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- Convenors:
-
Susann Baller
(Centre Marc Bloch Berlin)
Rogers Orock (louisiana State University)
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- Format:
- Panel
- Stream:
- 'Françafrique'
- Location:
- Room 1139
- Sessions:
- Thursday 9 June, -
Time zone: Europe/Berlin
Short Abstract:
This panel explores the complex reciprocal relations between France and Africa which have been characterized by tensions, conflict and suspicion, but also collaboration, complicity and connivance. It focuses on concrete interactions which reflect the entangled history of the FrançAfrique.
Long Abstract:
This panel invites papers which address examples of how the concept and practice of the FrançAfrique has evolved over time as an expression of the complex reciprocal relations between France and Africa. It argues that the history between France and different African countries has been characterized not only by tensions, conflict and suspicion, but also by collaboration, complicity and connivance. While the beginnings of the FrançAfrique were rooted in the French colonial Empire, the panel is also interested in contributions which consider changing ways of conceptualizing Africa as a sphere of French influence and how French politics have responded to other claims for political, economic or cultural control (such as Russian or Chinese lending and military support). Moreover, the panel reflects on different arenas on which discourses and practices of the FrançAfrique have been invented, negotiated and contested. Contributions to this panel may examine rather “old” questions of the FrançAfrique (e.g. neocolonialism, extraction, cooperation, cultural diplomacy, etc.) or may find new fields of contentions and struggles (e.g. sexuality, war on terrorism, reforms of CFA currency, uranium deals). Papers are expected to focus on concrete examples and setting during which shifting configurations of the FrançAfrique have been produced, and to emphasize the role of both African and French actors (such as political leaders, businessmen, members of international organizations, cultural entrepreneurs, diplomats).
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Thursday 9 June, 2022, -Paper short abstract:
The paper asks: what does it mean to study French-African relations from below, from the standpoint of rumours and or conspiracy theories?
Paper long abstract:
Franco-African relations have long been inscribed in opacity and a permanent state of suspicion of France’s entanglement with her former colonies in Africa. Under such circumstances conspiracy theories and rumours have also been crucial to ‘the interpretation of events’ and processes that define Franco-African relations. While Achille Mbembe has recently remarked that we ‘cannot make history based on suspicion,’ this paper enquires into the value of suspicion in illuminating the field of Franco-African relations in a postcolonial, post-Cold War moment. The paper asks: what does it mean to study French-African relations from below, from the standpoint of rumours and or conspiracy theories? In other words, what is the epistemological value of examining French-African relations in terms of the role of rumours and conspiracy theories in elaborating popular ‘regimes of truth’ that compete with official narratives and truth-claims from both African leaders and French authorities? Moreover, how does focusing on rumours and conspiracy theories in Franco-African relations illuminate some of the strategies of cultural diplomacy that France has adopted in her efforts to engage and “rehabilitate” her image in Africa? This paper will draw mainly, if not only, on observations from Cameroon to address these questions. It argues that rumours and conspiracy theories are a significant force not only in the re-interpretations and critiques of Franco-African relations from below, but also in re-configuring some of the official modes of cultural and political engagements that France has adopted towards Francophone Africa.
Paper short abstract:
This paper focuses on African and French political leaders who travelled between France and Africa around independence (1958-1962). It argues that travels became a platform for weaving a political environment of collaboration and complicity, and for evoking tensions and suspicion.
Paper long abstract:
This paper focuses on African and French political leaders who travelled between France and Africa as well as within the so-called “francophone” Africa around independence (1958-1962). This covers the period of the late Union française, the Communauté française and its regular Executive council meetings of delegates from all members states, as well as the early independence period with both federal projects within Africa (Ghana-Guinea-Union, Mali Federation, Entente, Senegambia) and the implementation of independent nation-states. The paper argues that official travels became a platform for both negotiating French-African relations and weaving an environment of collaboration and complicity, and for evoking tensions and suspicion. On the one hand, political leaders travelling together to gather at joint meetings spent time together and became more and more familiar with each other. This became particularly evident at the Executive council meeting of the Communauté. In addition, travels were used to tighten relations and to showcase them to a broader spectatorship. In particular, the first state visits of African presidents in France in the very early 1960s can serve as an example for this. On the other hand, travels became moment when tensions became manifest (as with de Gaulle’s visit in Guinea and Senegal in 1958). Moreover, French officials were closely following the travel itineraries of African political leaders and observed with distrust once they were traveling to the East. The paper is based on archival research and press cuttings.
Paper short abstract:
This contribution draws on the Cameroonian context to examine the complexity of military Françafrique. The diachronic approach of this work makes it possible to account for the tensions and collaborations that have gone through them.
Paper long abstract:
The Franco-African Defense and military-technical assistance agreements are the paradigmatic artefacts of Françafrique. These agreements made France the border guard of its former colonies and the protector of their territorial integrity. Indeed, in the process of decolonization, France had signed with her former colonies defence and technical military agreements that defined the conditions of intervention of the French army and provided for the granting of technical assistance (Evrard, 2014 and 2016). However, since the early 2000s, France has been in the process of renegotiating those defence agreements. Officially, the new contracts are part of a partnership approach and aim to support African collective security mechanisms.
This contribution draws on the Cameroonian context to examine the complexity of military Françafrique. The diachronic approach of this work makes it possible to account for the tensions and collaborations that have gone through them.
This paper is based on primary sources, including archival documents from the Cameroonian Ministry of Foreign Relations. Interviews were also conducted with former French defence attachés in Cameroon and senior ministry officials. Academic literature and reports of parliamentary debates in Cameroon and France were also considered.
Keywords: Françafrique, Cameroon, Defense, Army, France, Cooperation.