Reclaiming Africa’s International Relations Space: Echoes of Kemet

Abstract

The repositioning of Africa within the international relations debate is the responsibility of African intellectuals. Regrettably, the continent has been dispossessed of its position as the home of international relations theory. The study assumes that Ancient Egypt (Kemet), which was the cradle of civilization, is, by extension, the motherland of international relations theory. The Westphalian narrative is only suitable for Euro-centric explanations of the development of international relations in Europe and not any other continent. Afro-centricity informed this study because it has the intellectual vigor to bring sanity to the contemporary international relations discourse. Qualitative research methods were employed to gather data through secondary sources like books, magazines, online and print journals and articles. The study found that the traits of international relations concepts in Ancient Egypt clearly demonstrate that modern civilization and international relations practice started in Ancient Egypt. It concluded that the attribution of the evolution of international politics to a Euro-centric narrative is a deprivation of Africa’s rightful position in the discipline.