Postcolonial Theory: The French (dis)Connection
Obed Nkunzimana
The scope of such courageous reassessment of colonial practice and the profound analyses of its current legacy is, to my knowledge, unheard of in the past or recent history of France. That said, can we go as far as saying, along with these critics, that French Society has become “une société postcoloniale”? This is difficult to assess. What can be said with some certainty is that the whole postcolonial debate has started to resonate in a usually tightly closed French intellectual arena and publishing establishment. The recent publication of the French translation of Homi Bhabha’s influential work, The Location of Culture (1994) is a case in point. It came out as Les Lieux de la Culture: Une Théorie Postcoloniale (2007). Although the postcolonial phenomenon remains peripheral and marginal to mainstream French critical theories, these new developments indicate that echoes of postcolonial theory are being heard in France.
What can be said for the Francophone world- especially Africa and the Caribbean? Clearly, the “P” word seems to remain absent in the lexicon of the Hexagon and its peripheral satellites or allies. Two essays that deploy ‘the word’ in their critique are usually mentioned. These are Achille Mbembe’s De la postcolonie. Essai sur l’imagination politique dans l’Afrique contemporaine (Paris, Karthala, 2000) and Abdourahman Waberi’s “Les enfants de la postcolonie. Esquisse d’une nouvelle génération d’écrivains francophones d’Afrique noire” (Notre librairie 135, 1998). Inspired by the concept ‘postcolonial’, the term ‘postcolonie’ (postcolony) seems to be essentially informed by what some postcolonial theorists call the first archive of postcolonial discourse, which focused mainly on the ‘post-independence’ period. But unlike the rather neutral temporality described in this archive within the polemical discussion around the prefix “post” in the postcolonial debate, the word “postcolonie” emphasizes a precisely defined content: the paternalistic, hierarchical and neocolonial nature of the relationships between contemporary France and its former colonies on the one hand and between France and its “immigrés”, on the other, who also refer to themselves as “Les indigènes de la république” due to discrimination and social exclusion they experience on a daily basis. With Waberi, one of the new kids on the creative postcolonial block, it simply refers to a new generation of young writers from Black Africa, whose writings take up new fights different from those of older generations of writers. It should be pointed out, however, that, according to Abou Bamba, the major contribution to these critical reflections remains that of Anglo-American Europeanists who are interested in France’s imperial legacy. He mentions, among others, Hargreaves and McKinney (1997), who examined post-colonial immigrant cultures in France, as well as H. Lebovics (2004), who shows how strategies of colonial rule have been remobilized in the implementation of today’s political or policy-making processes as it relates to hyphenated French citizens from Africa, Asia or the Caribbean.
This ongoing discussion about France’s “Imperial Science” in its past conception and present adaptation is of significance for the postcolonial debate. The critical trend in Euro-America, it seems to me, moves hastily too away from the imprisoning polarities of coloniser/colonised, centre/ periphery) or the Caliban/ Prospero dichotomy to the articulation of connections among individuals and peoples, past and present. In other words, this critical paradigm moves away from a ‘confrontational’ mode or resistance tactics to the examination of relational and transcultural common grounds. This desire to emphasise other preoccupations and urgent socio-political issues rather than the colonial question is also shared by some critics in the Francophone world like France-based Bernard Mouralis (Les contre-literatures, PUF, 1975) who urges writers and critics from former colonies to anchor their projects on their own ideals and dreams, without having to take a stand in favour of or against Europe. In a manner of speaking, they should adopt the ‘neither explain nor complain’ philosophy with respect to colonialism. Of course, this scholar’s later publication, Republique et colonies (1999), shows that his view has dramatically changed since.
I am one of those who think that the questions of colonisation and of resistance to it, which is the very founding definition of Postcolonialism, are still relevant and unresolved. The ‘science’ of (de)colonization has secrets yet to be unearthed; the multiple topoi of resistance remain untheorised and unaccounted for, especially in the literary and cultural productions of former colonies. In a word, Ngugi’s remark about the decolonising process as an “unfinished war” is still topical. Thus, the debate being held in and on France as “a colonial republic” seems to be an interesting instance of postcolonial assessment. Francophone critics – both in the Diasporas and those who operate from the former colonies – should follow in the Euro-American Africanists or Europeanists’ footsteps, to re-examine the specific characteristics of France’s colonial past and its postcolonial practices. It would be of much interest, for instance, to determine and analyse the shared secrets and the tropes of Franco-Belgian colonial rule, as well as their recycling for contemporary use. This can be done particularly through the examination of thousands of colonial films which, according to Blanchard, President of ACHAC, have been too long “ enfouis dans les tiroirs du déni - buried in the drawers of denial” (my translation).
Let us keep in mind that research on French and Francophone dimension of postcolonial studies, as an emergent research area, was initiated and has been so far carried out within the French departments of Anglophone universities in the UK, USA and in Canada, or in some English departments of French or Belgian universities. So it remains the preoccupation of Francophone and Anglophone scholars operating within the Anglo-Saxon academy. Yet, postcolonial theory, at this very moment, would benefit greatly from contributions by French and Francophone critics, the translations of whose previous scholarly work, fed directly into the birth of Postcolonial Theory. We should greatly emphasise the problem of inaccurate and ill-digested translations which might affect, for instance, the interpretations of poststructuralist philosophers core thoughts on which Postcolonialism is founded. Spivak, whose writings have deeply influenced postcolonial theory, goes as far as saying that Anglophone critics who work on translated francographic materials should consider their findings as provisional, until they have read the works of those who used original sources in order to sort out ‘nuances and ambiguities’ (cited by Britton et Syrotinski, 2003). Could this explain why, at times, Spivak and Saïd have contrasting readings of Foucault’s and Derrida’s main arguments? How about the rereading of Fanon by Bhabha? I am far from implying that these interpretations are necessarily misreadings; what I am saying is that there are certainly under- or over- statements to be flagged, or simply some useful theoretical concepts as well as critical instruments which might have been overlooked. Here, then, is where the collaboration of French and Francophone critics is crucial. They would naturally source original material in French, and be able to penetrate interstices and be able to adequately unpack otherwise elusive nuances.
In the neat future I can foresee the birth of French or Francophone initiatives similar to, say, La “Society for Francophone Postcolonial Studies, created in2003 in the UK. According to Moura, it serves as a new bridge between interested French scholars and Postcolonial Studies. It is also possible to imagine the establishment of an institute that would be named “Institut des sciences coloniales et postcoloniales de Paris” or, even better, “Institut des Hautes Études Coloniales et Postcoloniales de France,” which would probably have close research connections with the real Institute for Colonial and Postcolonial Studies at the University of Leeds. I think that the postcolonial debate which has luckily embraced an international and interdisciplinarily wide range of subjects, should receive more attention from the Francophone world.