French-speaking Africa Research Articles

Assimilés ou patriotes africains ? Naissance du nationalisme culturel en Afrique française (1853-1931)

Abstract Assimiles or African patriots? The Emergence of Cultural Nationalisai in French-speaking Africa (1853-1931). — The French-speaking African educated elite is generally presented as strongly influenced by the colonial policy of Assimilation—at least until the emergence of the negritude movement before the Second World War. This article challenges this view by analyzing texts of local history and ethnography published by Francophone African authors from the middle of the nineteenth century to the 1930s. These sources display great pride in African culture, although they are also critical of traditional African society. Many of their authors later became important African politicians and intellectuals. Some played a role in the emergence of negritude. The works of these authors, however, were more than precursors of negritude: they were also attempts to define a modem African culture—one that would retain cultural elements from the past, while discarding oppressive traits of the old society.

The National Conferences in Benin and Togo Revisited

As many as sevenConférences nationales(CNs) took place in French-speaking Africa between February 1990 and January 1993, all against the background of the apparent ‘wind of change’ which is sweeping across the continent where democratic governance is eventually to replace authoritarian rule. In Benin, the assembly of delegates that met during 19–28 February 1990 was supposed to be representative of all social, religious, professional, and political interest groups whose aim was to introduce a constitutional liberal democracy. This CN managed to gain acceptance of the sovereignty which it had declared on the second day — namely, that all its decisions would be legal and binding. The authority of President Matthieu Kérékou was thus effectively emasculated, whilst the elections which were timetabled and held a year later, finally unseated him after 20 years in power. In Togo, General Gnassingbe Eyadéma was able to reject the sovereignty claimed. by the CN, held from 8 July to 28 August 1991, as the balance of power was firmly in his favour.

L'Institut Panafricain de Santé Communautaire: a new initiative in the training of health professionals in community health in French speaking Africa.

L'Institut Panafricain de Santé Communautaire: a new initiative in the training of health professionals in community health in French speaking Africa.

Le rôle des Antillais dans l'apparition du nationalisme culturel en Afrique noire francophone

F. Manchuelle — The Role of West Indians in the Emergence of Cultural Nationalism in French-Speaking Africa. The twentieth-century movement of French-speaking Black writers known as negritude has had a powerful influence on people of African descent throughout the world. Existing studies do not reach far prior to the inception of the movement in the 1930s, yet the basic ideas of negritude were already present in the writings of black expatriates in Paris in the nineteenth century. Contrary to what is gener-ally believed, Francophone Blacks did not seek to become "black Frenchmen", indistinguishable from other Frenchmen except by the color of their skin. While they were in favor of giving full political rights to colonized peoples, many rejected their outright cultural assimilation.

The Winds of Change. Political and Constitutional Evolution in Francophone Africa, 1990–1991

“Never in my lifetime”: it has always been a risky sentence for political leaders, as the former Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith knows only too well. The astonishingly rapid evolution in Africa today has made the phrase sound almost suicidal. Zaire's President Mobutu, for instance, claimed at the beginning of 1990 that “never in my lifetime will there be multi-partyism in Zaire”; after he was forced to announce the lifting of all restrictions on 9 October of the same year, more than 100 political parties had become active by the beginning of 1991 and Mobutu's own prospects for political survival now seem increasingly slim. He is just one of the many heads of state in French-speaking Africa who have been forced into performing a drastic U-turn during 1990.Both single party rule and socialism have come under increasing strain over the last year. In Francophone Africa in particular, virtually no country has been untouched by the wave of political reform. A combination of factors accounts for this spectacular evolution.

An Outline of the Parliamentarism and the One Party System: the Case of Togo

Witnessed the last hundred years profound political and constitutional changes. In this respect there are many differences between African States depending on which kind of colonial overlord has been the ruling power. The African State was ajuridical entity in international law, but was it also, at the time of independence, an empirical entity in national fact? In almost all cases the empirical reality as a functioning government was still primarily the presence of European bureaucrats who has embodied the colonial state. Independence therefore opened a gap between the international legitimacy and the internal marginality of many emergent African State. The gap often presented a real political dilemma to the new African rulers: they usually could retain European officials only by compromising their national independence and could dispense with them only at the risk of undermining governmental performance. After adoption of European constitutional law and with, initially, a high degree of similarity between most constitutions in French-speaking Africa, nowadays these constitutions differ widely, contrary to the Commonwealth Africa that has experienced fewer innovations and constitutional breakdowns. Parliamentary systems of government gave way to One Party Systems, introduced in many cases by the national army, as the best equiped, trained, paid and organised power in the country.This has been the political and constitutional development in Togo as well. Since 1969, it has a One Party System, the Rassemblement du Peuple Togolais, founded by the President of the Togolese Republic, Gen. Gnassingbé Eyadéma. But, as everywhere else, doubts are growing about the effectiveness of the One Party System. Are the Togolese perspectives such that Eyadéma is willing to have an open mind and to be all ears for the critics to his own creation? Another intriguing question is to know in which way the African traditional authorities ("chieftancy"), as the core of the concern for the local world and as the embodiment of a moral and political order, could have a new (?) role in the socio-political development of the state in Africa? Will the chiefs' position in the long term be that of a noble élite, an echo from the past, useful as a tourist attraction or as managers of fun parks with safari possibilities. KEY WORDS: chieftancy, constitutions, legal pluralism, one party system, politics, Togo.

Public reading in french-speaking Africa

Public reading in french-speaking Africa

Esquisse du Parlementarisme et du Monopartisme en Afrique: Le cas du Togo

An Outline of the Parliamentarism and the One Party System in AfriKa: The Case of Togo. Witnessed the last hundred years profound political and constitutional changes. In this respect there are many differences between African States depending on which kind of colonial overlord has been the ruling power. The African State was a juridical entity in international law, but was it also, at the time of independence, an empirical entity in national fact? In almost all cases the empirical reality as a functioning government was still primarily the presence of European bureaucrats who has embodied the colonial state. Independence therefore opened a gap between the international legitimacy and the internal marginality of many emergent African State. The gap often presented a real political dilemma to the new African rulers: they usually could retain European officials only by compromising their national independence and could dispense with them only at the risk of undermining governmental performance. After adoption of European constitutional law and with, initially, a high degree of similarity between most constitutions in French-speaking Africa, nowadays these constitutions differ widely, contrary to the Commonwealth Africa that has experienced fewer innovations and constitutional breakdowns. Parliamentary systems of government gave way to One Party Systems, introduced in many cases by the national army, as the best equiped, trained, paid and organised power in the country. This has been the political and constitutional development in Togo as well. Since 1969, it has a One Party System, the Rassemblement du Peuple Togolais, founded by the President of the Togolese Republic, Gen. Gnassingbé Eyadéma. But, as everywhere else, doubts are growing about the effectiveness of the One Party System. Are the Togolese perspectives such that Eyadéma is willing to have an open mind and to be all ears for the critics to his own creation? Another intriguing question is to know in which way the African traditional authorities (“chieftancy”), as the core of the concern for the local world and as the embodiment of a moral and political order, could have a new (?) role in the socio-political development of the state in Africa? Will the chiefs’ position in the long term be that of a noble élite, an echo from the past, useful as a tourist attraction or as managers of fun parks with safari possibilities.

Double Impact: France and Africa in the Age of Imperialism

This collection of original historical essays sheds new light on the French colonial experience and the African reaction to it and breaks new ground by looking at both sides of the colonial equation. Editor G. Wesley Johnson believes that a double impact characterized French colonial rule in Africa during the first six decades of the twentieth century. The contributors, selected for their long experience with France or French-speaking Africa, examine nine thematic areas--the economy, the military, elites, education, art, architecture, literature, race relations and prejudice, and politics--to see if and how reciprocal impact was felt. Finally, Johnson considers the utility of double impact as a concept for understanding France and French colonial society, Africa and its colonial society, and the colonial period which enmeshed the two cultures as a whole.

Cotton-pest control: a review of the introduction of ultra-low-volume (ULV) spraying in sub-Saharan French-speaking Africa

Ten cotton-producing countries in sub-Sahara French-speaking African have adopted ULV spraying and by 1985, 97% of the area protected was sprayed using this technique. Compared with knapsack spraying with horizontal booms, ULV sprays gave rise to an equivalent yield of seed cotton, with better or similar bollworm control. In the Ivory Coast, plant coverage obtained by ULV sprays at 3 1/ha with one pass every six rows is insufficient, so a four-row swath with the same amount of insecticide or an increase to 4 or 5 1/ha is recommended late in the season. ULV sprays at 1 1/ha reduce financial expenditure by 15–20% and are used in Cameroon and partly in Chad. This technique may be less effective against certain sucking insects, particularly Polyphagotarsonemus latus in luxuriantly growing cotton.

Francophone Africa: The Enduring French Connection

France's relations with its former colonies remain close after 26 years of independence, and France has tried hard in the last decade to expand its sphere of influence beyond the ex-colonial core. This article examines French economic and security interests in Africa, as well as the role of Africa in France's foreign policy. It also considers some of the contradictions in French policy, the problems encountered by the Socialist government between May 1981 and March 1986, and the longer-term trend toward greater discretion and discrimination in dealing with African states. Finally, it discusses the analytic problems raised by the peculiar postcolonial relationship between France and French-speaking Africa.

Regional Seminar on the Prevention of Occupational Risks under Social Security in French‐speaking Africa

International Social Security ReviewVolume 39, Issue 2 p. 226-227 Regional Seminar on the Prevention of Occupational Risks under Social Security in French-speaking Africa First published: April 1986 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-246X.1986.tb00637.xAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume39, Issue2April 1986Pages 226-227 RelatedInformation

‘Is Togo television yours or mine?’

When the President, General Eyadema, put this question to the presenter of the 8 o'clock evening news, there was no doubt about the answer. The debate about a New International Information Order seems for the time being to have ground to a halt. Western critics of these proposals tend to fall back on one basic argument: the safeguarding of freedom of information, already in a poor state around the world. Their concerns are shared by many journalists in countries whose governments are calling for change, which only serves to show that their arguments are not entirely without foundation. But then, how do Third World governments make use of the means of information at their disposal? Why is it that the very idea of their countries' playing a more active part in the international exchange of news should spark off such distrust, not only in the West—particularly in the United States — but even among their own journalists? The ideal way of obtaining a complete response to this question would be to take each country in turn and analyse its system of information, taking each piece of the mechanism apart in order to demonstrate the various obstacles, deliberate or otherwise, to the free flow of information. Such a study is beyond the scope of the present article. Instead, we will limit ourselves to one example which may serve to shed light on the others: the tiny West African state of Togo — 35,000 square miles and 2 1/2 million inhabitants. Not that everything that happens there is valid everywhere else; but one can find solid examples of practices employed, to a varying degree, in a significant number of other Third World countries, particularly those of French-speaking Africa.

The Development of the Theatre in French-speaking West Africa

French-speaking African drama owed much of its growth in the colonial era to French initiative and support. From 1933 to the late 40s, French-speaking African drama was virtually synonymous with the end-of-year theatrical presentations at the William Ponty School in Gorée, Senegal. Not only did the French colonial administration encourage the students to tour the capitals of French West African colonies with their plays during the holidays but it also sponsored a William Ponty School troupe to the International Exhibition in Paris in 1937, where it performed Sokamé and Les prétendants rivaux.

History of Western Education in French-Speaking Africa: The Example of Senegal

Three centuries of French government with a colonial policy of cultural assimilation have earned Senegal a rich yet ambiguous educational system. While contributing to the full development of the country one consequent would restrict separateness of cultural identity for the Senegalese and require adaptation of the French educational system to their specific needs. This paper examines the history of Senegal's integration as a colony with the French educational system and the problems from independence to the present in elaborating a Senegalese education which adapts the French sysrem and promotes Senegal's cultural values and economic development. The limits of such action are the need to preserve the friendly and fruitful relationships with France especially at a time when the whole educational system is in a state of crisis, the need to “Africanize” the system without losing the benefit of international recognition, and the need to educate for development in a context of chronic underdevelopment. This background forms a context for psychological understanding of citizens' current behavior.

African Philosophy as an Ideological Practice: The Case of French-Speaking Africa

To run through the chronological repertory of works of African for the period 1950-1980 (Mudimbe, 1982a; Smet, 1978b), one fact strikes the eye immediately: the large number of books of philosophy published in Central Africa, mainly in Zaire. This quantity is due to the influence of Catholic missionaries during the colonial era. In the terms of the 1906 Convention between the Holy See and the Congro Free State they had a quasi monopoly in education. And also, at a very early stage, they had developed an elaborate structure of religious education leading to major seminaries in which candidates to the priesthood were introduced to Thomist before they undertook studies in theology.

PRESIDENT MITTERRAND AND AFRICA

PRESIDENT MITTERRAND HAS NOW BEEN in power for more than two years. The era of Giscard D'Estaing already seems very far away: recent history sometimes seems the furthest. It is instinctive to go back and read press cuttings from May 1981, and remember the tremendous outburst of euphoria at the arrival of a Socialist President in power, followed in June 1981 by a landslide parliamentary victory for the socialists, to the point that they did not even need communist support to rule. A defeat of the conservative majority after 23 years hegemony (the life of the Fifth Republic) had been in the past often speculated about, but had never seemed to happen. Thus for most of that summer France was under what Jean D'Ormesson, right wing commentator in Le Figaro called, witheringly, a 'rose-coloured cloud'. What was special, and most unusual in the relations of any European power with Africa or any other third world continent, was that there was also considerable euphoria in certain countries of French-speaking Africa at the change. The rejoicing in the streets in Bangui and Kinshasa, as well as a much wider satisfaction that in some countries were expressed at government level, can have few parallels in history, and spoke much about France's close connection with, and impact on, Africa. To some extent this was a reflection of discontent with many aspects of Giscard's African policy, but it was also a sign of the expectations that the arrival in power of the Socialists would lead to an improvement both political and economic for the people in the countries in question. Now, nearly two years on, those that expected change are disillusioned, and have not hesitated to say so. There is a fine old French saying plus ga change, plus c'est la mime chose, which has been applied in all sorts of situations in French politics, and it has certainly been applied to Mitterrand and Africa, because of the apparent ease with which he has slipped into both the style and policies of his predecessors. The issues came to a head last December after the youthful co-operation minister Jean-Pierre Cot was eased out of the government, and Mitterrand was obliged to summon correspondents to the Elysde to deny that Cot's departure represented a split between 'idealist' and 'realist' views of cooperation policy, and reassure them he was still 'on the side of the angels'.'

Aspects épidémiologiques et répartition géographique de l'onchocercose en Afrique de l'Ouest francophone.

J.-J. Picq & G. Remy — Epidemiological Aspects and Geographie Distribution of River-Blindness in French-Speaking West Africa. The disease occurs ail over the zone south of 15° N, its repartition foliowing the hydrologie network. Endemicity is in reverse proportion to the demographie importance of villages; there are few urban foci. River-blindness partly explains low human densities in valleys. There is no sure explanation of the higher infection rate in savannah areas since in the forest, etiological factors are the same.

The Residue of Legislative Power in English and French-Speaking Africa: A Comparative Study of Kenya and the Ivory Coast

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The Nature and Scope of the Executive Power in English and French-Speaking Africa. A Comparative Perspective

VRÜ Verfassung und Recht in Übersee , Seite 319 - 337