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At what point, away from the scholarly circles you refer to did the inhabitants of the continent start seeing themselves as African? Even in the scholarly world, as you say people didn't differentiate between North and sub Saharan Africa but they didn't seem to identify as Africans either in a continental sense only some form of regional identity.

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probably around the time of independence when african nationalism movements were at their height, although there are still many who dont identify as African, or think its a primary social identity compared to being yoruba or kikuyu for example

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Thanks, I'd been wondering about it for ages but I assumed it was relatively recent. I was thinking about it in the context of how many people seem surprised at the lack of African unity in the face of colonialism but if they didn't think of themselves as African they could hardly be expected to unite under that identity.

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