National identity in Africa is routinely viewed as underdeveloped relative to ethnic identity because most states did not follow classic forms of nation-building, such as mass schooling with nationalist content. Yet recent survey data show that national identity across the continent is more robust than most scholars predicted. What is driving national identification in Africa? What unifies Africans around common national identity? Existing theories are not well suited to explaining this question, because factors that they see as essential, such as higher levels of development and cultural cohesion, often do not exist. In this article, I suggest a new understanding of the strength of national identity, based on the impact of political events, such as peace, political stability and conduct of elections. Drawing on over 200 original interviews with Ghanaian respondents, I demonstrate how political stability in Ghana, contrasted with political turmoil in neighbouring countries, produces narratives about national identity.

中文翻译：

---

意外的非洲国家建设

与种族认同相比，非洲的民族认同通常被视为欠发达，因为大多数国家没有遵循传统的国家建设形式，例如带有民族主义内容的大众教育。然而，最近的调查数据显示，整个非洲大陆的民族认同感比大多数学者预测的更强大。是什么推动了非洲的民族认同？是什么让非洲人围绕共同的民族认同统一起来？现有理论不太适合解释这个问题，因为他们认为必不可少的因素，例如更高的发展水平和文化凝聚力，通常并不存在。在这篇文章中，我建议根据政治事件的影响，例如和平、政治稳定和选举的进行，对民族认同的力量进行新的理解。