Pan Africanism and Civil Religious Performance: Kwame Nkrumah and the Independence of Ghana

Abstract

Kwame Nkrumah’s Independence declaration speech was widely seen as a key rhetorical moment in the fight towards decolonization in Africa. The purpose of this essay is to unravel reasons why the speech was not only quintessential to Ghana’s transition into an independent nation, but also crucial to Africa’s long journey towards freedom from Western imperialism. Hence, it is argued that the significance of Nkrumah’s rhetorical invention is in the symbolic birth of a new nation, providing rhetorical force to the Pan Africa agenda, and in performing the role of a high priest in a civil religious ceremony with citizens of a new nation.