Comments on: The Slightly-More-Longue Duree https://blogs.swarthmore.edu/burke/blog/2013/01/22/the-slightly-more-longue-duree/ Culture, Politics, Academia and Other Shiny Objects Wed, 23 Jan 2013 09:47:08 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.4.15 By: J. Otto Pohl https://blogs.swarthmore.edu/burke/blog/2013/01/22/the-slightly-more-longue-duree/comment-page-1/#comment-34795 Wed, 23 Jan 2013 09:47:08 +0000 https://blogs.swarthmore.edu/burke/?p=2216#comment-34795 In the case of former French and Belgian colonies it is not just colonial history. France and Belgium never really decolonized in a way similar to the British. Chad, Gabon, Cameroon, and Ivory Coast did not get independence from France in the same way Ghana got independence from the UK in 1957 for instance. People like Deby in Chad today are as far away from the model of Nkrumah as possible. The former French colonies mostly became French neo-colonial states that remained dependent upon Paris. So it is not just colonial legacies, but the fact that people like Bongo in Gabon, Deby in Chad, the current dynasty in Togo, etc have been totally dependent upon their former colonial masters for their political power in the post-colonial era. Of all the former French colonies in Africa only Guinea managed to become a truly independent and autonomous state in relation to France. Had there not been a systematic pattern of French and Belgian neo-colonialism in Congo (Zaire), Rwanda, and Burundi not to mention US interference things would have been completely different. One man can make a difference and Lumumba could have been the Nkrumah of Congo. The same type of neo-colonial dynamic is also true for Mali where it looks like the French would like to model the state after Chad and Niger.

]]> By: Timothy Burke https://blogs.swarthmore.edu/burke/blog/2013/01/22/the-slightly-more-longue-duree/comment-page-1/#comment-34445 Wed, 23 Jan 2013 01:39:50 +0000 https://blogs.swarthmore.edu/burke/?p=2216#comment-34445 I see what you mean. In a way, this tips my hand about whom I’m talking to in this entry, which is my colleagues who study and write about Africa. I’ve observed before that Africanists also have a mild tendency to regard themselves as having a special mission or responsibility, a habit I’m trying (not always successfully) to kick. So I think this language reflects that sensibility–that they often try to forbid or bar the media from representing African situations in particular ways (and are then, generally, ignored).

This may not be entirely unique to Africanists, mind you–but not many other fields have the degree of anxious interest in knocking people off of cliches that are at the least factually wrong and more often the justification for actively bad actions.

]]> By: Withywindle https://blogs.swarthmore.edu/burke/blog/2013/01/22/the-slightly-more-longue-duree/comment-page-1/#comment-34120 Tue, 22 Jan 2013 22:13:18 +0000 https://blogs.swarthmore.edu/burke/?p=2216#comment-34120 “Permission” and “guidance” set my teeth on edge. Can you rephrase your argument so that your function is less parental?

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