Zugl.: Mannheim, Univ., Diss., 2005

During the independence era in West Africa (1958–1980) many nations embarked on ambitious programmes aimed at rejuvenating their traditional art forms. These programmes were realised through new cultural policies, with music the prime target of the governments’ campaigns. I contend that in the search for an appropriate voice West African governments focussed on one group of musicians, the Mande griots. It was through their musical compositions that the State communicated ideology and doctrine to the public. I assert that to focus on a specific ethnic group and promote them as cultural ambassadors was a policy that conflicted with the core principles of West Africa’s governments, who upheld a doctrine that promoted nationalism over ethnocentrism. It was a neo-colonialist strategy designed to consolidate the rule of the governing party, a contention which I support through an analysis of the role of griots in West African society and an appraisal of the careers of musicians, musical recordings, and musical styles. This thesis represents a historical account of Mande griots in West Africa with respect to their influence on local and national politics. Part of the aim of this thesis is to create a comprehensive and accurate catalogue of West African musical recordings and groups, the results of which are located in the appendices.

During the independence era in West Africa (1958–1980) many nations embarked on ambitious programmes aimed at rejuvenating their traditional art forms. These programmes were realised through new cultural policies, with music the prime target of the governments’ campaigns. I contend that in the search for an appropriate voice West African governments focussed on one group of musicians, the Mande griots. It was through their musical compositions that the State communicated ideology and doctrine to the public. I assert that to focus on a specific ethnic group and promote them as cultural ambassadors was a policy that conflicted with the core principles of West Africa’s governments, who upheld a doctrine that promoted nationalism over ethnocentrism. It was a neo-colonialist strategy designed to consolidate the rule of the governing party, a contention which I support through an analysis of the role of griots in West African society and an appraisal of the careers of musicians, musical recordings, and musical styles. This thesis represents a historical account of Mande griots in West Africa with respect to their influence on local and national politics. Part of the aim of this thesis is to create a comprehensive and accurate catalogue of West African musical recordings and groups, the results of which are located in the appendices.

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Descendant d’esclaves, Félix Éboué est né dans le milieu de la petite bourgeoisie de Cayenne (Guyane) en 1884. Il termine ses études secondaires à Bordeaux puis ses études supérieures à Paris : il sort diplômé de l’École coloniale en 1908. A sa demande, il est affecté en Oubangui-Chari (colonie de l’AEF). Il reste en brousse vingt deux ans avant de devenir administrateur en chef (1931). Il est ensuite nommé à différents postes : secrétaire général de la Martinique (1932-1934), secrétaire général du Soudan français (1934-1936), gouverneur de la Guadeloupe (1936-1938), gouverneur du Tchad (1938-1940). A l’été 1940, il choisit le camp de la Résistance avec de Gaulle. Le ralliement du Tchad donne au chef de la France libre un territoire français en Afrique, d’une importance stratégique capitale. En novembre 1940, de Gaulle le nomme gouverneur général de l’AEF à Brazzaville et Compagnon de la Libération. Jusqu’à février 1944, grâce à sa maîtrise de l’administration coloniale, il gère les hommes et les ressources de l’AEF pour le plus grand profit de la France libre et des Alliés. Épuisé et malade, il décède au Caire en mai 1944.La mémoire d’État s’empare de sa mémoire pour en faire rapidement une icône : il entre au Panthéon en mai 1949. Mais, Félix Éboué ne se réduit pas à son mythe : s’il est un personnage emblématique de la IIIe République, il est un homme ancré dans son époque par son appartenance à des réseaux de pouvoirs et par ses idées. Sa spécificité est d’avoir espéré réformer le système colonial et d’avoir cru qu’il était possible de lutter contre le préjugé de couleur, contre le racisme au nom des valeurs de la République. S’il fut un pionnier, c’est par le domaine du sport qui était pour lui un outil par excellence de l’intégration et d’épanouissement de l’individu. / Descendant of slaves, Felix Eboue was born in the middle of the lower middle class of Cayenne (Guiana) in 1884. He finished high school in Bordeaux and his graduate studies in Paris: he graduated from the “Ecole coloniale” in 1908. At his request, he was assigned in Oubangui-Chari (AEF colony). It remains in the bush twenty two years before becoming Chief (1931). He was appointed to various positions: Secretary General of Martinique (1932-1934), Secretary General of the French Sudan (1934-1936), governor of Guadeloupe (1936-1938), governor of Chad (1938-1940). In the summer of 1940, he chose the side of the Resistance with de Gaulle. The rallying Chad gives the leader of Free France, a French territory in Africa, a strategic importance. In November 1940, de Gaulle appointed Governor General of the AEF in Brazzaville and Companion of the Liberation. Until February 1944, thanks to his mastery of the colonial administration, he manages people and resources of the AEF for the benefit of Free France and the Allies. Exhausted and ill, he died in Cairo in May 1944. The memory State seizes his memory to make an icon rapidly enters the Pantheon in May 1949. But Felix Eboue is not limited to the myth: it is an iconic character of the Third Republic, he is a man rooted in his time by his membership in networks of power and ideas. Its specificity is to be hoped reform the colonial system and have believed it was possible to fight against the prejudice of color against racism on behalf of the values of the Republic. If he was a pioneer, this is the sport that was for him an ideal tool for the integration and development of the individual.

Le surréalisme africain nécessite d’interroger la part de l’influence du surréalisme français. La terminologie implique, en effet, un lien entre l’écriture africaine et le mouvement français. Ce lien est mis en place à la fois par la critique et par les dialogues entre les deux univers. Senghor incite à considérer la part indépendante de ce surréalisme en évoquant un surréalisme négro-africain. Nous dégageons alors, derrière d’apparentes similitudes, des différences notables qui révèlent un surréalisme au service d’une compréhension du monde purement africaine. Le surréalisme africain serait l’expression de la perception traditionnelle africaine dont la forme s’apparente à celle mise en place par le mouvement parisien sans qu’il y ait nécessairement eu influence. / African Surrealism requires the question from the influence of French surrealism. Terminology implies, indeed, a link between African writing and the French movement. This link is established by both critics and the dialogues between the two worlds. Senghor encouraged to consider independent part of this surrealism evoking a black negro-african surrealism. We disclaim then behind apparent similarities, differences which reveal a surrealism in the service of understanding the world purely African. African surrealism is an expression of the traditional African perception whose shape is similar to that introduced by the Parisian movement without necessarily had influence.

Cette présente étude répond aux trois questions de recherche suivantes : Y-a-t-il une épistémologie africaine (francophone) ? Comment la méthodologie de la recherche littéraire se définit-elle ? Quelles sont les méthodes exactes employées par la recherche littéraire dans un contexte africain ? En nous appuyant sur l’oeuvre philosophique de Paulin J. Hountondji nous avons développé un concept de savoir africain. En l’absence des théories africaines sur la recherche littéraire nous recourrons aux théories formulées dans un contexte européen, par des chercheurs tels que Kathrin Busch, Ivan Jablonka et Corina Caduff. Ensuite, quatre oeuvres littéraires africaines, Wala Bok. Une histoire orale du hip hop au Sénégal de Fatou Kandé Senghor, Bribes d’une vie nigériane de Françoise Ugochukwu, La Gloire des imposteurs, lettres sur le Mali et l’Afrique d’Aminata Dramane Traoré et de Boubacar Boris Diop et Bogo. Notes de travail chez des potières à Bamako d’Emmanuelle Samson ont été analysées pour identifier les méthodes exactes employées par la recherche littéraire en Afrique. / This study answers the following three research questions : Does an African (francophone) epistemology exist ? How is the methodology of literary research defined ? What are the exact methods used by literary research in Africa ? Building on the philosophical work of Paulin J. Hountondji we develop a concept of African knowledge. In the absence of African theories of literary research we call upon European theories proposed by researchers such as Kathrin Busch, Ivan Jablonka and Corina Caduff. Next, four literary works, Wala Bok. Une histoire orale du hip hop au Sénégal by Fatou Kandé Senghor, Bribes d’une vie nigériane by Françoise Ugochukwu, La Gloire des imposteurs, lettres sur le Mali et l’Afrique by Aminata Dramane Traoré and Boubacar Boris Diop and Bogo. Notes de travail chez des potières à Bamako by Emmanuelle Samson are analyzed to identify the exact literary research methods used in Africa.

The title of this paper is "Two generations of African writers: Women who conform to norms, and women who make noise. Mariama Bâ and Calixthe Beyala”. In this study we analyze two novels, Une si longue lettre by Mariama Bâ (1979) and Assèze l’Africaine by Calixthe Beyala (1994). We examine the similarities and differences in expression, style and themes. Our objective is to determine whether Bâ and Beyala are representing two different groups of African female writers. We have combined a postcolonial approach with a comparative method. Our hypothesis is that the two novels stand in contrast to each other through differences in themes and styles. In order to test this hypothesis we use previous research. Our analysis shows that the work of Bâ has a sober and refined style of writing. Bâ is raising awareness of the situation of women, without deviating from social norms, choosing themes such as polygamy, sisterhood and the value of education. In the work of Beyala we see a more pronounced political criticism, in a bolder and more agitating style of writing. Our conclusion is that the two novels are strongly differentiated through themes and styles. Bâ and Beyala belong to two different generations of female French-speaking African authors.

Cette étude porte sur le fait littéraire afro-antillais de l’ère coloniale (1920-1960). Il s’agit d’examiner les stratégies des agents à partir des cas de René Maran, Léopold Sédar Senghor, Aimé Césaire, Édouard Glissant et Mongo Beti et de percevoir comment ils se définissent leur identité littéraire et sociale. Pour ce faire, notre démarche s’articule en deux temps : (1) examiner les conditions de possibilité d’un champ littéraire afro-antillais à Paris (colonisation française et ses effets, configuration d’un champ littéraire pré-institutionnalisé, etc.) ; (2) analyser les processus de consolidation du champ, ainsi que les luttes internes qui opposent deux tendances émergentes représentées d’abord par Senghor et Césaire, ensuite par Beti et Glissant, dont les prises de position littéraires mettent en œuvre des « modèles empiriques » ; ceux-ci régulent et unifient leurs rapports au monde et à l’Afrique. This study relates to afro-carribean literature in colonial period (1920-1960). We want to examine the strategies of agents like René Maran, Léopold Sédar Senghor, Aimé Césaire, Édouard Glissant and Mongo Beti ; and we want to understand how they invente literary and social identity. Our approach is structured in two steps: we shall analyse (1) the conditions for an afro-carribean literary field to appear in Paris (french colonialism and its consequences, configuration of literay field...) ; (2) the consolidation of this field and the internal struggles between two tendances represented by Senghor and Césaire, by Glissant and Beti whose literary practice shows the “empirical model” that regularizes and consolidates their relation with the world and Africa.

This Master Research is a boarding of the public politics in education of blacks in Rio Grande do Sul State, realized since the praxis, performance, proposal and organization of the entities and groups that constitute the gaúcho black movement, for the Project “The Black and the Education” of the Educational Secretary of State and “Advice of Development Participation and of the Black Community of the Rio Grande do Sul State”: public-institutional spaces created with the task to implement and to develop public black-educative politics. This Master Research has this theoretical reference as the black-Brazilian paradigm which unites the afrocentricity, blackness and affirmative actions, as reflexive and concrete form of incrementation of these public politics; and my experience and black militancy with an eye challenge that bring up-to-date an epistemological perspective where the researcher constitutes himself as the subject and the object, involved in this reality, at the same time.