Contenu du sommaire : Histoire africaine : constatations, contestations

C. Coquery-Vidrovitch—~~Making Africa Dépendent : A Tentative Period-Definition 1800-1970.~~ The present situation in Africa may be explained in terms of integration into the world dominant capitalist-imperialist system, industrialized Western countries forming the Centre of this System while the so-called underdeveloped countries form the Periphery (Samir Amin). Precolonial modes of production in Africa fell under the general heading of ' tributary ' characterized, inter alias, by a low level of technology, the irrelevance of market economy, and a stress, on usage rather than market values. The colonial expansion, started after the industrial revolution, resulted in making African societies dependent in ail fields. The process can be divided into three stages : instauration of the trading economy (1800-1850); pre-colonial latency phase (1850-1880) ; and, finally, the colonial stage proper, subdivided into two major sub-periods, i. e. before and after the great World Depression. The present stage is imperialistic rather than colonial : Africa is being exploited under the capitalist mode of production and the development ideology is still aggravating her dependent status.

H. Brunschwig— ~~A New Concept of History ? ~~A criticism of the marxist approach and a defence of the classical concept of objective history, free from philosophical pre-conceptions. While economy is an important factor, it is but one factor amongst others. The use of a priori models introduces a bias which in the more extreme cases may well resuit into anachronism, i. e. the very negation of History. Erudition, as wide and deep as possible, remains the first end and main prerequisite of historical research, before any attempt at more general constructs, such as systematic period definition.

C. Coquery-Vidrovitch— ~~Living History.~~ Modem historical method—the so-called New History school—concerns itself with establishing trends and periods, based upon a study of the interaction of economie and social forces rather than with bare events or facts taken out of context. The historian no longer aims or pretends to aim at a neutral 'objectivity', which, in any case, was never more than an intellectual illusion, ignoring, deliberately or not, the influence of the prevailing ideologies. The historian ~~has~~ to make choices, be it only in his angle of approach—e. g., in Africa, to guard from European ethnocentrism. Touching any particular event the question to ask should be ' How was it made possible?' rather than ' What did happen?' Which does not mean dispensing with erudition, but only not taking it as an end in itself.

J.-N. Loucou &ampamp;amp C. Wondji— ~~History and Development.~~ Has history, as a scientific discipline, a role to play in the development of contemporary African societies ? Yes, if development is considered as a global, total enterprise and not just as a combination of economie growth and technological modernisation. A study in depth of both African and universal history is a prerequisite to the formation of the kind of collective awareness urgently needed in the new nation-States in order to break away from colonial alienation and achieve a kind of African Renaissance', without which there is no possibility of a meaningful development.

C. Wondj—~~Bingerville : Birth of a Capital (1899-1909)~~. The decision of building the administrative capital of the Ivory Coast on the relatively healthy plateau, north of the lagoon, was taken after the 1899 yellow fever outbreak which almost wiped out the European population of Grand-Bassam. It was strongly opposed by the local Ebrie population, leading to the 1903 insurrection which took three years to quell. Even then, the European settlers and traders demanded that the government seat remain in the economic capital in Grand-Bassam. This lead to a three sided competition between single-function towns : Bassam, Abidjan, and Bingerville. In 1909, it seemed that the latter had won, but a quarter of a century later it lost Abidjan. This was a return to the dominant French colonial tradition of having both the political and the economie function carried out in the same place.

H. D'Almeida-Topor—~~On the Evolution of Wage-Earning Labour in French West Africa during the World Recession, 1930-1936~~. But for a small regression in 1932, the proportion of wage-earning labourers grew steadily even during the World Recession, from 0.44 % of the total population in 1929 to 1.12% in 1936. The acrual percentage is actually higher due to the huge turnover among the unskilled workers who made up to 80 % of the gross labour force. The highest numbers were founded in the Ivory Coast—around 50 % of the gross total—due to the importance of European plantations and lumber camps in that colony. Labour welfare regulations concerning wages and rations were only loosely applied during the Recession, which resulted in the emergence of a group of unemployed skilled workers and the slowing down of vocational training. Recruitment problems re-appeared after the 1936 economie recovery, ail the more so because of the deterioration in working conditions endured after the end of the recession.

P. Kipré—~~The Economic Recession in the Urban Centres of Ivory Coast (1930-1935)~~. The 1929 World Recession reached Ivory Coast early in 1931, putting an end to a period of growth started in 1926. Due to the very nature of the colonial trading economy the urban centres were stricken harder than the countryside, which reacted to the crisis by a partial return to pre-colonial production and exchange practices. The smaller firms, both European and African, were hit far more severely than the big intercolonial compa-nies, with many of them going bankrupt. Urban growth was slowed down, many city dwellers finding themselves out of a job. Despite the crisis, however, there were few African. reactions partly due to the fact that those with secure regular salaries benefited to some extent from the fall in prices of imported goods The small people especially the first planters suffered more because the prices of export produces went down quicker and more drastically Governor rehabilitation program 1933-1935 was partly suc cessful but resulted in an aggravation of the unbalance between the useful and marginal parts of the country

Z. Semi-Bi—~~The Colonial Rail and Highway Network as a Factor of Social and Psychological Mutations : The Case of Ivory Coast (1900-1940)~~. The building of a modern communication network in Ivory Coast increased the physical mobility of the population, which, in turn, generated a new kind of social mobility. Long-range physical displacement, either voluntary or compulsory, short- or long-termed, first freed the travelers from the constraints of the traditional framework of authority, then made them able to turn against colonial rule itself ; which put the colonial authorities in a kind of a quandary, since they sought at the same time to facilitate migrations for economie reasons and to keep them in check for political ones. Finally increased mobility was a powerful factor first in the anticolonial struggle, then in the nation-building process.

N. Bernard-Duquenet—~~The Front Populaire Government and the Problem of Compulsory Labour in French West Africa.~~ The~~ Front populaire~~ declaration of policy was only marginally concerned with colonial problems, and chiefly with those of Indochina and North Africa. Nevertheless the Socialist Colonial Secretary, Marius Moutet appointed as Governor General in Dakar Marcel de Coppet, an administrator well known for his liberal views. Coppet set himself to the task of enforcing the application in West Africa of the international rules prohibiting forced labour. He failed, mainly due to the opposition of vested interests, but also for lack of personnel and financial means to carry out his policies.

C.-H. Perrot—~~From Wealth to Power : The Origins of a Ndenye Chiefdom {Ivory Coast).~~ The comparison of genealogies and historical traditions collected both within Yakasse chiefdom and outside it shows important and highly relevant differences. The ' official ' Yakasse version — enunciated with some reluctance — reveals inconsistencies in the regular line of matrilineal succession to the Stool. These are ex-plained by the 'external' version which unveils a breach in this line when chief Adu Kpãhi used his wealth for gaining access to power instead of inheriting, or fighting for it. The case goes to support Vansina's theories about the frequent use of historical manipulations of oral tradition with political motives.

L. M. Garcia—~~Archives and Oral Tradition : Danhome's Policy at the End of the 19th Century.~~ There are some places and periods in Africa where historians are afforded a possi-bility to compare African/oral data with European/written documents. Such is the case for the events which led to the French conquest of Danhome and the appointment of king Agoli-Agbo (the former prince Gucili) to replace Gbehanzin. Dahomeyan informants bring in a description of atmosphere and feelings on the African side rather than brand new facts. They are chiefly useful in throwing light on the intrigues and disputes within Gbehanzin's court, which facilitated the French conquest.

J. Martin—~~The Emancipation of Slaves in Mayotte (Dec. 1846-July 1847). ~~The only French colony where slavery was abrogated before 1848 was Mayotte (annexed in 1841). The decision was taken partly to avoid trouble with the R. N. anti-slavery squadron, partly to provide labour for the French settlers' plantations. Most of native landlords chose to leave the island with their slaves rather than to accept compensation for freeing them. Less than a third of the slaves were actually emancipated and those were unwilling to work either for the settlers or for the 'gouvernement1. The attempted colonisation was a complete failure resulting in a social situation which led to the 1856 uprising.

H. Moniot—~~Social History.~~ Social history, considered as a constructive synthesis of the various approaches to History, is a true sign of maturity in the discipline. African history is reaching this stage—has reached it for some time among Anglo-Saxon specialists—where the old opposition between the historian and the anthropologist ceases to be significant. Yet some traditional historians still suspect, in social history, a tendency to projective ethnocentrism. This tendency may manifest itself as well in denying the relevance of social history to Africa.

P. Bonte Et N. Echard— ~~History and Stories : Concepts of the Past among the Hausa and Kel Gress Twareg of Ader (Niger Republic).~~ The Hausa and Kel Gress share a common environment since the beginning of the 19th century. Despite this cohabitation over more than a century there are but few evidences of a common historical tradition — in spite of the existence of an economic system based on complementary and reciprocal exchanges. An examination of both the historical traditions and the respective social structures tends to demonstrate that this mutual ignorance is a product of social ideology and tends to preserve and protect the social identities of the two groups.

E. Terray—~~A Contribution to the Study of the Asante Army.~~ Ail the available sources agree on the outstanding military efficiency of the Asante army. Even when hopelessly outclassed by superior weaponry, Asante soldiers and officers still showed a sense of tactics and discipline on a par with their physical courage. It took machine-guns, repeaters and superior logistics to finally overcome them. Asante military superiority vis-a-vis the hinterland tribes is explainable in terms of a near monopoly of firearms, but this does not apply vis-a-vis the coastal people who were better supplied with guns and powder. The ultimate explanation seems to reside in Asante ideology which put a premium on values such as courage and discipline to the detriment, among other things, of economie entrepreneurship : the Asante economy was mainly geared to the maintenance and expansion of military power—and hence of Asante supremacy. This lead eventually to the use of a kind of intellectual conservatism which proved nearly self-defeating.in the long run.

T. C. Weiskel—~~The Socio-Economie History of the Baule Peoples : Research Problems and Perspectives.~~ The pre-colonial history of the Baule peoples is difficult to reconstruct because of the lack of traditional documentary materials. Most formulations to date have depended heavily upon the oral traditions published initially by Maurice Delafosse in 1900. Recent anthropological and linguistic research suggests, however, that the themes of mass migration and military conquest which dominate these oral traditions may be mis-leading as a key to understanding the Baule past. A more flexible model which takes into account processes of linguistic expansion and socio-economic change is needed to understand the historical evolution of the pre-colonial Baule. A sketch chronology is presented, and several perspectives for future research are suggested.