Tony Chafer and Margaret A. Majumdar, eds. Routledge Handbook of Francophone Africa. London: Routledge, 2024. 504 pp. Illustrations. £47.99. Paper: ISBN: 9781032586069.
Year: 2025
Type: book-review
Abstract: The Routledge Handbook of Francophone Africa is an accessible and engaging collection of essays about the origins and history of Francophone identity and Francophonie through the prism of French and Belgian colonialism in Africa.The book is an extensive, yet digestible, collection of essays exploring the historical and contemporary relationships between French-speaking colonial powers and Africa and nuanced ways in which "Francophone," "Francophonie," and related concepts must be understood.While they are often associated with the historical relationships between France and Africa since colonial times or specific geographic and cultural boundaries, these terms are fluid, complex, and increasingly reflective of identities that include non-French-speaking African nations.The handbook has an introduction and twenty-eight chapters that provide important contexts for understanding the social, political, economic, and cultural significance of Francophone identity and Francophonie as an organizational entity.Describing "Francophone" in the introduction to the book, Tony Chafer and Margaret A. Majumdar write: On the one hand, its historical roots in the French colonization of Africa in the nineteenth century have proved remarkably resilient in the face of decolonization and subsequent developments.On the other hand, the notion of 'Francophone Africa' has evolved into a multidimensional construct, which conveys a material, as well as an imagined reality.As such, it can be characterized in a number of different ways.
Source: African Studies Review
Author: Babacar M’Baye
Institution: Kent State University
Language: English
Subfield: Anthropology
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W4411435554