Dr. Manoj Kumar Mishra 3 September 2023
It is an undeniable fact that exclusion of masses on the basis of identity although received rational and philosophical foundations in the era of the European Enlightenment, social, ethnic and religious exclusions predated this era and in the colonies it predated the phase of colonialism. However, the European Enlightenment introduced a unique dimension to such exclusions by providing rational foundations to these phenomena.
The era of Enlightenment has underlined the fact that identity has occupied a predominant place in the reasoning ability of every human-being. Rationalization of identity has occurred primarily because modern scientific theories as intellectual offshoots of the Enlightenment era rationalized sameness as a means to realize modern concepts of liberty, equality and justice if not in the primordial sense of identity but on the basis of shared moral and constitutional principles. While the Western scholars were prescribing shared identity for the security and welfare of their own societies, they were advancing the principles of exclusions for the non-Western societies at the very same time.
Modern scientific theories can be divided into modernization theories which take the impact of the objective socio-economic changes on society as a result of the European Enlightenment into account and the liberal and social theories which are interested in the modern goals such as liberty, equality and justice and deliberate on the socio-economic and political changes that can be brought about to realize such goals. The modernization theorists find nationalism as the end result of such objective socio-economic changes whereas liberal and social theories see nationalism as the necessary means to realize the modern goals of liberty, equality and justice. However, the scientific theories failed to separate the historical roots of identities from their theorization as the history of identity groups could also be interpreted in scientific and rational terms. All these factors led to rationalization of identity without diminishing the role of identity in the history of human civilization.
The meta narrative that was gaining ground in the Western philosophy was the non-Western societies lacked the potential to philosophize and the people were bereft of rational capabilities hence they were excluded from the Western horizon based on civilizational identities. It was not surprising then that one of the leading philosophers of the Western tradition- Immanuel Kant averred that the Chinese, Indians, Africans and the indigenous peoples of the Americas lacked the innate intellect to philosophize. David Hume imbued with racial prejudice excluded Africans, and other non-Westerners from the potential of Philosophizing.
Christoph Meiner goes further in arguing that the human races are of different origins and that the black Africans “have distinct attribute or nature that makes them inferior”. Then he goes on to argue ‘the Negros do not possess human feelings thereby they could not demand the same privilege and liberties as the Christians and Whites because they were different and belonged to different levels of humanity’. In a similar vein, Hegel attributed humanity only to the Westerners because they had history and development- the twin indicators of civilization whereas others did not have. Based on his notions of history and development and levels of the continent’s interactions with the Western civilization, Hegel ideationally divided Africa into three parts: Africa proper (the territory south of the Sahara), European Africa (the territory north of the Sahara), and Egypt (the territory connected to Asia). While the Western scholars’ theses of exclusions primarily focused on larger civilizational and racial identities by forging linkages with the identity groups’ abilities to philosophize, identity groups were constructed and reconstructed at various other levels where multiple socio-economic dynamics had significant functions. The larger identities could be split into taking ethnic, religious, economic and cultural dimensions.
There are several identity groups functioning at different levels in the African continent such as Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba, south-south, south-east, Kaduna south and Kaduna north, Christians, Muslims and so on.
The recent instances of different forms of exclusions based on identity in the non-Western world in general and Africa in particular could be witnessed in the Nigerian Presidential election conducted on February 25, 2023 when exclusions occurred at multiple levels on the basis of party affiliation, ethnicity, location, and religion. In Nigeria, the major identity groups are Hausa and Igbo ethnic groups. While the former sees himself as born to rule, the latter sees the former as an enemy that impedes his progress and development spurring tribalism and nepotism in the country.
Any study undertaken to exhume identity politics plaguing the African societies needs to look at the strong linkages between the Enlightenment norms those were promoted by the Western philosophers to solidify their own societies and understand how these norms are being used/misused currently by different identity groups of the non-Western societies for socio-economic and political gains and for further splits or amalgamation.
It needs to be noted that the modern liberal state is the result of disintegration of medieval empires and democratization of centralized Westphalian states. Identity provides the common thread joining the three stages. The modern liberal state is, therefore, the climax of localization and democratization of identity. Increased localization and democratization of identity has effectively linked identity with the popular concepts of equality, liberty and justice and provided reasons to act for its preservation and promotion. Democratization of identity has shifted rationalization of it by the Church or king to academics, various political and public bodies and media. The intellectuals forming the world of academia have exerted decisive impact on human reason while media and political institutions played on human emotions. It can be argued that the roots of identities go much beyond the statehood of the modern era so do the adversarial relationships between them. However, it is within a modern state that conflicts relating to identity claims became more localized and violence-ridden.
The mutual enforceability of the pre-modern political and socio-economic power and identity balanced by the Enlightenment norms has contributed to the rise of dominant ethnic groups in three ways. First, where there was a self-conscious bourgeoisie as in the West which used identity for securing socio-economic and political interests and used the modern norms of popular sovereignty as a cover formed the dominant ethnic group. Second, the people who led the fight against aristocratic rule on the basis of Enlightenment norms and became the true interpreters of identity and formed dominant ethnicity as was witnessed in the cases of many third world post-colonial states. Third, in the cases of states without a colonial history and a self-conscious bourgeoisie, it was pre-modern rulers who used identity for the socio-economic and political interests and applied the Enlightenment norms to stay in power and formed dominant ethnic group.
Though dominant ethnicities, most of the times, have shaped the nation-building process in several countries due to the socio-economic power they wield and the political power they use by dominating the modern state which institutionalizes the Enlightenment ideals, people have nevertheless become politically important. The Enlightenment tradition inspired the liberal thinkers and welfare nationalists who deliberated on popular sovereignty and suggested either a shared moral identity or a liberal version of cultural nationalism or solidarity to make the society safe for democracy and human welfare. The modernization process required continuous support, participation and loyalty for its success. Thus, elites cannot use identity groups as they wish to forge nationalism, the cultural markers used and the cultural belief imbibed by people are considered crucial elements to be analysed and understood for successful construction of identities. As the liberal thinkers have not been able to address the Enlightenment dilemma- how to reconcile the interests of individuals with the collective interests represented by a political community- without problems, the people can seize the liberating ideas of the Enlightenment in their favour and challenge the political authority in the case of a modern state’s breach of the Enlightenment ideals for narrow socio-economic and political gains.