Pan-Nationalism of Pan-Islamic, Pan-Asian, and Pan-African Thought

Abstract Through a study of Pan-Islamic, Pan-Asian, and Pan-African thought, this chapter traces the origins of pan-nationalism to the high age of globalization and colonial expansion, from the 1870s to the 1920s, when nationalism itself was in its formative period in relation to strong imperial visions. It argues that the transnational identity of ‘Muslim’, ‘Asian’, or ‘African’ emerged by the turn of the twentieth century due to a process of ‘geopoliticization of globalization’. The appeal of Pan-Islamic, Pan-Asian, and Pan-African ideas for both nationalist movements and various empires of that time demonstrate the power of transnational identities associated with this new geopolitical thinking. The chapter concludes with the argument that we should consider pan-nationalism primarily as a counter public opinion discourse about the moral foundations of the globalized imperial world order from the 1870s to the late 1940s, which contributed greatly to the decolonization process, even at times being utilized by various projects of imperial control.