Centre for European and International Studies Research (CEISR)

1960 : the ‘Year of Africa’ and French decolonisation re-visited. A ‘French solution’ for sub-Saharan Africa ?

6-7 September 2010, Richmond Building, University of Portsmouth

The Francophone Research Group at the University of Portsmouth is organising a conference to mark the 50th Anniversary of Political Independence in Francophone Africa. It will take place from 6-7 September 2010 in Richmond Building, University of Portsmouth. For more details, please email Liam Dean : liam.dean chez port.ac.uk. If you would like to offer a paper please click here for the Call for Papers.

Call for Papers

Fifty years on, 1960 is an impressive turning-point. Ten years before this crucial year, in 1950, only outsiders would have imagined a rapid transition to independence for France’s sub-Saharan colonies. Yet 1960 saw the declaration of independence of all these territories. The events of this so-called ‘Year of Africa’ meant that the transfer of power in the remaining colonial territories on the African continent was only a question of time.

According to the many of those involved in the process, including politicians, officials and former French administrators, decolonisation in French sub-Saharan Africa was a success story, a smooth transfer of power that was peaceful and well-intentioned. Indeed there was great enthusiasm at the time and African statesmen enjoyed widespread sympathy, both within Africa and on the international stage. Economists specialising in modernisation theories foresaw success for the new African national economies. Pan-African initiatives swept across the continent and solidarity was paramount in intra-African relations.

We now know how disappointing the outcomes were. Self-styled liberators became the proponents of authoritarian regimes. Post-colonial economies, which were frequently built on the export of a small number of primary products, crumbled only slightly more than a decade after independence. The newly created national armies overthrew civilian governments. In many cases, the former colonial powers did not leave the African continent.

In the French case in particular, the former colonial power sought to remain an important actor in the sub-region. Only in a few ex-colonies, such as Guinea-Conakry or Congo-Brazzaville, would French influence and the French presence quickly dwindle. Other post-colonial governments, like those of Ivory Coast and Gabon, built their whole strategy for survival on the maintenance of a French military presence and support.

Many questions about the decolonisation process remain unanswered : what was the exact nature of the ‘nationalist’ and ‘anti-colonial’ movements in francophone sub-Saharan Africa ? How far were the distinct and sometimes contradictory objectives of the different parts of these movements responsible for the discrepancies between the rhetoric of the leaders and the policy outcomes following the transfers of power ? How did France maintain its links with sub-Saharan Africa after independence ? What were the connections involved, and how did the diffuse motivations of the active participants in those networks feed into concrete policy outcomes ? These particularities of the French decolonisation process make the French case a particularly interesting one for comparative study with Britain, Belgium, and Portugal and with similar processes in Asia. While scholars have long formulated the demand for more comparative and transnational research, this dimension remains poorly represented in the studies on the final decades of the colonial states and on decolonisation. The experience of decolonisation in francophone Africa also influenced European engagement in sub-Saharan Africa in various ways. What was the significance of the notion of ‘Eurafrique’ ? What was the role of former French colonial administrators in shaping European Community development policy ? Finally, how has political independence been represented and commemorated in francophone sub-Saharan Africa since 1960 ?

Abstracts should be no more 300 words in length. All proposals should be accompanied by a brief CV of the paper giver(s). The conference organisers would welcome proposals for papers (20 minutes max) or panels (up to 3 papers) on any of the following themes. However this list is by no means exhaustive and proposals on other themes related to the conference title will also be welcome. Proposals should reach the organisers by 31 March 2010. The conference will be held in Portsmouth UK on 6-7 September 2010.

Indicative list of themes :

a) The French decolonisation process in sub-Saharan Africa : motivations, processes, actors ;

b) Nationalist movements in French-speaking Africa : actors, agendas, internal dissensions, support base ;

c) From Union Française to Françafrique : friendships, networks, informal links ;

d) French and other decolonisations as part of a world-wide process ;
e) Political violence, or the lack thereof ;

f) Towards neo-colonialism ? Aid policy after 1960 ;

g) Representations and public commemoration of ‘The Year of Africa’ over the last fifty years ;

h) Transnational influences : eg Asia - Africa, North Africa - sub-Saharan Africa.

Please send proposals to Tony Chafer tony.chafer chez port.ac.uk and Alex Keese queijo chez gmx.de