SOUTH-AFRICA AND THE AFRICAN RENAISSANCE

This article addresses the question of the new South Africa's relation ships with other countries in Africa in the context of the idea of an 'African Renaissance' which has recently gained currency. The authors identify two opposing conceptions of Africa's development, which they call 'globalist' and 'Africanist' respectively, and explore the tensio ns besetting South Africa's participation in an 'Africanist' project. They discuss the dilemma of South Africa's role on the continent as bo th an obvious and an impossible candidate for leadership, and argue fo r an 'Aficanist' and post-structuralist approach to the political, eco nomic and cultural development of the African continent.