Modernity imagined, the nation exhumed: historiography and postcolonialism in West Africa

This article poses a theoretical reflection about the main concerns in African historiography produced in the ‘70, period of its academic consolidation. The coeval creation of independent nation states becomes a starting point to analyze in those historical writings– produced by African historians,...

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Autor principal: Rufer, Mario
Formato: Artículo revista
Lenguaje:Español
Publicado: Centro de Investigaciones de la Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades 2006
Materias:
Historiografía africana
Trata atlántica de esclavos
Postcolonialismo
Dahomey
Formación de los Estados Nacionales
African Historiography
Atlantic Slave Trade
Posctocolonialism
Nation States Formation
Acceso en línea:https://revistas.unc.edu.ar/index.php/cuadernosdehistoriaeys/article/view/9933
Aporte de:
Cuadernos de Historia. Serie Economía y Sociedad de Universidad Nacional de Córdoba
id I10-R343-article-9933
record_format ojs
spelling I10-R343-article-99332021-10-01T17:38:25Z Modernity imagined, the nation exhumed: historiography and postcolonialism in West Africa La modernidad imaginada, la nación exhumada: historiografía y postcolonialismo en África Occidental Rufer, Mario Historiografía africana Trata atlántica de esclavos Postcolonialismo Dahomey Formación de los Estados Nacionales African Historiography Atlantic Slave Trade Posctocolonialism Dahomey Nation States Formation This article poses a theoretical reflection about the main concerns in African historiography produced in the ‘70, period of its academic consolidation. The coeval creation of independent nation states becomes a starting point to analyze in those historical writings– produced by African historians, normally as the Ph D Thesis submitted at metropolitan universities— the urgency to create a vernacular historical version of political modernity, together with the hallmark of native, “endogenous” narratives. In this sense, I analyze the constant tension between translation and rejection of European historical and theoretical thinking. Particularly I take in this article the writings of I. A. Akinjogbin –a prominent historian of slave trade—trying to put in context his thinking with the academic struggles, to allocate Africa (in this specific case Dahomey, current Benin) into a new “imagined African modernity”. At the same time, this modernity would define the borders, originality and specificity of the “new nations”. En este artículo propuesto se hace una reflexión teórica sobre los principales problemas recurrentes de la historiografía africana de los años 1970, momento de su institucionalización académica. La creación reciente de los estados nacionales independientes permite analizar en las producciones históricas de esos años –escritas por historiadores africanos pero generalmente producidas como tesis de doctorado en las metrópolis europeas— la urgencia por crear una versión histórica vernácula de modernidad política, que a su vez imprimiera el carácter endógeno de las historias nativas. En este sentido, la tensión constante entre traducción y rechazo por el pensamiento histórico y filosófico europeo es claro. Particularmente, aquí trabajo la obra de I. A. Akinjogbin –reconocido historiador de la trata atlántica de esclavos— tratando de poner en contexto su obra dentro de las luchas por posicionar a África (en este caso específico a Dahomey, hoy Benin) dentro de una nueva “modernidad africana imaginada”, que a su vez, define los límites, la originalidad y la especificidad de las “nuevas naciones”. Centro de Investigaciones de la Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades 2006-12-01 info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion application/pdf text/html https://revistas.unc.edu.ar/index.php/cuadernosdehistoriaeys/article/view/9933 10.53872/2422.7544.n8.9933 Cuadernos de Historia. Serie Economía y Sociedad; Núm. 8 (2006); 127-151 2422-7544 1514-5816 10.53872/2422.7544.n8 spa https://revistas.unc.edu.ar/index.php/cuadernosdehistoriaeys/article/view/9933/10611 https://revistas.unc.edu.ar/index.php/cuadernosdehistoriaeys/article/view/9933/31178 Derechos de autor 2014 Cuadernos de historia. Serie Economía y Sociedad https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
institution Universidad Nacional de Córdoba
institution_str I-10
repository_str R-343
container_title_str Cuadernos de Historia. Serie Economía y Sociedad
language Español
format Artículo revista
topic Historiografía africana
Trata atlántica de esclavos
Postcolonialismo
Dahomey
Formación de los Estados Nacionales
African Historiography
Atlantic Slave Trade
Posctocolonialism
Dahomey
Nation States Formation
spellingShingle Historiografía africana
Trata atlántica de esclavos
Postcolonialismo
Dahomey
Formación de los Estados Nacionales
African Historiography
Atlantic Slave Trade
Posctocolonialism
Dahomey
Nation States Formation
Rufer, Mario
Modernity imagined, the nation exhumed: historiography and postcolonialism in West Africa
topic_facet Historiografía africana
Trata atlántica de esclavos
Postcolonialismo
Dahomey
Formación de los Estados Nacionales
African Historiography
Atlantic Slave Trade
Posctocolonialism
Dahomey
Nation States Formation
author Rufer, Mario
author_facet Rufer, Mario
author_sort Rufer, Mario
title Modernity imagined, the nation exhumed: historiography and postcolonialism in West Africa
title_short Modernity imagined, the nation exhumed: historiography and postcolonialism in West Africa
title_full Modernity imagined, the nation exhumed: historiography and postcolonialism in West Africa
title_fullStr Modernity imagined, the nation exhumed: historiography and postcolonialism in West Africa
title_full_unstemmed Modernity imagined, the nation exhumed: historiography and postcolonialism in West Africa
title_sort modernity imagined, the nation exhumed: historiography and postcolonialism in west africa
description This article poses a theoretical reflection about the main concerns in African historiography produced in the ‘70, period of its academic consolidation. The coeval creation of independent nation states becomes a starting point to analyze in those historical writings– produced by African historians, normally as the Ph D Thesis submitted at metropolitan universities— the urgency to create a vernacular historical version of political modernity, together with the hallmark of native, “endogenous” narratives. In this sense, I analyze the constant tension between translation and rejection of European historical and theoretical thinking. Particularly I take in this article the writings of I. A. Akinjogbin –a prominent historian of slave trade—trying to put in context his thinking with the academic struggles, to allocate Africa (in this specific case Dahomey, current Benin) into a new “imagined African modernity”. At the same time, this modernity would define the borders, originality and specificity of the “new nations”.
publisher Centro de Investigaciones de la Facultad de Filosofía y Humanidades
publishDate 2006
url https://revistas.unc.edu.ar/index.php/cuadernosdehistoriaeys/article/view/9933
work_keys_str_mv AT rufermario modernityimaginedthenationexhumedhistoriographyandpostcolonialisminwestafrica
AT rufermario lamodernidadimaginadalanacionexhumadahistoriografiaypostcolonialismoenafricaoccidental
first_indexed 2024-09-03T21:26:25Z
last_indexed 2024-09-03T21:26:25Z
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