Abstract
In this paper, the novel concept of Afropolitanism is analyzed through the lens of three interdisciplinary categories-- transnationalism, cosmopolitanism, and Africanism. These frameworks allow us to clarify how Afropolitanism is being constructed and understood by its various supporters and detractors.\r \r Afropolitanism seems to disengage from the construct of nationality and geographical belonging, and moves us to notions of fluidity, ambiguity, and global identity. Those who adhere to the identity share an understanding that there is a deeper connection that, we, as humans create through our experiences, rather than from predetermined and socially ascribed identities.\r \r However, this paper acknowledges that to embrace global citizenships, is to also understand the specific implications it has for globally mobile Africans. I argue that Afropolitan theory is struggling to find a bridge between collective African identity and the individual rooted in post-modern theories of the self, namely by Viktor Gecas (1994), who presented a postmodern framework that views the self-searching for authenticity through experience rather than assigned roles.\r \r This is a work that still remains in negotiation within my personal and academic exploration. My findings result in an emergence of new discourse on the futurity of African identity and development. This argument serves as the beginning of a much larger conversation about navigating African identity in the global framework.