La généalogie imaginaire de la littérature algérienne francophone

This article contends that French language is both the perfect tool for the expression of one’s own identity and the instrument of knowledge that has shut down all possible other ones in Algeria. The works of Rachid Boudjedra (1969) and Yacine Kateb (1966) illustrate the highly ideological dimension of Algerian literature. By debunking the very idea of French literature, their novels fight back the concept of cultural imperialism. Yet, I think that the conflict between ideology and literature did not appear recently, after the colonial wars of independence, but was already underlined at the birth of French language as a national idiom in the writings of an author such as François Rabelais.     

La "frontière africaine" revisitée: "ethnogenèse" dans les Grassfields de l'est(le cas de la chefferie bamiléké de Batié)

Cet article tente de dater la genèse et de suivre l'évolution dans le temps d'une chefferie Bamiléké (ouest-Cameroun) en l'inscrivant dans ses contexte régional et historique, couvrant la période précoloniale (fin du 17ième siècle approximativement à fin du 19ième siècle). Pour ce faire nous avons recours à la tradition orale telle que celle-ci a été définie par Jan Vansina (1985), que nous complétons par d'autres sources confirmant ou infirmant ces traditions. Nous essayons de mettre à l'épreuve le paradigme de la "frontière africaine" introduit par Igor Kopytoff (1987) et montrons en quoi notre étude de cas conforte certaines de ses hypothèses et en réfute d'autres. L'article porte l'accent sur une contextualisation historique et culturelle des sources utilisées. S'appuyant sur les travaux de certains historiens de l'Afrique centrale (MacGaffey, Miller, Vansina), il conclu par des remarques concernant la conceptualisation du temps et de l'agencéité, l'historicité et la culture des sociétés Grassfields précoloniales.     

Mémoire de la violence: du Congo des rébellions au Zaïre des pillages

The author looks into the chain of political violence, as well as into political discourse about past violence, experienced by ordinary Congolese from Independence up to the present. According to him, every major outburst of political violence underwent a discursive recuperation by Congolese/Zairian politicians and produced its own social memory. The Zairian state political culture of violence, blended with people’s experience of every day violence (economic and social), explains the generalisation of violence during the 1990s civil wars and lootings of all major and medium-sized cities.     

Louis-Paul Aujoulat: Figure controversée de la vie politique camerounaise, 1935-56

L'évocation de son nom aujourd'hui suscite diverses controverses, traduisant parfois l'estime mais généralement l'antipathie dans les différentes couches de la population camerounaise. Le docteur Louis-Paul Aujoulat foule le sol camerounais par l'entremise de l'association Ad lucem en 1935. Sous le manteau de la charité chrétienne, il marque sa présence au Cameroun par un humanisme débordant qui lui a valu le sobriquet Aujoulat l'africain. Cette popularité le propulse dans l'arène politique:, il est élu député à la première Assemblée constituante de juin 1946. Parlementaire, il se donne corps et âme à la tâche d'arrimer le Cameroun à l'Union française et, surtout, à former une élite camerounaise garante des intérêts de la France. C'est ainsi qu'il se mettra en travers des aspirations des nationalistes camerounais. Il tombe en disgrâce en 1956, face à son filleul André-Marie Mbida. Le docteur Aujoulat a laissé au Cameroun les stigmates d'une part de l'homme qui aura combattu avec détermination la conquête d'une indépendance réelle, telle que revendiquée par les nationalistes, et d'autre part de l'architecte de la politique tendant à intégrer et à maintenir le Cameroun sous le joug de la France par le biais d'une indépendance factice.     

Rumeur sur Brazzaville: de la rue à l’écriture

The documentary material here examined comes from the independent press of Brazzaville in the 1990s. The author contends that a major part of press coverage claimed to be based on urban rumors. The names of some newspapers even proclaimed the closeness of their information to urban hearsay, presented as truer, or at least more relevant, than the written word in general, itself understood as wholly subservient to the political power in place. The author then systematically analyzes texts from the most important such newspapers to show how the discourse in them has been constructed on the basis of the discourse of Brazzaville political rumor.     

Islam,médias,mise en place du Sénat et article 37 de la Constitution: changement de paradigme au Burkina Faso (1991–2014)?

Abstract

In the context of socio-political liberalisation, which has been happening since 1991, together with the competition between the different religions in the public arena in Burkina Faso, the visibility of Islam has increased considerably with the creation of Islamic media and the growing use of the Internet. This article examines the impact of the growing mediatisation of Islam on the agency and the content of the discourse of Muslim elites in Burkina Faso. This has led to the emergence of new, very mediatised religious figures who have gained authority in the public arena. However, the multiplication of the Islamic message is not accompanied by greater politicisation. Their agency resides rather in their relative capacity to invest in the public arena to defend their vision of society governed by Islamic moral norms. The debate surrounding the introduction of the Senate and the revision of Article 37 of the Constitution between 2011 and 2014 has shown the lacklustre agency of the Muslim leaders.     

Du Zaïre au Congo: la Vierge du Désarmement et la guerre de libération

Observing the religious movement that has developed around two young visionaries who claim to be in communication with the Virgin Mary, the author analyzes the political meaning of the messages they claim to receive from her. His interpretation is based on interviews with the visionaries’ followers but above all on the life story narrated by the main visionary, here reproduced in its entirety. He uses this material to show how, with the change from Mobutu’s declining power to Kabila’s new power, the attitudes of Kinshasa’s population evolved.     

Assimilation coloniale et identités religieuses de la civilité des originaires des Quatre Communes (Sénégal)

In his prize-winning monograph on the tirailleurs sénégalais, Myron Echenberg points out that most soldiers in the French colonial army were of slave origin. This article examines the role of slaves in pre-colonial African armies and the problem that the French had in keeping their soldiers alive within a hostile disease environment. The response of Governor Louis Faidherbe was to create a professional unit of African soldiers, the tirailleurs. Recruited overwhelmingly from slaves, the tirailleurs became the basis of the French army that conquered much of West Africa. Even after slavery had ended, about three quarters of Africans in the French army during World War I were of slave origin. The article also examines the role of veterans after the war and the French success in converting them into one of the pillars of the colonial social order. The article concludes with a consideration of the role of memory in both France and Africa.     

“La bibliothèque coloniale”, la propriété intellectuelle et la romance du développement en Afrique

One asks oneself vigorously about the conditions of the construction of knowledge relative to the African continent as well as to its way of thinking. The influence of V.Y. Mudimbe in this regard is immense. The major categories of anthropology are examined, even called into question, and most notably the ethnic groups. As pertinent as they may be, these analyses return to the library and to the system of representation that the continent invents and raise it to a paradigm of difference par excellence. It is important, beyond the scholarly discourse, to take a look at the relationship of ordinary people with libraries. Broadcasters, for example, comment candidly on the work of one artist-musician or another. Appropriation implies the related right: “droit d'auteur(e)”, copyright or “Urheberrecht”. Anyone who fails to comply becomes a pirate. What, therefore, is the meaning of to modernise the author, the work, the copyright or the pirate not in language inherited from Western law but in that of the citizen or the average villager?     

Kongo–Lisbonne : la dialectique du centre et de la périphérie dans l'Église kimbanguiste

In 2009, as the Pope visited Angola, the Portuguese Kimbanguists prepared themselves to receive Simon Kimbangu Kiangani, the spiritual Chief of the Church (living in the Democratic Republic of Congo). According to Kimbanguists themselves, Lisbon is as marginal to Europe as Bethlehem was to the Roman Empire or N'kamba was to the Belgian Congo when, respectively, Jesus Christ and Simon Kimbangu were born. While they are not active proselytizers and do not use “reverse mission” arguments, Kimbanguists insist that Europe hosts a vast amount of “marginalized” people in need of a fresh spirituality. Analysing the Lisbon event, in this paper the authors discuss the dialectics between “centre” and “periphery” (N'kamba and Portugal) and suggest that the Kimbanguist religion must be simultaneously regarded as a mechanism by which Africans reaffirm a presence in the diaspora as well as being a means to orient efforts aimed at reinforcing their spiritual centre in Africa.     

Instrumentalisation de la coopération chinoise et transition politique au Sénégal: analyse de l’ère Wade

In countries like Senegal where democracy seems to be institutionalising itself, evaluation of the quality of this practice often happens at critical points of reference such as elections. The democratic changes between Presidents Diouf and Wade in 2000 and between the latter and President Macky Sall in 2012 are generally deemed to be indicators of the healthy condition of democracy in this country. The present article stipulates that the politicians involved in this alternation plan and prepare for it as much at the heart of their administrations as do the political parties, but often also outside election periods. This article demonstrates that the Wade regime, following that mindset, has instrumentalized its cooperation with China in attempt to consolidate its power.     

Droit islamique et droits de la femme d’après les registres du TribunalMusulman de Ndar (Saint-Louis du Sénégal)

Selon les archives du tribunalmusulman de Saint-Louis du Sénégal, fondé en 1857, cet article s’intéresse au cas des femmes qui étaient les plus nombreuses à recourir à la médiation des juges musulmans au sein de cette institution judiciaire. A partir d’une analyse des droits de la femme en matière de divorce, nous examinons l’application du droit islamique au sein du Tribunal Musulman. Nous nous interrogerons tout particulièrement sur la politique judiciairemusulmane des cadis de Ndar en ce qui concerne le code familial et les droits de la femme. Mais, en premier lieu, nous abordons les péripéties du TribunalMusulman, qui fut la toute première institution judiciaire publique en Afrique de l’ouest francophone.