On National Identity And Culture By Kwame Anthony Appiah's On National Culture

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Recommended: Sense of belonging among diverse communities

ANTH V1130 – Africa & The Anthropologist
Literature Review 2
Tyler Gibbons
Literature Review 2

Kwame Anthony Appiah’s “Europe Upside Down: Fallacies of the New Afrocentrism” and Frantz Fanon’s “On National Culture” each explore different aspects that relate to a common theme: identity. Appiah takes a concise approach to Afrocentrism and the different facets of it, where as Fanon elaborates extensively about what constitutes national identity and how its desires are legitimatized. Both writers analyze national culture and how there is an importance on understanding history to lead a country or region forward. I will discuss and evaluate the context of national identity and culture through both authors and evaluate their approaches and broader arguments.
Fanon’s “National Culture” is focused on helping various cultures around the world, primarily the African American culture, rediscover who they are and how their culture and customs are unique even if they lost their identity due to colonization. According to Fanon, “we shall analyze the problem, which is felt to be fundamental, of the legitimacy of the claims of a nation” (146). Throughout his text, he argues that it is not so much the importance of establishing a national culture to pursue decolonizing goals, but rather what accounts for a national identity, or national culture. For many countries, their national identity is derived from its rich past and some of the goals the nation was initially founded upon. But what Fanon observes however, is that colonialism prevents this sense of nostalgia from encouraging a national culture. He states “ colonialism turns to the past of the oppressed people, and distorts, disfigures and destroys it…the effect consciously sought by colonial...

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...ical account. However, they both agree on that history is meaningful and is vital for forward-thinking societies.
The need for African cultures to find a common historical root that could unify the people of Africa cannot be overemphasized. In this globalized world, cultures continue to be defined with a focus on the present and the future. Like Kwesi Dickson stated, “The Africa of today is not the Africa of yesterday. Times have changed”. Both of these writers, Kwame Anthony Appiah and Frantz Fanon, explore the notion of cultural identity and the importance of it. There is no easy solution to what they are arguing, however it is possible to look forward by being informed about the past and the present.

Work Cited

Kwame Anthony Appiach, Europe Upside Down: Fallacies of the new Afrocentrism (1997), 728-731.
Frantz Fanon, On National Culture (1963), 145-180.

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