On some interpretations, contemporary African identity seems to have grown irretrievably international. Correlatively, it has become fashionable to claim that our social and political identities are something we choose to do, not something we have been given and so have no choice but to be. These two themes—internationalism and self-determining agency—recur in the works of leading African poets, playwrights, fictive narrators and literary critics who have chimed in with Diasporan intellectual and artistic voices advocating a view of African identity as an individualistic pursuit. This essay will examine critically two currently popular examples of the essentialist and structuralist genres of theorising about social and political identities. The two chosen models may be read as reinforcing the view of African identity as a transnational social construction. One of these models was authored by the social philosopher Axel Honneth whose psychoanalytic work is central to the foundation of current debates about the politics of recognition. The other model mentioned here comes from the influential political theorist Walker Connor known for his advocacy work on stable nation-building. Both models can be interpreted as reinforcing views of ‘African identity’ as a transnational social construction—moreover, as a construct that can be improved upon by individual Africans seeking to expand beyond their nations’ histories, or improved upon through social engineering schemes designed to enhance citizens’ identities with a unifying supra-nationality, and a group-transcendent vision and loyalty. Ama Ata Aidoo’s orientation sheds a sceptical light on both of them