Routledge Handbook of Francophone Africa
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Consisting of approximately 35% of Africa’s territory, Francophone Africa is a shifting concept, with its roots in French and Belgian colonial rule. This handbook develops and problematizes the term, with thematic sections covering:
- Colonial and post-colonial ties between France and sub-Saharan Africa
- Belgium, Belgian colonialism and Africa
- The Maghreb
- African Francophones in France
- Francophone African literature and film
- ‘Francophone’ and ‘Anglophone’ Africa
- Beyond national boundaries and ‘colonial partners’
The chapters demonstrate the evolution of "Francophone Africa" into a multi-dimensional construct, with both a material and an imagined reality. Materially, it defines a regional territorial space that coexists with other conceptualisations of African space and borders. Conceptually, Francophone Africa constitutes a shared linguistic and cultural space within which collective memories are shared, not least through their connection to the French imperial imagination. Overall, the Handbook demonstrates that as global power structures and relations evolve, African agency is increasingly assertive in shaping French-African relations.
Bringing this important debate together into a single volume, this Handbook will be an essential resource for students and scholars interested in Francophone Africa.
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Tony Chafer is Emeritus Professor of African and French Studies at the University of Portsmouth and a Fellow of the Society for Peace Studies and Practice, University of Ibadan. He is a historian specializing on Francophone Africa and French relations with Africa in the late colonial and post-colonial periods. His monograph La fin de l’empire colonial français en Afrique de l’Ouest: entre utopie et désillusion was published by Presses Universitaires de Rennes in 2019. He edited (with Alexander Keese) Francophone Africa at Fifty (2013). He recently published ‘Beyond Françafrique – the state of relations between France and Africa’, Europa World (Routledge, 2023). He has also published widely on French military and security policy in Africa.
Margaret A. Majumdar is Emeritus Professor of Francophone Studies at the University of Portsmouth. She has published extensively on French political philosophy and the Francophone dimension of postcoloniality. Her publications include Post-coloniality: The French Dimension (2007); Transition and Development in Algeria: Economic, Social and Cultural Challenges (with M. Saad, 2005); Francophone Studies: The Essential Glossary (2002); and Althusser and the End of Leninism? (1995).
