The Archival System of Former French West Africa

1965 ◽  
Vol 8 (01) ◽  
pp. 48-58
Author(s):  
G. Wesley Johnson
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
West Africa ◽  
West African ◽  
Current Status ◽  
World War ◽  
French West Africa ◽  
Parent Organization ◽  
Equatorial Africa ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Government

In September and October of 1964, I visited the various centers once forming links in the archival system of French West Africa. Contrary to what occurred in Equatorial Africa, the French left these archival holdings in place, except for current material which was shipped to the rue Oudinot (Ministry of Colonies) in Paris. The center of the West African system was the Archives of the Government-General in Dakar (later the High Commission). Based originally on the Senegalese holdings, this archive became an independent agency of the federal government and was the parent organization of subsidiary archives for Senegal, Mauritania, Soudan, Upper Volta, Niger, Dahomey, Ivory Coast, and Guinea. It was parallel in structure to the Institut Français d'Afrique Noire (IFAN), which also had its headquarters in Dakar and maintained subsidiary centers for each territory. In some cases, the archives and IFAN centers were amalgamated (during World War II) and the history of the two organizations is often inseparable. This survey is an attempt to describe the establishment and development of these archival centers, how their material was organized and can be used for research, and their current status in the independent countries.

African American Journalists in World War II West Africa: The NNPA Commission Tour of 1944–1945

2021 ◽  
pp. 002190962110549
Author(s):  
Oliver Coates
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
West Africa ◽  
American West ◽  
West African ◽  
Gold Coast ◽  
Washington Dc ◽  
World War ◽  
History Of ◽  
Political Economic

The National Negro Publishers Association (NNPA) Commission to West Africa in 1944–1945 represents a major episode in the history of World War II Africa, as well as in American–West Africa relations. Three African American reporters toured the Gold Coast, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Liberia, and the Congo between November 1944 and February 1945, before returning to Washington, DC to report to President Roosevelt. They documented their tour in the pages of the Baltimore Afro-American, the Chicago Defender, and the Norfolk Journal and Guide. Their Americans’ visit had a significant impact in wartime West Africa and was widely documented in the African press. This article examines the NNPA tour geographically, before analyzing American reporters’ interactions with West Africans, and assessing African responses to the tour. Drawing on both African American and West African newspapers, it situates the NNPA tour within the history of World War II West Africa, and in terms of African print culture. It argues that the NNPA tour became the focus of West African hopes for future political, economic, and intellectual relations with African Americans, while revealing how the NNPA reporters engaged African audiences during their tour.

France and Fragmentation in West Africa: 1945–1960

1967 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 317-333
Author(s):  
W. A. E. Skurnik
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
West Africa ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
Political Life ◽  
World War ◽  
French West Africa ◽  
Public Investments ◽  
Colonial Policy ◽  
Divide And Rule ◽  
Political Units

The term ‘balkanization’, as applied to colonial policy in Africa, frequently suggests a European ‘divide and rule’ policy, intended to fragment pre-existing African unity. An examination of the policy of France towards the former federation of French West Africa indicates that the term is inaccurate to describe French policy.The federation was created by the French for the French. It served to streamline French administration during the period of expansion, to help develop the component territories' economies, and to guarantee the security of French private investments. France conceived of the territories as the basic political units and hence modern political life was implanted there rather than in the federation. Post World War II French public investments flowed chiefly to the territories, common federal services were decentralized as territories acquired expertise and funds to run their own, and the quasi-federal Senate called the Grand Conseil was allowed to expire. Other aspects of French policy had unintended centrifugal effects, such as the metropolitan party structure and consequent dispersal of African representatives in Paris, and the influence of some French parties in Africa. Since 1956, France logically responded to African leaders' demands for more power and eventual autonomy in the territories, and left it to the Africans to decide whether or not to continue their federal relationship.By 1956, the federation had outlived its usefulness to France. It is improbable that the metropole could have ‘saved’ it, because political territorial roots were too strong, the Africans were not agreed, and relations between France and Africa had already become mainly bilateral with the territories directly. Consequently it appears that the federation, a purely French creation, was simply permitted to fade away once its functions were no longer relevant to French needs. It is true that France preferred eight small, powerless states to a strong federation when national independence approached, but ‘powerless’ and ‘strong’ in this context are but relative terms. The story of the federation of French West Africa suggests that such political structures can survive the colonial period only if they are anchored in fundamental African needs; this was not the case with that federation.

THEODOR FISCHER: PLAN AND BUILDING REGULATIONS MUNICH 1904

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (10) ◽  
pp. 6-18
Author(s):  
Vasily Filippov ◽  
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
Urban Planning ◽  
Urban Environment ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
World War ◽  
Scientific Approach ◽  
Expansion Plan ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Government ◽  
The City

The issues of preserving the urban planning heritage of Russian cities and the proposed methods of its preservation are discussed. The study of the morphology of Russian cities is presented as an example of a scientific approach to the description of the urban environment as a possible object for conservation. The history of the expansion plan and urban planning regulations for Munich, created by Theodor Fischer and based on the task of the morphology of urban space, adopted in 1904 and current for 75 years, regardless of the government in Germany, is described. The plan and regulations became the basis for the development of the city, its restoration after World War II and the preservation of its urban environment.

Disability and Work in British West Africa

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeff Grischow
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
West Africa ◽  
Control Program ◽  
West African ◽  
World War ◽  
Ability To Work ◽  
Rehabilitation Programs ◽  
Disabled Veterans ◽  
The Social ◽  
Onchocerciasis Control

World War II significantly affected the development of disability programs in British West Africa during the late colonial period. Beginning in the early 1940s, Britain’s Colonial Office worked with the West African governors to develop rehabilitation programs for disabled African veterans. In Britain, rehabilitation for disabled veterans took the form of social orthopedics, which equated citizenship with the ability to work; British programs therefore prioritized reintegration into the workforce as the main goal of rehabilitation. The colonial programs attempted to transfer the social orthopedics program to Africa. The project failed because the African veterans did not want to be remade into productive workers on the Western/capitalist model. However, it did produce two lasting legacies: the creation of a network of Disabled People’s Organizations during the 1950s and 1960s, and the development of a successful onchocerciasis control program between 1974 and 2002.

The Hum of Progress: Motorcars and the Modernization of West Africa

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lindsey B. Green-Simms
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
West Africa ◽  
World War ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Many

Chapter 1 focuses on the history of motorization from the colonial moment to the decolonizing decades following World War II. Examining various events or episodes alongside key literary and cinematic texts, this chapter explores the many ambivalences and conflicts present in the process of motorization. The chapter also discuss how African entrepreneurs took the lead in importing automobiles and establishing a system of transportation while Europeans were often ambivalent or even hostile to the idea of motorizing Africa.

“Bilali of Faransekila”: A West African Hunter and World War I Hero According to a World War II Veteran and Hunters' Singer of Mali

1989 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 41-70
Author(s):  
David C. Conrad
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
World War I ◽  
Oral History ◽  
First World War ◽  
West African ◽  
World War ◽  
The First World War ◽  
History Of ◽  
World War Ii Veteran ◽  
First World

“An only son must never die in war until the end of the world.”(Seydou Camara, “Bilali of Faransekila,” 1:396)Discussing the significance of Kande Kamara's oral history of West African experiences in the First World War, Joe Harris Lunn observes that, although historians have begun to examine the effects of that war on west Africa, their studies are mostly based on written sources, “and therefore shed little light on the lived reality of the war for the African masses whose perceptions of their experiences were never recorded.” Of particular value then, is the oral history provided by the Guinean veteran Kande Kamara, offering as it does an opportunity for assessing the European war's impact on west Africans. Lunn finds, however, that west African soldiers who served in France during the First World War have left very few records of either their wartime experiences or its effects on their later lives. The text by the late Malian hunters' singer Seydou Camara that is presented here helps to redress this lamentable deficiency because, although it is a step or two removed from the sort of firsthand eyewitness account offered by Kande Kamara, it provides valuable support for and confirmation of certain elements of Kande Kamara's testimony. Composed and sung by Seydou Camara, “Bilali of Faransekila” provides us with an oral traditional counterpart to Kande Kamara's firsthand account.

Unravelling the Past: World War I in Africa

2021 ◽  
pp. 002190962110549
Author(s):  
Anne Samson
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
World War I ◽  
West Africa ◽  
World War ◽  
French West Africa ◽  
Archival Material ◽  
The Past ◽  
Western Front ◽  
Single Entity ◽  
Conflict In Africa

Africa’s involvement in World War I presents the researcher with challenges that few researchers of the Western Front are likely to encounter. The centenary years of the War have seen a range of publications on the conflict in Africa: from Marike Sherwood who claims little has been written on Africa’s involvement to others who have tended to rely on online articles that are limited in scope and draw on dated publications, thereby perpetuating myths. A handful of researchers are breaking new ground through their accessing of archival material. Authors such as David Killingray and Joe Lunn, writing on West Africa over two World Wars, unwittingly set the scene for how Africa as a whole has been perceived. However, an outcome of the centenary commemorations of the War has been new and varied insights to Africa’s contributions, not least the different approaches taken by Africans and non-Africans, academic and enthusiast, and those interested in the conflicts of French (West) Africa and the rest of Africa. Engagement with the diaspora and people from the across the continent has reinforced the diversity of Africa in contrast to the published narratives and interpretations of the war which have generally been homogeneous in their approach. This study provides an opportunity to explore recent historiographical developments of the war in Africa. In particular, it aims to show that by treating Africa as a single entity (‘Africa is a country’), misconceptions have been perpetuated and experiences of World War II conflated with those of World War I. In addition, the complexities, challenges and rewards of researching Africa’s involvement in World War I are highlighted in the article.

scholarly journals National Association of Russian Explorers: brief history

2021 ◽  
pp. 8-17
Author(s):  
Ivan Aleksandrovich Bulatov
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
National Association ◽  
Youth Organizations ◽  
World War ◽  
Youth Organization ◽  
Peter The Great ◽  
History Of Development ◽  
Parent Organization ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
History Of

The subject of this research is the history of development of the National Association of Russian Explorers (NORR) – one of the youth organizations of White émigré. NORR was founded in 1928, and in the 1930s became the largest emigrant youth organization. However, after the World War II it basically ceased its activity. The first members of NORR came from the Scout movement, founding their ideology on the criticism of parent organization. Nevertheless, it did not prevent them from borrowing the most effective methods of scouting and adapt them to their ideology. The ideology was based on the Russian nationalism of imperial type, patriotism and militarism. Peter the Great was selected as the symbol of all the ideas. Leaning on the wide variety of source, including the materials introduced into the scientific discourse for the first time, the article examines the phenomenon of national upbringing in extracurricular organizations. The main conclusion consists in the thesis that the burst in popularity and subsequent decline of the National Association of Russian Explorers were associated namely with the national-patriotic component of upbringing, which was of crucial in the conditions of emigration. The fact that the leader of this association P. N. Bogdanovich, was able to offer a system of Russian national upbringing to general emigrant community was the key factor of its initial success. After World War II, NORR has lost many of its active members and winded down its activity; and the Russian Scouts implemented more national elements into their work, attracting patriotic youth. This brought the activity of NORR to an end.

Failing to Stem the Tide: Lebanese Migration to French West Africa and the Competing Prerogatives of the Imperial State

2011 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 450-478 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Kerim Arsan
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
Palm Oil ◽  
Eastern Mediterranean ◽  
West African ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
French West Africa ◽  
The Government ◽  
Territorial Government ◽  
Mediterranean Migration ◽  
Imperial State

In the years before 1939, the functionaries of Afrique Occidentale Française, or AOF, as France's West African possessions were known, consistently failed to introduce effective legislative controls upon Eastern Mediterranean migration under their purview. This was not for lack of trying; from 1905 onwards, administrators both in the territorial government of Guinea and in the Government-General of the Federation in Dakar repeatedly attempted to close their gates to these interlopers of empire, most of them from present-day Lebanon, who first began to venture into West Africa in the last years of the nineteenth century. By the late 1930s, some six thousand citizens of the Mandatory states of Lebanon and Syria resided across AOF. Most worked as produce brokers, shopkeepers, and traders, buying up groundnuts, palm oil, or kola nuts from African producers, and supplying them in turn with consumer goods such as textiles and clothes, processed foodstuffs, alcohol, and matches. Despite their attempts to channel and stem this flow of men and women, AOF administrators proved unable to impose effective legislative checks upon their movements.

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