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The Production of History in Post-Socialist Guinea: Competing Images of Almamy Samory Toure

2001; Indiana University Press; Volume: 3; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.2979/mnd.2001.a873326

2379-5506

Mohamed Saidou N'Daou,

African Studies and Geopolitics

The Production of History in Post-Socialist Guinea: Competing Images of Almamy Samory Toure Mohamed Saidou N'Daou "IV TT m(*e Studies is faithfully implementing the spirit of collaboration between|'/| scholars of the Western and African academia, by publishing five texts JL ▼ -lproduced for internal cultural consumption in post-socialist Guinea, i.e. in the era which started in 1984, after the death of Ahmed Sekou Toure. This period is characterized by the democratic restructuring of post-colonial Guinea that Ahmed Sekou Toure initiated a couple of years before his death, in 1984. His successor, General Lansana Conte, introduced many democratic reforms that constitute the contextual background for the present five articles. I see these articles as voices competing somewhat with the political image of Samory promoted by the dominant political party, Parti de l'Unité et du Progrès (PUP), and the Guinean government. During the first period of nation-state building (1958-84), opposing ideological views on the national heroes were 'ruthlessly rejected' and could only exist as 'hidden transcripts.'1 Today, the PUP and the government are sponsoring international seminars on the history of Almamy Samori Toure, and inviting scholars who are committed to different perspectives. Some of those scholars are members of different Guinean political parties and others are professors in different African, European and American universities. How are the present four historical texts representative of the post-socialist Guinean politics of culture? How can we explain this apparent radical transformation that may lead to the effective sharing of the Guinean ideological landscape by competing social forces? What is the political effect of the current post-socialist state sponsoredseminars on Almamy Samory' s history? In contrast to the nationalist image of the Almamy projected by Ahmed Sekou Toure, which showed him as an uncompromising anti-colonialist hero and the ancestor of the revolutionary militants of independent Guinean society,2 these articles are based on different philosophies of history and, consequently, have different objects of study. They focus primarily on the internal African factors that led to the creation, the development, and the policies of Samory 's Manden Empire of Wasulun at the end of the 19th century. Here, the essentialist approach that the nationalist elite used to cultivate the Guinean people's spirit of resistance to imperialism in general, and to the French colonizers in particular, is de-emphasized. The history of Samory 's ideas and institutions are interpreted as the necessary answers he gave to the concrete situations he was facing at different historical periods. The socio-historical constraints of the building of the Empire of Wasulun are perceived as the determining factors of Samory' s internal and external political and military initiatives. Lansine Kaba and Djibril Tamsir Niane draw the readers' Mande Studies 3 (2001) pp. 3-6 4 Mohammed Saidou N'daou attention to trade, commerce, Islam and the Ma understanding of Samoiy 's historical enterprise resistance to the colonial penetration, Professor the African bourgeoisie, the economic class of t long distance trade that was indispensable to the celebrates the Kafo, a traditional Mandenka po building bloc of Samoiy's empire. In addition t Professor Lansine Kaba emphasizes Islam as Wasulun and further evidence of the Mande o Mandenka people of Kankan contributed to the empire into Islamic individual and collective p Kankan is believed not to have altered in the least Ismaël Bány also emphasizes trade as well as collaboration with the Dyula traders and the i strategy and tactics on his policies for foreign af a pragmatic political and militaiy commander, military security considerations, not blind determining causes of his decisions. Dr. Ha challenges and accomplishments in a technical fi the context of a knowledge of African iron-worki that he was or was not able to overcome, and th process. Dr. Ansoumane Camara opens a windo guided the griots' production of historical image producers of histoiy, the griots were supposed to project Samory's imagined hierarchical relations empire. One is able to learn that unity, as wel relations between leaders and subordinates. colonizers was not Samoiy's sole motivation, as t was also prompted by a desire for revenge again Camara suggests that an internal struggle existed...