History and Stories

 

“The independence was barely two years old when the death knell for the African family”[1] Decottignies (1965).

A few years ago, I remember being a young University student in Sociology in Paris, avid to understand my own continent and choosing, as naturally as it seemed to me, the “African family” as the subject of my assignment in my “Sociology of Family” class.

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Natural. Or so did I believe. I thought I would be able to find ample and rich content on the “African family”, just like there is a rich body of work and analysis on other regions. Now, don’t get me wrong, I was (and still am) conscious that Africa is far from being a unique sociological entity. I was aware that what some would dare calling a country, Africa, was much more than the monolithic block that they envisioned. I understood that each region, each country and each Province holds a different arrangement of cultural, social, political and economic reality. All special in their own way.

However, deep down, I was also expecting to discover similarities and patterns that one could attribute to the movement of population, the sharing of a same land or geographical similarities that can indeed justify the image of a united continent. I believed that these traits of Africa had been extensively studied and analyzed by the famous sociologists we had been studying.

As I dived into the “African family”, I came across the, sometimes brilliant, work of several anthropologists and ethnologists. The likes of Georges Balandier or Aderanti Adepoju who offered insightful analysis of the subject matter. And it was with great delight that I started to understand better what makes us indeed one continent.

However, despite these scholars’ efforts, it still seemed to me that something was not right. In the literature on Africa, a pessimistic stance threaded many analyses such as Decottignies’s (1965)[2] who painted a gloom future for the African families. I also felt that something was missing.

The narrative on Africa’s history seemed not to follow the usual linear and robust account you would find in typical history books. For me, there was a clear-cut difference between Victor Hugo’s “Les Misérables” and class book “L’Histoire de France”. A difference you wouldn’t easily find in the literature on Africa. It sometimes seemed to me that facts were not equally presented, with a bias permeating most narratives on Africa.

It could not escape me to note that the crusades to expand the Roman Empire were glorified and presented as real, consequential and contemporaneous while the great deeds of Soundiata Keïta, considered the founder of the Mali Empire, remained a historical epic, preserved and served to today’s avid learners as a beautiful tale. Yes, a tale of courage and heroism, but a tale still, hardly a historical account with the necessary linear succession of events and the needed scientific evidence. And yet, these two moments of history were contemporaneous. Strange, isn’t it?

The value of scientific evidence is where the culprit lies. In the 18^th century, the historian profession was being (re)defined, becoming less of a continuation of philosophy and more a hard science based on the strict analysis of original sources. Leaving the study of Africa to anthropologists and ethnologists, considered “lighter sciences” compared to history[3], was a travesty, I thought.

It is this same anthropological approach that was used to explain the evolution, or lack thereof, of African societies, as opposed to the modern and sociological analysis used for the study of developed societies. George W.F. Hegel[4], 18^th century philosopher, affirmed that Africa “is no historical part of the world; it has no movement or development to exhibit”. He described Africa as a dark continent, with no perspective of evolution and hence, no need for a historical analysis.

With the predominance of orality in Africa, western bias and hierarchization of races (a corollary and tool for slavery), the lack of interest in African history does not come as a surprise. It has become a self-fulfilling prophecy, perpetuating the neglect for evidence-based analysis of the history of the continent. Considered of no interest, and building on a western-centered history (despising the wealth of early modern historians of Africa such as Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406)), there has been less investment in scientific research and data collection culminating in the loss of significant parts of Africa’s unpreserved history.

A vicious cycle unfolding.

The more you discover, the deeper you want to search, the better you establish linkages, the stronger grounds you establish for future researchers. It seems obvious, isn’t it?

Even when an apparently benign and objective distinction is made, such as between anthropology and sociology, it usually conceals (if at all) and perpetuates inequalities between different groups.

I am happy to see that with time, a less European ethnocentric history has emerged, with the likes of Leopold Sedar Senghor[5] and “Negritude” pioneering a new approach to analyzing the African continent, acknowledging the prevalence of the colonial history, while bringing detailed accounts of the humanism and the endogenous history of Africa.

It has been said before, but it is worth repeating: Africa’s history did not start with the first European explorers!

It is not less of a history either, because the nature of available evidence does not provide equal ground to align with the rigid categorization of what constitutes history. Hence, no one should take the license to establish hierarchies….

I love seeing restauration, accounts and discovery of eras of African civilizations. I got fascinated to learn that the Lion Cave mine in present day Kingdom of Eswatini is considered to be the oldest known mine on record in the world. Our ancestors used to mine hematite at the Lion Cave to produce red ochre pigment as an ornament. Since it appeared 40,000 years ago, our civilization has been evolving in its own way and following its own pace. Remember, our common ancestor Lucy is African!

When we develop and popularize adapted tools, we will be able to be uncover chapters of Africa’s history, essential to build a better and more resilient future. But first, we need to be intentional about it.

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[1] R Decottignies, « Requiem pour la famille africaine », in Annales africaines, Université de Dakar, Paris, Pédone, 1965.

[2] Ibid

[3] General History of Africa, collection of 8 volumes written under the supervision of UNESCO.

[4] G. W. F. Hegel, The Philosophy of History, trans. J. H. Clarke (New York: Dover, 1956).

[5] L. S. Senghor,The Foundations of “Africanite” or “Negritude” and “Arabite,” trans. M. Cook, (Paris: Présence Africaine, 1971), p. 12.