Mangaliso sobukwe’s linkages to pan-Africanist struggles for a decolonized and afrocentric “African university”

Abstract

The year 2025 holds great significance in the calendar of Pan-Africanism. It marks the 80th anniversary of the fifth Pan African Congress (PAC) held in Manchester, London, following four Pan African Congresses held under the leadership of the Pan-Africanist philosopher, W. E. B. Du Bois. The five PACs, themselves, followed the Pan African Conference convened by the Pan-Africanist lawyer, Henry Sylvester Williams, in 1900. In this study, I examine how Mangaliso Sobukwe’s ideas, as a Pan-Africanist philosopher, located in South Africa, contributed to calls for a decolonized and Afrocentric “African University.” In SA, the calls took dramatic turns in 1995, at Wits University, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the Manchester PAC, and, in 2015, at the University of Cape Town (UCT), coinciding with the Manchester PAC’s 70th anniversary. In examining Sobukwe’s Pan-Africanist philosophical thinking on decolonized and Afrocentric education, I simultaneously, examine how Sobukwe’s ideas resonated with Pan-Africanist philosophers, continentally, on decolonized and Afrocentric higher education.