Premium
Hispanic and Bantu Inheritance, Trauma, Dispersal and Return: Some Contributions to a Sense of National Identity in Equatorial Guinea
Author(s) -
Cusack Igor
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
nations and nationalism
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.655
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1469-8129
pISSN - 1354-5078
DOI - 10.1111/j.1354-5078.1999.00207.x
Subject(s) - bantu languages , elite , inheritance (genetic algorithm) , identity (music) , mythology , colonialism , population , ethnic group , sociology , diaspora , gender studies , genealogy , national identity , independence (probability theory) , ethnology , history , political science , law , anthropology , demography , politics , aesthetics , archaeology , philosophy , biology , linguistics , biochemistry , statistics , mathematics , gene , classics
. Equatorial Guinea is the only Spanish‐speaking state in sub‐Saharan Africa. Since independence in 1968 it has been ruled by the tyrant, Macías Nguema and then from 1979 by his nephew, Obiang Nguema. Over time, the fixed inherited colonial borders may have allowed for the emergence of a sense of national identity, constructed like a collage from different materials. The article explores how the ruling elite has summoned a number of discourses to help with the forging of the nation. The Hispanic link is claimed as an important component and an attempt has also been made to unite the various ethnic groups through a myth of common Bantu origins. The despotic rule of Macías may, surprisingly, have contributed to an emergent Equatoguinean identity by forcing people en masse to behave as they would not normally do, by the consequent shared memories of terror, and through the effects of forced population movements and the creation of a large diaspora.