Past Imperfect: Time and African Decolonization, 1945-1960

This book explores French and Francophone intellectual history in the period leading to the decolonization of sub-Saharan Africa (1945-1960). It argues that the post-war context saw the development of new regimes of historicity and the partial refutation of progress-based modernity. The study uses case studies from West and Central Africa to explore African and French authors' anti-colonial agendas, highlighting issues of intellectual alienation and foreshadowing twenty-first-century debates on extroversion, racial inequalities, and cultural (mis)appropriation.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 328 pages
Publication date: 01 March 2024
Publisher: Liverpool University Press

This book delves into the examination of French and Francophone intellectual history during the pivotal period leading up to the decolonization of sub-Saharan Africa (1945-1960). The analysis emphasizes the epistemological connections between ethnology, museology, sociology, and (art) history. Within this discussion, a particular focus is placed on the concept of temporality and the various roles assigned by these disciplines to the African past, present, and future. It is argued here that the post-war context, characterized by various factors such as the establishment of UNESCO, the emergence of Présence Africaine, and the prevalence of existentialism, witnessed the emergence of new regimes of historicity and the partial refutation of a progress-based modernity. This research is grounded in case studies from West and Central Africa (Angola, the African Economic Community, and the Belgian Congo), while employing a postcolonial methodology. It explores African and French authors such as Georges Balandier, Cheikh Anta Diop, Frantz Fanon, Chris Marker, Joseph Ki-Zerbo, Claude Lévi-Strauss, Alain Resnais, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Placide Tempels. By examining issues of intellectual alienation, this book also showcases that the post-World War II period foreshadowed twenty-first-century debates on extroversion, racial inequalities, the decolonization of history, and cultural (mis)appropriation.

Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781802075366