family, the white personal body) with its dec-
adent emanations (1998, p. 34).
From the preceding two quotations, it is obvious that the Western media
portend the biggest threat to Africa and not the Africanness with which
Africa has survived and thrived over several millennia. It is therefore impera-
tive that Africa’s future is controlled by Africans and not the Western media.
Issues of global health have continued to be politicized till today with
Africa continuously being subsumed in the center. One major obstacle to the
achievement of better health for all Africans is the politics associated with
health system reforms (Barnes et al. 2015). Global health actors or interna-
tional donors who fund such reforms play a major role in calling the shots.
Actors such as the World Bank has been accused of not engaging the local
populations for which such reforms were meant to serve (Barnes et al. 2015).
The continuous dependence of Africa on foreign aid has abetted its use as
a pawn in the hands of international donors. No doubt, Africa has been
debased to the extent that it always attracts pity in the eyes of the global com-
munity whenever there are life threatening issues such as a global pandemic.
It is heartwarming to know so if there are no hidden intentions. In as much
as Africans depend on foreign support, it is essential for Africans to develop
their local health care systems.
Conclusion
In this final and concluding section, we highlight and discuss how Africanism
can be employed to tackle some contemporary challenges facing Africa. The
selected challenges include (a) African identity crisis, (b) neo-colonialism, and
(3) globalization. After that, we retrospectively examine the implications of
the findings in this and the preceding sections, and then provide a suggestion
for future research on Africanism.
The Challenge of an African Identity Crisis

The question about identity is complex, particularly when it is viewed across
the various social science disciplines (Eno & Eno 2009). However, in this
chapter, we have adopted a generalized and simple definition of the concept
of identity. According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, identity is described
as characteristics, beliefs, etc. that make a particular individual or group dif-
ferent from others. Furthermore, taking a cue from Merriam-Webster, an
identity crisis is a feeling of confusion caused by uncertainty about the per-
sonality, social role or true purpose of the life of an individual or group of
individuals (Merriam-Webster 2018). Habermas (1988) identifies two types
of identity crisis: (1) legitimization crisis (identity conflict) and (2) motiva-
tion crisis (identity deficit). While legitimization crisis/identity conflict stems
from the political system, motivation crisis/identity deficit originates from
the sociocultural system (Habermas 1988). In legitimization crisis or identity
conflict, on the one hand, the individual or group is unable to fulfill demands
and expectations placed on him/her/it (Baumeister 1985). Motivation crisis
or identity deficit, on the other hand, is characterized by lack of commitment
to goals and values (Baumeister 1985), simply put by Habermas as lacking
“action-motivating meaning” (1988, p. 49). Therefore, Baumeister concludes
that identity crisis arises when a person or group struggles to make such com-
mitments. In the African context, African identity crisis, succinctly put, is a
feeling of confusion by Africans on their true personality or purpose in life,
thereby causing a lack of commitment to fulfil societal demands.
The search for African identity has always been a key issue by many
scholars owing to the influence of Westernization in causing the many prob-
lems of an African identity crisis (Kochalumchuvattil 2010; Ndubuisi 2013).
Jideofor in his edited book published in 2009 titled Who is African? Identity,
Citizenship and the Making of the African-Nation raises some vital questions
about African identity. Jideofor asks the following: “Do all those categorised
as Africans or as having an African pedigree perceive themselves as Africans?
Are all who perceive themselves as Africans accepted as such? Are there levels
of ‘Africanness’ and are some more African than others?” (quoted by Kanu
2013, p. 35). This differentiation among Africans is clearly evident when
some Africans tend to disassociate themselves from other African ethnic
Africanism 27
groups and to a greater extent display high contempt for Africanism. For
instance, Somalia and some African nations (including Northern Sudan and
some North African countries) opted to identify themselves as Asiatic-Arab
rather than Africans, not because of identity, strictly speaking, but also from
a socio-psychological belief that the former is more advanced than the latter
(Eno & Eno 2009), albeit this has vacillated depending on leadership ideol-
ogy. Some individuals (including scholars) from such countries, as further
recounted by Eno & Eno (2009), prefer to identify themselves first with their
Arabian identity than with their African citizenship when they congregate at
public events both within and outside Africa. According to Dukor,
Africans of the first half of this century have begun to search for their identity
because they had the feeling that they had lost it. The three factors which led
to this feeling were slavery, colonialism, and racialism; of all these, racialism
is said to be the source of the colonialism and slavery. It was because Africans
were considered racially inferior and culturally uncivilized that both Arabs
and Europeans felt a moral justification in expiating them by reducing them
to slavery. Therefore, the heart of the whole problem of African identity lies in
Racialism (quoted in Ndubuisi 2013, p. 224).
It should be noted here that the typical pre-colonial African society was
characterized by a traditional system of government with independent struc-
tured leadership which was later distorted by colonial territorial boundaries
(Eno & Eno 2009). Taking a leaf from Collins and Porras, “One of the most
important steps you can take in building a visionary company is not an action,
but a shift in perspective” (1997, p. 40). Similarly, one of the important ways
to address this issue of a seeming ‘loss of the African identity’ and liberation
from its stigma is a shift in perspective. For this to be effectively achieved,
Eno & Eno (2013) suggest that we should begin by laying the foundation of
Africanness at the national level. As an alternative solution to the problem,
Falola and Essien (2014) suggest a broader perspective such as appropriating
and performing African ideologies on local, regional, national, continental
and trans-Atlantic levels in order to sustain the Africanness which is gradually
disappearing. There is, therefore, the need to be “intrinsically proud of who
we are, and the ideological doctrine for which we stand” (Eno & Eno 2013,
p.75). If this is not done, “Africans are bound to lose touch with the reality
of their identity” (Eno & Eno 2013, p.75).
Challenges of Neo-Colonialism
Neo-colonialism is an ideological movement that is gradually affecting
the Africanness of Africa. This is apparent especially in foreign policy
dealings of African nations such as Nigeria with Europe, America and,

most recently, Asia which constitute some of the fastest growing econo-
mies in the world. Also as noted by Crawford (2017), Ghanaian officials
have pursued unplanned policies to attract foreign investments through
heritage tourism. Crawford goes further to reveal that Ghanaian heritage
tourism has depended on festivals and historical sites like slave castles to
attract people to visit the country in view of promoting the tourism indus-
try rather than encouraging true Pan-African unity. This approach to tour-
ism development is unhealthy for the sustainable development of African
ideologies and epistemologies.
Just like the approach of University of Ghana intellectuals who petitioned
the University administration for allowing the erection of the cenotaph of
Gandhi within the University owing to his earlier anti-Africanist comments
about the Black race, Africans should adopt this Africanist approach. This
approach seeks for African representation, independence, and solidarity. In
the tourism industry, it is important that we celebrate more of our African
heroes and heritage rather than trademarks of oppression through slavery.
The Challenge of Globalization

The origin of globalization can be traced back to between the mid-15th and
the wake of the 16th Century, but the word was coined in the late 12th
Century (Ugbam et al. 2014). The issue pertaining to the effect of global-
ization on African culture is shrouded in controversies. This is because while
it has been admired by some as having a positive effect on African culture,
it has also been rejected by others as having a negative effect, blaming it for
the many problems facing Africans. This chapter will be prejudiced if it fails
to acknowledge that globalization has also had some good effects on the
African culture such as the abolishment of the killing of twins in Nigeria and
many more examples. Nevertheless, based on the scope of this subsection,
the focus is on the way globalization has affected the development of African
culture.
According to Onyeonoru, “globalisation began through an endless
series of economic transactions, which linked Europe, Asia, Africa, and the
Americas” (2003, p. 36). Therefore, globalisation, from the Africanist per-
spective, can be said to have stemmed from the association between Africa
and the rest of the world, especially Europe, Asia, and America. The major
fear of globalization that has been expressed by many is that of cultural
homogenization and the belief that the culture that will emerge in the end
will be basically American—hence, Americanization (Ugbam et al. 2014).
Africanism 29
On the contrary, Ugbam et al. (2014) are of the view that there is no delib-
erate design by America to Americanize Africa. They highlight the reasons
for such seeming belief of African Americanization by many individuals as
follows:
There are two possible explanations for the way it seems that the whole world
is wholeheartedly accepting American culture and replacing their indigenous
cultures with it. Firstly, whenever two cultures come into contact, acculturation
takes place naturally and this acculturation process is influenced by a natural
law that operates to the effect that what is weak is usually attracted to what is
strong. We have already seen that culture is a concept that represents peoples’
way of life. The strength of a culture can be measured in terms of the extent to
which it embodies positive qualities and values that enhance peoples’ standards
of living. The implication is that often when people accept the Western culture
it is because it is actually better than what they possess. Secondly, the majority
of Africans are plagued by inferiority complex which makes them believe that
the Western way of life is superior to theirs in all aspects. Consequently, they
are eager to accept anything Western while shunning anything African (Ugbam
et al. 2014, p. 68).
From the preceding statement, it is clear that one of the major drives of
globalization is to perpetuate an inferiority complex on Africans which will
make them feel that their culture is weaker than the Western culture. It is
therefore paramount for Africans to showcase their culture by focusing on
its strengths.
Implications of the Findings and Suggestion for Future Research

The findings from this chapter have several implications. To begin with, it is a
truism that in the present day, African ideologies and values have been greatly
threatened by Westernization. A physical manifestation of this threat is seen in
the various previously discussed challenges and issues facing the African race.
As noted by Mphande (2006), personal names of enslaved Africans have dis-
appeared to a greater extent replaced by the Anglo-American names of their
enslavers. This is also clearly evident in the south southern part of Nigeria
where individuals bear surnames of colonial masters without acknowledging
their indigenous traditional names. There is, therefore, the need for Africans
to display social identity independence whereby the answering of local names
is encouraged in different spheres of the nation or continent. Failure to do
this will result in a patrimonial loss of identity whereby individuals cannot
trace their ancestry beyond the fourth generation.
Also, the need for rethinking the Christian rite of baptism where intend-
ing individuals are sometimes compelled to be christened non-African names
as baptismal names is long overdue. Christian names can be found in virtually

all, if not all, African languages with meanings that are well understood and
appreciated by the local populace, unlike Western names whose bearer may
not even know the meaning.
In addition, there is a need to go back to the drawing board to address
the adoption of the Western toothbrush and displacement of the chewing
stick which possesses medicinal properties. This is a very pathetic incidence
because overtime posterity may never know the importance in terms of the
health benefit of the use of the chewing stick. Thus, this indigenous ideology
may be lost forever.
Njaka provides a suggestion worth reflecting vis-à-vis ways of charting
a new course in African Studies. His position points towards resuscitat-
ing ancient African philosophies which apparently are more humane than
Western ideologies. He states:
African Studies should encompass all aspects of African history and should
provide outlines for the future development of Africa. Such a pursuit cannot
survive in isolation. Too many hands, soiled and otherwise, have touched it. In
my opinion, African Studies should strike a completely new approach, or—if
possible—exhume a methodology which was labeled primitive and buried as the
influence of Christianity’s spread. Another important factor to be mentioned is
that for African Studies to have any meaning, it must include the experiences of
all Africans everywhere (Njaka 1979, p. 12).
It is therefore paramount for Africans not to jettison ancient African

philosophies which display better aspects of traditional African society.
Africans should adopt the African community spirit entangled in grassroots
of Socialism which ensures selflessness and the wellbeing of everyone without
prejudice. Such humane African philosophies are replete in many African
societies and should be encouraged among Africans. The successful execu-
tion of such African ideologies in our every day to day living is a step toward
achieving one united African federation.
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more actively and are in this sense more subject to injury from excess
of uric acid and allied products. Birds at this age, confined and in
process of fattening are thereby exposed. Overfed, obese, lazy, old
house dogs are under similar causative conditions.
Lesions. The most prominent lesions in birds are chalky
concretions of urates on the articular ends of the bones and in the
structures around the joints including even the tendons, with more
or less inflammatory exudate and even necrosis, invading the bony
tissue and articular cartilage. Abscesses may be present usually
outside the bursa. Birds suffer especially in the tarsal, metatarsal and
phlangeal joints, but often also in the corresponding joints of the
wing, and less frequently in the joints of the trunk, and in the
internal organs,—kidneys, liver, lungs, serosæ,—and skin. In these
last, miliary chalky concretions and encrustations are found. In
Brückmüller’s case in the dog the chalky deposits of urates were
found mainly on the epiphyses of the ribs, but also on the joints of
the limbs.
Uric acid is always abundant in the blood of birds, and Roberts has
shown that biurate of soda (the usual form of precipitate) is insoluble
in blood serum, synovia and other body fluids when in excess of
1:10,000.
Symptoms. In birds the febrile and constitutional symptoms have
not been carefully observed so that the objective symptoms in the
affected joints have been mainly relied on. There is extreme
tenderness marked by standing on one limb, or resting on the breast,
and hence moping apart from the flock. When made to rise, the
affected limb may be used to steady the body, or even to walk, with a
limp, though in bad cases the sound limb only may be used. The
affected joints are swollen, soft, hot, extremely tender, pitting on
pressure, and later the seat of nodular yellow masses, usually hard,
but sometimes fluctuating and in size from a pea to a hazel nut. The
superimposed epidermis is thick, dry and scaly, falling off in flakes.
At a more advanced stage the concretions may burst through the
skin, discharging a buffy, granular, debris containing crystals of
urates of ammonium or calcium, or of uric acid. Later still are
ulcerous sores, involving the disintegrating urate nodules and the
necrotic bones and cartilages. The deposits deflect the bones from
their normal direction, causing not only nodular swellings on the
toes but much crookedness and distortion. As in man the disease is
essentially chronic and advances slowly, with anæmia, emaciation,
debility and at times diarrhœa.
Diagnosis depends largely on the recognition of the excess of
urates in the deposits. These appear under the microscope as fine
acicular crystals, which in the harder portions have a concentric
arrangement. A portion of the concretion may be moistened with a
few drops of nitric acid and evaporated to dryness. To one part of the
residue is added, by means of a pipette, a drop of aqua ammonia, and
to another caustic soda. The ammonia develops a beautiful purple
red color, and the soda a blue or purplish blue ring (Murexide test).
In tubercular joints, which are common in birds, the caseated nodule
is made up of cells and granular debris, with tubercle bacilli, and
though cretaceous particles may be present they fail to give the
microscopic and color appearances of uric acid.
Treatment. This must be largely preventive. The rich albuminoid
feeding and close confinement must be modified especially in the
older birds, and eliminating agents must be given in the drinking
water. The Carlsbad combination (sodium sulphate 22; potassium
sulphate 1; sodium chloride 9; sodium bicarbonate 18) may be used.
Powdered colchicum ¼ gr. once or twice daily during an attack, or
piperazin ½ gr. twice a day. Locally, abscesses should be opened,
and like any sores or ulcers, treated with antiseptics (Salicylate of
sodium 75 grs., glycerine 2 ozs.; or piperazin solution 2:100).
SCURVY: SCORBUTUS.
Definition. Susceptible animals: pigs, dogs. Causes: unwholesome salt meat, lack
of fresh food, vegetables, potassium, bad environment, unvarying diet, lack of free
range, putrescent food, foul water, infection; non-recurrence. Lesions: blood black,
diffluent, little rigor mortis, excess of sodium, petechiæ and extravasations, red
marrow, softened, swollen, bleeding, ulcerating gums. Symptoms: Anorexia,
prostration, debility, tardy movements, petechiæ, loss of bristles, ulcers, gum
lesions, joint swellings, blood extravasations. Diarrhœa. Prognosis unfavorable.
Treatment: correct unwholesome environment and food, wash, rich food partly
green or animal, iron, bitters, arsenic, mouth wash (potassium chlorate), for
suckling milk. Butcher.
Definition. Scurvy is a subacute or chronic trophic disorder

characterized by debility, inanition, anæmia, swelling and bleeding
of the gums, gingival ulceration, dropping of the teeth, and petechial
or more extensive hæmorrhages and exudations in the skin, serosa,
and solid tissues.
Animals susceptible. In past times man has suffered extensively in
connection with unwholesome food and environment, on long sea
voyages, on uninhabited islands, in military campaigns, in besieged
cities, in famines, when restricted to one article of food, etc. Among
the lower animals, pigs especially suffer, when kept in close, foul
quarters and fed a monotonous and insufficient ration. Dogs suffer
under similar conditions, and probably other animals would if
equally badly used.
Causes. Formerly it was attributed to an exclusive diet of salt meat
and bread; to excess of sodium, and deficiency of potassium salts; to
the absence of fresh vegetables; to tainted food, etc. A broader
generalization shows the Eskimo living on a pure meat diet, the
Mongolian on rice alone, the Congoese on plantains, and without
scurvy. Yet it cannot be denied that these various conditions
undermine the general health, and prepare the system for those
faulty states of nutrition which are seen in scurvy. In pigs the food
and environment are usually chiefly at fault, the subjects have been
kept closely confined in foul buildings, in a hot, moist atmosphere,
and with an uniform diet of maize or other unvarying and
insufficient ration. It does not appear when there is a free access to a
spacious yard or open field, and when the monotonous diet can be
varied by a variety of slugs and other invertebrates. Röll attaches
great importance to a putrid condition of the aliments (putrescent
swill). Benion has found it mainly in obese swine, the forced feeding
and intestinal fermentations manifestly operating as factors. Corrupt
drinking water has proved a manifest factor among men living in
camps, and pigs above all other animals are subjected to this cause.
Benion says it occurs in the advanced stages of measles (cysticercus
cellulosa).
It is evident that unwholesome conditions of life such as the above,
contribute strongly to the affection, yet probably no one of these is by
itself an effective factor. Its rapid extension among men and animals,
that are huddled together in close, filthy quarters suggests an
epizootic or infective element, and Cornevin, Hess and others
attribute the disease in pigs to the germ of erysipelas. Stengel has
produced purpuric disease in animals by inoculation of the
extravasated blood from human scurvy patients. Müller and Babes
found a slender bacillus and streptococci in the tissues of scorbutic
gums. The bacillus was present in the mouth of non-scurvy persons.
Boruträger found cocci in the spleen. Berthensen alleges that after
complete recovery the disease does not attack the same person a
second time, which, if confirmed, will go far to establish a
bacteridian origin. There is considerable presumption of the
existence of a microbian cause, the efficiency of which is dependent
on the unhygienic conditions above stated, while these unwholesome
conditions are equally nonpathogenic in the absence of the microbe.
Lesions. The blood is black and incoagulable or clots loosely, rigor
mortis is slight, changes may be found in the number and character
of the white and red blood globules, but are not constant, there is
usually an excess of sodium salts and deficiency of potassium ones,
and there is marked petechiation of the skin, mucosæ and serosæ.
The bone marrow may be abnormally red and the bones fractured at
the epiphyses, or carious. The addition of the gum lesions makes the
case characteristic. The gums are softened, swollen, red and uneven,
with hæmorrhagic discoloration, erosions, necrotic areas and ulcers.
Symptoms. Anorexia or fastidious appetite, prostration, debility
and sluggish indifferent movements, are followed by the local lesions
on the skin and gums. On the skin appear petechiæ, and
extravasations, which often implicate the bristles, so that they may
be shed or pulled out with ease, the bulbs appearing dark and
bloodstained (bristle rot). These may be followed by necrotic
sloughs, and deep ulcers that are slow to heal. The gums are red and
swollen, with hæmorrhagic spots, and bleed on the slightest touch.
Erosions, sores and ulcers are not uncommon, the tongue is dry and
furred, and the mouth exhales a fœtid odor. The teeth may become
loose in their sockets. Swelling of the joints, from hæmorrhage or
effusion, may be noticed, and lameness or stiffness from muscular or
intermuscular extravasation. Blood effusions into the anterior or
posterior chamber of the eye have been noticed and paralytic or
comatose symptoms from similar effusions on the brain. In the
absence of improvement the patient becomes more and more
debilitated and exhausted, and death may be preceded by profuse
exhausting diarrhœa.
Prognosis is unfavorable in advanced cases, and when the faulty
regimen cannot be corrected.
Treatment. The first consideration is to correct the unwholesome
conditions of life, purify the building and its surroundings, and allow
a free range on a pasture. Subject each patient to a thorough soapy
wash, and if possible allow clean running water in which a bath may
be taken at will. Access to green food and invertebrates (slugs, larvæ,
etc.) is important, or a varied diet of grain, middlings, bran, roots,
fruits, tubers, cabbage, silage, etc., must be furnished. Iron and
bitters (mix vomica, gentian,) are useful and sometimes small doses
of arsenite of soda solution, or cream of tartar are useful. Acorns or
horsechestnuts are recommended. For the mouth a wash of
potassium chlorate, soda biborate, or potassium permanganate may
be resorted to. Friedberger and Fröhner advise for the dog extract of
meat in wine.
In the case of fat pigs it is more profitable to butcher at once, as
soon as early symptoms appear.
In pigs or puppies brought up by hand, as in babies, the true
course, is to discard milk substitutes and give sweet new milk,
preferably of the genus to which the patient belongs. The important
elements of cleanliness and outdoor life must not be forgotten.
GOITRE. BRONCHOCELE. ENLARGEMENT OF
THE THYROID.
Definition. A non-inflammatory enlargement of the thyroid gland,

independent of known microbes or parasitism.
Causes. Goitre is an endemic disorder in man and beast, though it
may occur sporadically during or after a debilitating disease, or in
animals that are overworked or out of condition. As occurring
endemically all accessory factors that undermine the general health
must be admitted as potent factors, though insufficient of themselves
to develop the malady in the absence of the specific cause. Thus in
Europe women suffer more than man, being more confined indoors
and being less muscular and vigorous. In New York the new born
offspring of ewes, kept in close confinement during winter, may be
all goitrous, while those of flocks, having a free run through the
whole season, escape. Gurlt has seen the same in goats. Apart from
debilitating diseases New York horses and cattle develop the greater
number of cases in winter, the period of confinement and idleness.
House dogs suffer more than hounds.
Poor diet has a similar effect. In Europe where the disease is very
prevalent in the underfed peasant population, it is rare among the
highly fed domestic animals. Bouley says it is excessively rare in
animals even in the localities in which it prevails in man, and though
mentioned by Lydtin, Johné, Haubner and others it is not as a
common affection. In New York and Pennsylvania on the other hand
it is rare in the well-fed human population, and very common in
horses, mules, cattle, sheep, swine and dogs. I have known
congenital goitre to prove fatal to a new born dromedary in Central
Park, New York. The long, severe winter, close confinement, and
impure air, doubtless as much as the spare diet contribute to this
prevalence among the animals in New York.
Intestinal worms and other parasitisms must be accepted as
secondary factors, the development of goitre often going on
simultaneously with the increase of the parasites.
Heredity is claimed as a cause by Möller and others, and doubtless
a weak constitution transmitted from parent to offspring, is more
susceptible. Apart from this the exposure of both to a common
specific cause is the main factor in its production.
Locality. This must be accorded a first position in the causation of
goitre, so far at least as it occurs endemically and enzootically. In
England it has prevailed, in man, on the limestone hills of
Derbyshire, and Gloucester (Cotswold); in Europe it is common in
the Alps, Pyrenees, Savoy, Styria, Silesia, in the Black Forest and in
the Rhone valley; in Asia it prevails in the Himalayas, the Altai
Mountains, the hills of China, and in the Punjaub; in South America
it is seen in the valley of the Oronoco; in North America in
Saskatchewan, Ontario, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York,
Vermont, Virginia and Alabama. A large number of these localities
lie on magnesian limestone or are supplied with water that has
percolated through this, so that at one time the excess of magnesia
and the lack of iodine were held to be the main causative factors.
This contention cannot be sustained in all cases, so that the
disposition is, at present, to attribute the disease to some unknown
poison. This unknown poison may be present in districts apart from
the magnesian limestone, yet the disease is so frequently seen upon
this formation that its presence must always be looked upon with
suspicion as a probable bearer of the poison, and waters bearing its
products are unsuited to the victims of goitre.
Pathological Anatomy. Sometimes the swelling of the gland which
appears during catarrh or pharyngitis will subside on recovery. In
other cases it remains as a distinct hypertrophy. This is usually an
increase of the parenchyma and dilatation of its follicles with an
albuminous fluid (hypertrophic goitre). This may affect one lateral
lobe or both. In other cases the fibrous tissue mainly increases and
the gland becomes hard and resistant (fibrous goitre). In other cases
the individual follicles become distended, and may even break into
each other forming a large cavity or several with liquid contents
(cystic goitre). In other cases there is a great increase of the vascular
network of the gland so that blood alone is obtained on puncture
(varicose goitre). Tumors of all kinds may be found in the gland,
thus encysted adenoma, sarcoma and melanoma in horses,
carcinoma in old dogs.
Symptoms. In horses there may be swelling of one lateral lobe of
the gland or of both, reaching individually the size of a hen’s egg or
the fist, or larger. Cadeac cites cases that weighed 4 lbs. In dogs,
cattle, sheep and especially in swine, the two lobes are much more
closely connected, and the disease affecting both, together with the
commissure, the whole may be resolved into one uniform swelling,
much larger than in the horse relatively to the size of the animal,
often covering the whole front of the neck, and extending into the
chest. Cadeac mentions cases in the dog in which the mass weighed 4
lbs.
The smaller swellings appear in the solipeds on the two sides of the
larynx, and in other animals more in front. They are mobile, but rise
somewhat with the larynx in swallowing, and are usually covered by
loose, movable skin. The consistency of the swelling varies; some are
soft, elastic or pitting on pressure, others fluctuate and still others
are firm and resistant. Old cases that have become calcified may even
feel bony. In dogs it will sometimes pulsate like an aneurism.
Functional secondary troubles are rare in solipeds. In the other
animals the goitre may compress the pharynx or gullet causing
dysphagia, or the larynx, trachea or recurrent nerves causing more or
less wheezing or dyspnœa. Asphyxia is not uncommon in new born
sheep, and goats, and Johné and the present writer have seen cases
in dromedaries. The soft embryonic tracheal rings had been so
compressed from side to side that respiration became impossible.
Honert records a case of asphyxia in an adult horse. Cases of roaring
in adult horses and mules and of asphyxia in adult dogs are also on
record. Warz records the obliteration of the jugular in a dog, and
Cadeac œdema of the lips and face.
The course of goitre is usually slow, extending over years, yet in
young dogs it may make a very rapid progress. It will often stand still
for a time, and later start a new growth under a fresh access of the
cause. Spontaneous disappearance is rare.
Prevention. This is especially important in localities in which
goitre is enzootic, and embraces careful attention to the general
health, the avoidance of overwork, exhaustion, indoor life, lack of
exercise, impure air, faulty feeding, starvation, and water from the
goitrous soils. Rain water is preferable.
Treatment. First remove the various causes, and secure the best
hygiene. If a change to a non-goitrous district can be had, avail of it.
Among medicinal agents iodine holds the foremost place. It may
be given internally as potassium iodide, alone, or along with tincture
of iodine, and applied locally as iodine ointment rubbed into the
skin, or tincture of iodine painted on the surface.
Of surgical measures the simplest and best is the injection of
iodine into the diseased thyroid. The nozzle of a hypodermic syringe
is inserted into the gland, preferably into the largest cyst or follicular
mass, and the liquid drawn off as fully as possible. It is then injected
with the following mixture: compound solution of iodine one part,
distilled water two parts. The amount may vary with the size of the
goitre. In cases of moderate size ½ dr. to 1 dr. is suitable. There is
usually some resulting inflammation, which may be met by a wet
compress around the throat. A second and third injection may be
made if necessary, when the effects of the preceding one have passed
off. In simple forms it is very successful. For dogs Möller
recommends from 5 to 15 drops of undiluted tincture of iodine at an
injection. In other cases he used a watery solution of papain (1:10) to
be left in for 48 hours. The thyroid was then soft and, on incision,
discharged its digested parenchyma as a milky fluid, and favorable
healing followed.
The removal of the diseased lobe has been successfully
accomplished in horses, the reservation of the other lobe, or even of
the connecting commissure, being sufficient to prevent the
occurrence of tetany. From the extreme vascularity of the organ it is
important to ligature the arteries before attempting the removal.
In the other domestic animals in which the commissure is
practically obliterated and the two lobes confluent in goitre, the
excision of the mass is liable to be followed by tetany, dropsy
(myxoedema), stunted development, anæmia or marasmus. If a
portion of the gland is left these results do not follow. Grafting of a
portion of healthy gland may correct the tetany. The hypertrophy of
the gland may sometimes be arrested by ligature of its nutrient
arteries, and without the dangers above named. This may be
combined with the internal and external use of iodine.
EXOPHTHALMIC GOITRE.
Definition. A complex disorder manifested by hypertrophy of the

thyroid, excessive bulging of the eye balls out of the orbits, cardiac
palpitations or tardy heart action and other nervous or trophic
disorders.
Cadiot records a case in a horse, in low condition, with painful
œdematous swelling of one fore foot, and swellings in other parts of
the body, great enlargement of the left lobe of the thyroid,
tumultuous heart action with beats 70 to 80 per minute, and strong
visible pulsations in the superficial arteries. There was no leukæmia
and no exophthalmia. The patient died on the third day.
Jeswejenko records that of a four year old English thoroughbred
which after a race showed anorexia, weakness, thirst, rapid pulse,
palpitations, conjunctivitis, enlarged thyroid and after fourteen days
exophthalmia with thyroid pulsations. It died in the fourth week,
anæmic and exhausted. A second case in a 7 year old bitch recovered
in three months under treatment with iodine.
Röder gives the case of a cow with palpitations, abnormally strong
pulsations, thyroid hypertrophy and double intense exophthalmia.
This persisted for four years.
RACHITIS. RICKETS.
Definition. Lesions and pathology; gastro-intestinal disorder, hepatic, splenic

and renal congestion and hypertrophy, lessened blood salts, dilated arteries,
hyperæmia of bone, deep red marrow, blue articular cartilage, softening of
epiphyseal cartilage and under the periosteum, with hyperplasia, decrease of lime
salts, bending of bone, loose periosteum; sclerosis in repaired cases. Causes:
appears as if infection, lack of lime salts in food, inconstant, free phosphorus,
glycero-phosphoric acid, lactic acid, oxalic, acetic and formic acids, heredity, bad
air, crowding, damp soils, cold, confinement, darkness, infection, toxic matters.
Symptoms: unthrift, thin neck, arched or hollow back, drooping pelvis, weariness,
stiffness, recumbency, limbs not plumb, tender, swollen puffed joints, enlarged
epiphyses, bent shafts, or spine, brittleness. Swine fed on potatoes or corn,
“snuffles”, breaking teeth, diarrhœa, bronchitis, skin eruptions, arthritis. Cattle,
epiphyseal swellings, bow legs, crooked back. Dogs, bow legs. Goats. Birds, knotted
thickening of bones, flexibility. Fever, colics, indigestion. Lameness shifting,
intermittent, relapsing. Paraplegia. Treatment, hygienic, vigorous breeding
animals, nutritious rations, rich in earthy salts, well balanced, from sound land,
rich abundant milk without excess of fat, avoid spoiled food, adapt cow’s milk to
foal or puppy, fresh air, sunshine, damp soils, antacids, lime water, laxatives,
bitters, phosphates, bone dust, phosphorus.
Definition. A constitutional disease of young animals, associated

with disorders of digestion, nutrition, assimilation, and
sanguification, and especially characterized by softening and
distortion of the bones.
Lesions and Pathology. Apart from the bones there does not seem
to be an absolute constancy in the lesions. There is usually, however,
a period of ill-health and faulty nutrition before the lesions in the
bones can be recognized. Thus, there may be gastric or intestinal
congestion, or catarrh, indigestions, constipation alternating with
diarrhœa, enlargement of the liver, spleen and kidney with
hyperæmia, and according to V. Jaksch, a diminution of the salts of
the blood. Beneke found that the arteries are dilated throughout the
entire body, but the heart does not always participate in this
distension. The arterial dilatation is very marked in the pulmonary
artery, yet the lungs are relatively small. In the bones there is a well
marked hyperæmia, most prominent beneath the periosteum, in the
cancellated tissue, the line of junction of the epiphysis and diaphysis,
and near the articulating surface. The contents of the cancelli are of a
deep red, and the color shines through the articular cartilage giving it
a bluish tinge. The shaft of the bone does not escape, but like the
epiphysis and epiphyseal cartilage may be soft and yielding to
pressure, and cut readily with the knife.
At both points the process of growth is increased and its area
extended, but it is not completed by the full deposition of earthy
salts, and the softening is not confined to the new tissues, but
extends into the subjacent bone as well.
The chemical composition of the bone is profoundly altered, the
organic basis, at times amounting to 65 per cent., as compared to
33.30 per cent in the normal bone. The softened bone, yielding under
the weight of the body, bends out of shape at the epiphyseal cartilage,
or even elsewhere, giving rise to bow legs, deviation of the joints
inward, or other distortion. The periosteum is red, thickened, the
seat of exudate and easily torn from the bone.
The bones are often thickened by new deposit under the
periosteum and especially at the junction with the epiphyses. Old
cases of distortion, the result of rickets, do not necessarily show a
deficiency of earthy salts, as these are restored in case of repair and
they may even be found in excess of the normal, increasing the
hardness of the bone.
Causes. This disease does not seem to have been recognized in
Great Britain until the beginning of the 17th century, the period of
England’s early activity on the sea, and the beginning of extensive
commerce and manufactures. From that time it has been
increasingly and extensively prevalent. Yet it has not been shown to
be propagated by any specific germ, nor to have extended in line with
the introduction and use of new food products like the potato. It
appears to be traceable rather to unwholesome conditions of life and
a reduction of the general tone and nutritive vigor.
A deficiency of earthy salts in the food has been a natural and
favorite explanation, and the ill-health that is thereby brought about
is often an important factor. Yet rachitis occurs independently of
such a condition.
In Roloff’s experiments, pigs fed on aliment deficient in lime salts,
suffered from bone softening, while the control animals on food rich
in lime salts remained well. The diseased animals further recovered
on a diet rich in lime. Voight, Chossat, Milne-Edwards, Lehmann,
Bousaingault, Heitzmann, etc., had similar experimental results, and
the effects were shown in goats, sheep and dogs, in curvature,
shortening, swelling of the costal cartilages and joints and contracted
pelvis. Growing pigs have often been found to suffer in this way when
placed on an exclusive diet of maize. The great improvement often
secured in feeding an excess of calcareous phosphates tends to
corroborate the hypothesis. Wagner found that food rich in lime
salts, and the administration of small doses of phosphorus, rendered
the epiphyses of the growing bones more compact. Kassowitz, on the
other hand, found that an excess of phosphorus caused absorption
from the bone substance and an irritable inflammation of the
osseous tissue. Schneidemühl has seen the disease in calves raised on
milk, poor in lime, the product of emaciated cows; in pigs getting
only potatoes and swill, and in puppies that were denied bones. It is
common in pigs on an exclusive diet of maize. Yet it is most
destructive in many breeding studs where the alimentation is rich
and generous. It must be admitted that as a concurrent cause, the
paucity of lime salts and phosphates is a powerful factor, and that in
supplying the bone ash, and improving the nutrition, these often
prove of great value. Their privation is, however, not an essential
condition of rachitis.
Free phosphorus. Ziegler and Kassowitz emphasize the hyperæmia
of the cancellated tissue, and Wagner shows that this condition can
be induced by excess of phosphorus, but this excess of phosphorus
has not been found in the blood in ordinary cases, and is not likely to
occur in a great number of young, at the same place and time,
irrespective of food, as has been shown in breeding studs in New
Jersey, in the South and West. In particular cases excess of
phosphorus may operate, but it cannot be looked on as universal or
essential.
The presence of glycero-phosphoric acid is alleged by Trasbot, but
there is no proof of its constancy in rachitis, nor would its presence
explain the real cause of the disease.
Lactic acid in the system. Lactic acid, in vitro, dissolves the
calcareous salts of the bones. Trasbot alleges that it opposes the
precipitation of lime in the form of tribasic phosphate, as found in
bone. Siedamgrotzky and Hofmeister found that the salts of the bone
were lessened under the administration of lactic acid. Heitzmann
and Baginsky showed that by restricting the lime in food and giving
lactic acid, by the mouth or subcutem, the lime salts in the bone were
lessened relatively to the organic basis. It should be noted that an
exclusive diet of buttermilk is liable to cause an attack of arthritic
rheumatism. Lactic acid is undoubtedly a coöperative factor in
certain cases, but though often found in the diseased bone and urine
of rachitic children (Ragsky, Morehead, Simon, Lehmann), it is not
shown to be constant.
Oxalic acid. Acetic acid. Formic acid. Beneke found oxalic acid in
the urine in many cases of rachitis and attributed to it the removal of
the lime salts. Others have made the same charges on acetic and
formic acids which are sometimes found in the diseased bone.
It is quite plain that the process of normal ossification is easily
disturbed, and that the same agent (lime, phosphorus) will assist or
hinder according as it is present in small or large amount, and that
certain chemical agents like organic acids may act injuriously even in
the presence of an abundance of bone salts.
Heredity. Rickety parents have often rickety offspring, the weak
somatic cells, failing in both cases to build healthy, strong tissues,
but as a rule also, both have been condemned to live in similar
unwholesome surroundings.
Unhygienic Conditions. Schneidemühl notes that in animals as in
man, bad ventilation, close impure air, crowding, damp impervious
soils, and cold, are found more or less in places where rachitis
prevails. By lowering the general health and tone, these debilitate the
tissue cells and impair nutrition and growth.
Confinement has a manifest influence. Rickets prevails in children
in the great manufacturing cities, where the exclusion of sunlight and
the breathing of impure air rob the system of its vigor. The children
of soldiers in India kept in close barracks are largely rickety, while
the more poorly fed native children outside escape. Wild beasts in
confinement are often rachitic, unlike their fellows of the forest.
Colts in confined stables suffer while those in the fields and yards
remain healthy. Swine in Sweden in close pens and fed on potatoes
alone suffer (Stockfleth).
Darkness usually coincides with confinement and it is noteworthy
that deep sea fishes, living in comparative darkness, have usually
cartilaginous skeletons.
Infection. Certain facts seem to point to a direct infection, as
coöperating with the debilitating conditions above named. The
advent of the disease in England about 1700: its frequency in English
swine on the European continent (Schneidemühl); and its enzootic
prevalence in different parts of America, give seeming support to the
doctrine.
Dr. W. L. Williams has seen it appear on an Illinois farm twenty
years after reclamation from virgin prairie, prevail for ten years and
then disappear. There was a remarkable coincidence of recurrent
ophthalmia, and disease of the bones and joints (navicular disease,
spavin, splints, ring bones, etc.).
In most of these cases the trouble occurred on low, damp or
impervious soils, agreeing with rickets in children, which avoids the
Alps or hilly districts, and abounds in valleys or bottom lands.
Symptoms. The colts show a lack of thrift and though there may be
no lack of growth or size, they have a rough coat, a poor development
of the neck, arching of the back and drooping pelvis. The chest may
seem to sink between the scapulæ. They move stiffly with swaying of
the limbs, or even staggering and are easily wearied or lacking in
endurance. They lie a great portion of their time or even persistently,
refusing to rise. When up they do not hold the limbs plumb, but
allow them to deviate one way or another in an unsightly way. There
is liable to be swelling of important joints of the limb, (knee, hock,
stifle, fetlock), which are tender to pressure and kept partly flexed.
The ends of the ribs are often enlarged. Bending of the long bones
(tibia or radius), and deviations of the back or sternum from the
straight line are significant. Thickening of the ends of the bones, or
in the region of the epiphyseal cartilages are largely diagnostic. The
bones are easily fractured. In swine fed on potatoes, corn, etc.,
besides the affections of the limbs, the thickening of the bones and
swelling of the joints, especially the hock and pastern, there is
enlargement of the nasal and maxillary bones so as to seriously
obstruct breathing (“Snuffles”). The teeth suffer and break readily
and in the general break down diarrhœa, bronchitis or skin eruption
appears and the subject falls into marasmus and perishes. In the
necropsy arthritis is commonly found. In cattle beside the epiphyseal
swellings, the bow legs and joint enlargements, the back becomes
crooked, vertically or laterally. The same general symptoms appear
in dogs in which bow legs are a very prominent feature. Goats suffer
badly and mostly remain recumbent.
Birds suffer most, showing knotty thickening of the bones of the
legs and wings, and flexibility of the bones generally but above all of
the keel of the sternum, which is usually badly distorted from sitting
on the perch.
In all alike there are usually a few days of fever, followed by
indigestion, colics, anorexia, and a general air of illness. Then appear
the lameness, stiffness and swelling of bones and joints. Any joint
may suffer, shoulder, elbow, knee, hips, stifle, hock, or fetlock. The
lameness may shift as in rheumatism, it may intermit, occurring
periodically, or it may advance uninterruptedly to a fatal issue.
Paraplegia is common and appears to be due at times to pressure on
the spinal nerves by the diseased vertebræ. Before this becomes
complete, the animal may walk with the whole digits and metatarsi
in contact with the ground, and the softened crumbling calcis may
project through the skin forming an unsightly sore which soon
becomes septic. The same happens at times to the point of the elbow.
Treatment. The most important, are the hygienic considerations.
Reject weak or cachectic animals from breeding, and those that have
been rachitic to a marked degree, as their progeny are likely to show
the same weakness. Change the ration giving one that is well
balanced and rich in nutritive matters and earthy salts. Clover,
alfalfa, and a generous grain diet may serve as an example for
herbivora, and a fair allowance of meat and bones for dogs. Food
from land that has apparently contributed to the disease in other
cases is best avoided. If the land is poor, sandy, or destitute of earthy
salts and phosphates, so much the more is it to be suspected and set
aside. In the case of sucking animals it should be seen that the milk is
rich and abundant, and that it is not too rich in fat, nor otherwise
calculated to disagree and induce indigestion. Above all soured or
otherwise fermented milk should be withheld, and any buckets or
troughs used in feeding should be regularly washed, scalded and
disinfected. In case colts, or dogs are being raised on cow’s milk it
may be requisite to dilute it with one-third its volume of barley
water, or solution of gum arabic, and to sweeten with sugar. Lime
water with each meal is valuable in counteracting acidity, and
fermentation, and in furnishing lime which may be absorbed in part.
In prevention and treatment alike, fresh air and sunshine must
never be neglected and in warm weather, an outdoor life, night and
day is of the greatest value. At the same time cold storms, damp
beds, or any condition which may induce chill must be excluded.
Close stalls, pens, or kennels must be absolutely forbidden.
Among medicinal agents antacids are often essential on account of
the acid condition of the ingesta, lime water will often suffice, but if
there is manifest constipation calcined magnesia three times a day
on an empty stomach so as to counteract costiveness will often serve
a good end. The atony of the bowel may be further met by small
doses of strychnia. Other bitters may be used if this has little effect.
Small doses of phosphate of soda, or bone dust have been long
lauded in the affection, and probably act beneficially as a tonic as
well as a food material. Phosphorus in minute doses tends to
increase the deposit of earthy salts and consolidate the bones. Large
doses induce hyperæmia of the epiphyseal ligament and even favor
fracture. A grain of phosphorus daily may be given in olive oil or
better in cod liver oil which acts as a valuable tonic. Dieckerhoff
recommends the intratracheal injection of the solution of
phosphorus in olive oil.
BRAN DISEASE: SHORTS DISEASE: BRAN
RACHITIS.
Miller’s horses. Bran and middlings as fodder. Torpid bowels, impaction,

indigestion, colic, early fatigue and perspiration, stiffness, lameness, epiphyseal
swelling, facial bones swell and soften symmetrically, teeth drop, dyspnœa. Ash of
bran. Treatment.
A curious form of rickets has been observed, especially in miller’s

horses as a result of an excessive consumption of bran or middlings.
It is characterized by torpor of the bowels, impaction, indigestions,
slight colics, early fatigue and profuse perspiration under slight
exertion followed by stiffness, lameness, enlargement of the bones in
the region of the epiphyseal cartilage (near knee or hock), or of the
bones of the face. The superior and inferior maxillary bones are
symmetrically enlarged, the teeth are shed, mastication becomes
difficult and there may be some dyspnœa and snuffling. This
resembles the “snuffles” in pigs on an exclusive diet of Indian corn or
potato and Friedberger and Fröhner seek to explain both, by the lack
of lime and phosphorus in the food. But wheat bran has 5.1 per cent.
of ash, and middlings 2.3 per cent. as compared with wheat flour 1.7
per cent. or oats 2.7 per cent. Putz on the contrary attributes the
disease to the excess of phosphorus in the bran acting as the free
phosphorus in lucifer match factories in causing necrosis of the jaw.
But the phosphorus in bran occurs as phosphate of lime which has
no such action on the bone and one must infer that the phosphoric
acid is set free by some acid developed perhaps in the intestinal
fermentations. This is, however, as yet unproved.
The treatment of this affection consists in the suspension of the
bran and the expulsion of offensive accumulations and products
from the bowels, followed by a course of tonics and the general
treatment for rickets.

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African Isms: Africa and the Globalized

World Abdul Karim Bangura

Contemporary Issues in Finance, Investment and Banking

Engineering and Sciences Teaching and Learning

Primary Mathematics 3A Hoerst

Africa s Development Dynamics 2021 African Union

Global Constitutionalism and the Path of International

Individuation and Liberty in a Globalized World

Africa-China Cooperation: Towards an African Policy on

Beyond Scarcity Water Security in the Middle East and

Abdul Karim Bangura, Editor

Abdul Karim Bangura is a Senior Mentor of the CODESRIA College of

Cover image: ©iStock.com/Hibrida13

Africa and the Globalized World

Edited by Abdul Karim Bangura

Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.

© 2021 Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., New York

All rights reserved.

7. General Conclusion and Postscript  131

different African Isms to various issues, particularly current issues, on the

We, and hopefully many readers, owe gratitude to:

However, the relation between swift and swiftly is of a different kind.

Suffixes and Mobile Stress

‘brother ‘brotherly ‘brotherhood

‘origin o’riginal o,rigi’nality

As a result, the full vowel of one word becomes a reduced vowel in a

re-cover “to cover again”

arise award asleep ahead

Nouns: afterthought bylaw downfall forearm

Verbs: foreclose infringe offload outgrow

offset overflow overlap overthrow

Compare also these verb-noun pairs (Bangura 2011a, p. 5):

from verbs by addition of a neutral suffix, such as,under’stand and,with’drawal,

The neutral prefix mis- is regular so far as verbs are concerned:

unbutton undo unfurl unpack

All the prefixes discussed so far are of Germanic (Old English or

ap=pend as=sume at=tend

com=pre=hend cor=re=spond re=pre=sent

Basic Organization the Rest of this Book

A critical reflection on the concept of Africanism is presented in this chapter.

Ideas and Ideals of Africanism

Driving Force for and Use of Africanism

in a sense of identity, self-respect, and independence. Africanism can be seen

One of the proposals of Africanism is the struggle for a united Africa.

Pan-Africanism as a Basis of Africanism: A Historical

p. 528). Pan-Africanism sought to arouse in the Black people a consciousness

on the change of ideology and movement from Pan-Negro to a continental

Theoretical Discussion of Africanism

concept under which African studies flourished (Njaka 1971). Africanism

Trans-atlantic Cultural Influences in the New World

(Gomez 1998). Taking into consideration this huge number of Africans in

Controversy over Gandhi at the University of Ghana

The major points of argument of the University of Ghana intellectuals as

Second, such comments were viewed by some notable University of

African Heath Crises and Wellbeing

remedies. It may sound strange, but it is a fact that environmental sanitation

Also, Browning’s following statement reflects an attack on Africa as a threat

The Challenge of an African Identity Crisis

7. General Conclusion and Postscript 131