What is meant by the term "panafrican"?

1 Answer

Something that is true across all of Africa or an attribute that is held throughout Africa.

Explanation:

The prefix "pan" refers to "everything". For example, a "pantheist" (pan = everything, theist refers to god or divinity) sees everything as a form of god or having divine attributes.

For the word "panafrican", this means something that is true across all of Africa.

With Africa being such a diverse and large continent, it's hard to imagine what could be truly panafrican. That said, let's assume for a moment that there is a belief held widely across Africa that colonialism is bad (which makes sense, since much of Africa's troubles can be attributed to having been colonized and ruled over by ignorant European powers) - that idea would be panafrican.

Let's also say for a moment that there is a widespread lack of clean water - the lack of clean water would be a panafrican problem.