Silences in African History

Silences in African History

Between the Syndromes of Discovery and Abolition

Jacques Depelchin

'Among those who have suffered enslavement, colonisation, steady and relentless economic exploitation, cultural asphyxiation, religious persecution, gender, race and class discrimination and political repression, silences should be seen as facts, because silences are indeed facts which have not been accorded the status of facts.'

So states Jacques Depelchin in this powerful and elegant discussion, which encompasses an examination of dominant theories - political, social, economic, cultural and ideological - on Africa. The author analyses the influence of capitalism on the continent in relation to historical events over centuries. He castigates those who envision Africa solely through the eyes of colonialism. He systematically erodes misconceptions about Africa and the nature of the 'black man', which have assumed historical status.

ISBN 9789976973730 | 280 pages | 229 x 152 mm | 2005 | Mkuki na Nyota Publishers, Tanzania | Paperback

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Reviews

'this is a book about academic violence; collective intellectual denial; culpable erasure and deliberate omission. But it is also about emancipation and liberation; for it explores the complex linkages between historical knowledge and collective freedom'.

Ibrahim Abdullah

‘…he exposes the syndromes of discovery and abolition in African history. He writes in the tradition of Frantz Fanon, Amilcar Cabral, and Walter Rodney.’

International Journal of African Historical Studies, vol.40, no. 2, 2007

About the Author

Jacques Depelchin

Dr. Jacques Depelchin is a committed intellectual, academic, and activist for peace, democracy, transparency and pro-people politics in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

He was born in the Congo and educated at Lovanium University (Kinshasa) in the DRC, the University of London, Johns Hopkins University in Italy, and Stanford. He has taught African History and related subjects at UC Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz, San Francisco State, Stanford, Syracuse, and universities in DR Congo, Mozambique, and Tanzania.

He was present in the Eastern Congo during the most recent war in 1996-2002, and was a member of the non-militarist RCD-Kisangani movement led by Ernest Wamba dia Wamba which opposed continuation of the war. He participated in the negotiations leading to the Lusaka Cease-fire, those leading to Sun City-1 in 2002, and later, in portions of the negotiations leading to the Global and Inclusive Accord in Pretoria, 2003.

He is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Berkeley-based Ota Benga International Alliance for Peace in the DR Congo. Under its umbrella, he is researching American and Congolese social healing and bringing together the healers, as well as lecturing and writing on the DR Congo to improve American understanding of its history and present realities. The Ota Benga Alliance is linked with a sister organization in Kinshasa, The Ota Benga Center for Human Dignity.

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