ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the key constituent components of the Unite or Perish myth and how they combine into a (coherent) narrative framework (i.e., an anti-imperialist rhetoric) that creates a perceived reality that concurs with political motivations. In discussing each of these components (i.e., the Conspiratorial Enemy, the Valiant Leader, the Noble Revolutionary, and the Messiah), it is argued that they enabled Nkrumah to construct a solid discourse of resistance against colonialism and neo-colonialism as well as paint a ‘simplistic’ monolithic picture of a Union Government of Africa (which he referred to as the ‘United States of Africa’), and how such a continental federation will bode well for Africa’s future, even though the reality was far more complicated.
