Turning Points in Pan-Africanism: Marcus Garvey

In this lecture, we discuss how Marcus Mosiah Garvey reimagined the theoretical framework of Pan-Africanism to see it as a political program for global repatriation and ‘Negro’ state formation. 

We uncover how he reimagined the structures of western imperialism for use as tools of liberation. In particular, we explore how his belief in the insularity of Negro identity and in economic development as a tool of liberation fed into his theories of Pan-Africanism.

Through examining primary source material, we trace how the ideologies of Garvey not only centered Africa in state-building and civic participation in the diaspora, but also influenced later spiritual and philosophical inquiries into a global Black identity, such as Rastafarianism.