Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Mohamed Saliou Camara. Political History of Guinea since World War Two.

2015; Oxford University Press; Volume: 120; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1093/ahr/120.2.758

1937-5239

Elizabeth Schmidt,

African history and culture studies

This 500-page volume on the political history of Guinea explores the ideas and actions of political elites and the institutions they established in the decades after World War II. Focusing on a country that has received relatively little attention outside the Francophone world, the study is the first of its kind in English—reminiscent of Sidiki Kobélé Keita's two-volume tome, Le P.D.G.: Artisan de l'indépendance nationale en Guinée (1947–1958) (1978). The written source base includes official archives, personal collections, and especially, secondary sources, many written in French. The oral sources offer new insights gleaned from interviews with intellectuals and political figures who served in several Guinean administrations. The book is composed of 13 chapters divided into three parts. Part I focuses on African decolonization during the Cold War, with special reference to Guinea during the period 1945–1958. Part II investigates the independence period during Sékou Touré's presidency (1958–1984); and part III examines Guinean politics under Lansana Conté's military regime (1984–2008) and in its aftermath (2008–2012). The study provides a wealth of information in one volume. However, a more concise, tightly focused study would be more useful for students and scholars interested in African decolonization and the postcolonial era. Part I, which focuses broadly on African decolonization, covers terrain already investigated by earlier scholars. Two chapters are based on well-established scholarship and could be distilled into a brief introduction. A third chapter, which explores Guinea's move toward independence, details findings from older scholarship that highlight the activities of political elites and their parties. However, it fails to consider the conclusions of newer scholarship on Guinea's labor and nationalist movements. As a result, Mohamed Saliou Camara gives insufficient weight to the contributions of workers, veterans, market women, and farmers, who were the backbone of the mass movement that culminated in Guinea's independence.