ABSTRACT
Since independence, the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa have been subjected to various forms of intervention aimed at modernisation. The modernisation imperative has meant that the continent has endured various theoretical positions as diverse as modernisation theory, dependency and Marxist analyses. All of these have failed to provide the elusive salvation which Africa so desperately seeks. Mahmood Mamdani’s Citizen and Subject: Contemporary Africa and the Legacy of Late Colonialism is a monumental effort to rethink the current impasse facing Africanists. It is an important book which seeks to engage with, and point towards new theoretical referents at a time when traditional paradigms have failed Africa. It seeks to do so by examining closely the dividing line between citizen and subject. As such, this work warrants closer examination. The advent of colonisation entailed differentiating between peoples in the colony. The movement of administrators and settlers to the colonies necessitated that these individuals were seen to be separate from the indigenous population. In this way the former were accorded citizenship and certain rights, while the latter were ascribed the status of subjecthood, with none of the attendant rights enjoyed by citizens. This chapter critically engages with Mamdani’s book, reflecting on its core thesis. More importantly, it seeks to extend the analysis presented by Mamdani by deploying a post-colonial perspective. This perspective illustrates
that the distinction between subject and citizen which Mamdani establishes is itself a simple binary which is untenable. It does this by bringing questions of subjectivity to the foreground, highlighting the complexities of post-colonial identity. It is argued that it is critical to view post-colonial identities as complex formulations – constituted as citizen/subjects.
