IS IT AFRICAN IDENTITY OR A MATTER OF SURVIVAL FOR THE AFRICAN?
To bring the subject of ‘migration’ face to face with ‘African identity’ is to cast a light on the horizon as to how the African is reacting to socio-political and economic changes around him. Migration is deeply motivated by the fact of survival. Certainly, a person in movement does retain a memory of self (identity); yet in order to survive one does not have to be numerically the same! Epistemological identity tells us about the evidence we have – like paper documents - for identifying persons. However, what it is like to be a person or what our evidence refers to (metaphysical identity) is not reducible to paper documents like international passports or identity cards, for such reality cannot be fully attended from a third person perspective. The African in the circumstances accepts epistemological identity only as a sufficient condition for identity in a pluralistic society organized by law as a matter of choice for more tolerable evil!
Keywords: african, identity, matter, survival