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The West African Students' Union: A Study in Culture Contact

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 August 2012

Philip Garigue
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Extract

This study of a specific instance of culture contact, that provided by the situation of West African students in Britain, is limited to a discussion and analysis of their association in the West African Students' Union. The fact of common geographical origin partly explains the formation of such a Union, for the same reason as United States, Canadian, South African, and other large groups of students living in Britain have become so organized. But this would ignore the situation of colour prejudice facing coloured students in Britain, and also their colonial status in relation to Britain. Because of this determining characteristic of being an association of coloured colonial students, the West African Students' Union has developed, throughout its history, certain features not normally found among students' unions, and which are reminiscent of ‘protest movements’. The analysis which is presented here seeks to determine the reasons why West African students organized themselves into the West African Students' Union from 1926 onwards. It is unfortunately not possible to do more here than touch briefly upon the major changes which took place during that time, but as most of the data here presented have not hitherto been published, enough details have been included to give an idea of the manner in which members of the West African Students' Union responded to the situation of culture contact. The paper is divided into two parts: first, an historical account of the type of ideas held by the members of the Union; and, secondly, a discussion of the reasons why West African students join the Union.

Résumé

L'ASSOCIATION DES ÉTUDIANTS DE L'AFRIQUE OCCIDENTALE

ÉTUDE SUR LES RAPPORTS CULTURELS

L'Auteur, après avoir exposé le caractère distinctif de l'Association des Étudiants de l'Afrique Occidentale, en tant qu'association d'étudiants coloniaux de couleur, en Grande-Bretagne, donne un aperçu de la fondation et de l'histoire de l'Association, des aspirations et des sentiments qui animent ses membres, ainsi que de leurs réactions contre les changements politiques et sociaux qui ont eu lieu en Europe et en Afrique pendant les 27 années qui ont suivi sa fondation. L'auteur décrit la croissance graduelle de l'esprit nationaliste et du désir d'autonomie, ainsi que l'influence des idéologies courantes —chrétienne, libérale et marxiste — sur les générations successives d'étudiants. II constate, parmi les membres de l'Association des Étudiants de l'Afrique Occidentale, un plus vif intérêt dans la politique et une conception politique plus radicale que ceux qui existent dans d'autres associations d'étudiants africains en Grande-Bretagne. Une analyse des raisons pour lesquelles les membres adhèrent à l'Association fait entrevoir qu'elle a fourni, à la fois, un point de concentration et une issue à ceux qui sont plus profondément sensibles à leur statut colonial et aux préjugés de race, et, également, à ceux qui demandent un champ plus vaste d'intérêts et d'activités que celui qui existe dans d'autres groupes ayant une base territoriale plus étroite.

Type
Research Article
Information
Africa , Volume 23 , Issue 1 , January 1953 , pp. 55 - 69
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1953

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References

page 55 note 1 This article is based on material collected by the author in the course of a research project financed by the Nuffield Foundation and administered by the University of Edinburgh (Dept. of Social Anthropology).

page 55 note 2 The method of analysis is that described by Balandier, G. in his ‘Contribution à une sociologie de la dépendance’, Cahiers Internationaux de Sociologie, xii, 1952, pp. 47–69.Google Scholar

page 55 note 3 The author wishes to acknowledge the kind permission he received from the Executive Committee of the West African Students' Union to see their files, records, and minute-books from 1926 until today. He also wishes to acknowledge his debt to the members of the Union who, in discussion with him, helped him to clarify difficult points.

page 56 note 1 Solanke, Ladipo, A History of W.A.S.U. (MS. n.d.), p. 1.Google Scholar

page 57 note 1 Among those attending that meeting were: Nigeria. Ladipo Solanke, who became the first secretary.

Kusimo Soluade, now a barrister in Nigeria.

Olatunde Vincent, the first treasurer, now a barrister in Lagos.

The late Ekundayo Williams, B.L.

The late M. A. Sorinola Siffre, B.L.

The late B. J. Farreira, B.L.

Gold Coast. Dr. J. B. Danquah, the first Vice-President.

Sierra Leone. Otto Oyekan-During, B.L.

Gambia. The late W. Davidson Carrol, M.A. The first President.

Kushida Roberts, now a Magistrate.

page 57 note 2 Dr. J. B. Danquah's preface to Solanke's, LadipoUnited West Africa, W.A.S.U. pamphlet, 1927, p. 1.Google Scholar

page 57 note 3 Solanke, Ladipo, United West Africa, 1927, p. 62.Google Scholar

page 58 note 1 Asafu-Adjaye, E. O., ‘Should West Africans cooperate’, Wasu, No. 1, 1926, p. 7.Google Scholar

page 58 note 2 Akiwumi, Abiola, ‘West Africa and the World’, Wasu, No. 2, 1926, p. 14.Google Scholar

page 59 note 1 The Nigerian Daily Times, Lagos, 4 December 1929.Google Scholar

page 59 note 2 The Nigerian Daily Telegraph, Lagos, 19 August 1930.Google Scholar

page 59 note 3 Ibid., 20 August 1930.

page 60 note 1 The Truth about Aggrey House. W.A.S.U. pamphlet, London, 1934.Google Scholar

page 60 note 2 Wasu, vol. iii, No. 1, March 1934, p. 6.Google Scholar

page 61 note 1 Wasu, vol. iv, No. i, July 1935, p. 3.Google Scholar

page 61 note 2 Wasu, vol. iv, No. 5, November 1935, p. 71.Google Scholar

page 62 note 1 Editorial: Wasu, vol. vi, No. 1, January 1937.Google Scholar

page 64 note 1 During the war many non-students were admitted as members. The membership stood at about 100 in 1945. In 1951, when there were about 2,300 West African students in Britain, the Union listed over 300 paid members of whom the majority were in London.

page 64 note 2 Parker, John, Labour Marches On, Penguin Books, London, n.d.Google Scholar

page 65 note 1 Nkrumah, Kwame, ‘Education and Nationalism in West Africa’, Wasu, vol. xii, No. 3, p. 11.Google Scholar

page 65 note 2 Editorial: Wasu, vol. xii, No. 4, p. 3.

page 66 note 1 Afata, B., The Labour Government. A record of unfulfilled promises, MS. n.d.Google Scholar

page 66 note 2 Obialidu, , ‘Bigger Plans -Worse Plight’, Wasu, vol. xii, No. 3, p. 21.Google Scholar

page 66 note 3 Annual Report, W.A.S.U., 1950.

page 67 note 1 Milverton, Lord, Letter to the Editor, West Africa, 2 October 1948, p. 1003.Google Scholar

page 68 note 1 W.A.S.U. resolution of 12 March 1950, presented to the Prime Minister.