France's presence on the African continent has often been presented as 'cooperation' and part of French cultural policy by policy-makers in Paris - and quite as often been denounced as 'the longest scandal of the republic' by French academics and African intellectuals. Between the last years of French colonialism and France's sustained interventions in former African colonies such as Chad or Côte d'Ivoire during the 2000s, the legacy of French colonialism has shaped the historical trajectory of more than a dozen countries and societies in Africa. The complexities of this story are now, for the first time, addressed in a comprehensive series of essays, based on new research by a group of specialists in French colonial history. The book addresses the needs of both academic specialists and those of students of history and neighbouring disciplines looking for structural analysis of key themes in France's and Africa's shared history.

Reviews

'Francophone Africa at Fifty is aimed at generalists and specialists alike. For those wishing to learn about this often-neglected part of the world, and especially for those with an interest in its history, this book is an excellent place to start.'
Craig Phelan, Kingston University London, Political Studies Review, May 2016

Introduction - Tony Chafer and Alexander Keese
Part I: Zero hour approaches
1. Gaston Defferre's Loi-Cadre and its application, 1956-57: last chance for a French African 'empire-state' or blueprint for decolonisation? - Martin Shipway
2. A Vocation for Independence: Guinean Nationalism in the 1950s - Mairi MacDonald
3. French officials and the insecurities of change in sub-Saharan Africa: Dakar, 19 August 1960 re-visited - Alexander Keese
Part II: Military transitions
4. 'Saving French West Africa': The French army, African soldiers and military propaganda during the 1950s - Ruth Ginio
5. The French Army and Malian Independence (1956-1961) - Vincent Joly
6. Transfer of Military Power in Mauritania: From Ecouvillon to Lamentin (1956-1978) - Camille Evrard
Part III: Continuities and Connections
7. Franco-African Security Relations at Fifty: Writing Violence, Security, and the Geopolitical Imaginary - Bruno Charbonneau
8. French coopération in the field of education (1960-1980): A story of disillusionment - Samy Mesli
9. Jacques Foccart: Éminence grise for African affairs - Jean-Pierre Bat
Part IV: Anglo-French Relations
10. Whitehall, the French Community and the Year of Africa: Negotiating post-independence diplomacy in West Africa - Mélanie Torrent
11. A Transnational Decolonisation: Britain, France and the Rhodesian Problem, 1965-1969 - Joanna Warson
Part V: Nationalist trajectories, border issues and conflicted memories
12. The Changing Boundaries of Resistance: The UPC and France in Cameroonian History and Memory - Thomas Sharp
13. A fragmented and forgotten decolonisation: The end of European empires in the Sahara and their legacy - Berny Sèbe
14. Through the prism of the cinquantenaire: Côte d'Ivoire between refondation and Houphouët's legacy - Kathrin Heitz
15. Chad's political violence at 50: Bullets, ballots and bases - David Styan
Index

Editors

Tony Chafer is Professor of Contemporary French Studies at the University of Portsmouth; Alexander Keese is a Visiting Scholar at the University of Portsmouth