Africanist, noun and & adjective

/ˈæfrɪkənɪst/
Origin:
EnglishShow more African noun1 sense 1 + English suffix -ist, designating a follower or adherent of (a philosophy), or forming an adjective.
A. noun An African nationalist who advocates or supports a socio-political system based on Africanism. Also attributive.
1956 New Age 5 July 1The cry ‘Azikwelwa’..has held together the longest and most complete boycott ever...Some of the boycotters, who are leading ‘Africanists’, have voiced the demand that the [bus] company abandon the route.
1958 A. Sampson Treason Cage 87The Africanists believed that Africans must ‘go it alone’, and that they alone could achieve their own liberation.
1958 A. Sampson Treason Cage 98The most formidable critics within Congress were the ‘Africanists’..their argument boiling down to the old cry of ‘Africa for the Africans’.
1978 T.R.H. Davenport S. Afr.: Mod. Hist. 285Recriminations between the two wings, the leftists and the Africanists, resulted...At the Transvaal A.N.C. conference, in November 1958, Robert Sobukwe led a walk-out...In March 1959, the Pan-Africanist Congress was formed.
1988 P. Lawrence in Saturday Star 9 July 11Africanists are sharply critical of the Freedom Charter, a document accepted by both the ANC and the UDF.
1990 M. Ntsoelengoe in City Press 4 Mar. 9Africanists throughout the world are commemorating the death of Robert Mangaliso ‘Wonderboy’ Sobukwe, who had a vision of a new non-racial South Africa.
B. adjective Of or pertaining to the philosophy of Africanism.
1962 A.J. Luthuli Let my People Go 185The clash between Congress as a whole and its ‘Africanist’ membership was becoming difficult to contain...The number of Africanists was small, but they were vocal.
1990 Frontline Mar.–Apr. 14What of the Africanist and Black Consciousness lines, like return of the land?
1990 P. Lawrence in Star 11 Sept. 11Dr Jordan offers a critical explanation for the Africanist break-away which led to the PAC, the most serious of the revolts against communists.
An African nationalist who advocates or supports a socio-political system based on Africanism. Also attributive.
Of or pertaining to the philosophy of Africanism.
Entry Navigation

Visualise Quotations

Quotation summary

Senses

19561990

Browse Related Words

By Category

Ethos and Ideology

By Origin

English
Africanism, nounn.Africanize, verb transitivev.
Copyright © 2025 Dictionary Unit for South African English