Indigenous Ethnologists, National Anthropologists, Post-colonial Intellectuals: The Trajectory of Anthropology in French-Speaking West and Equatorial Africa

In the regions of sub-Saharan Africa conquered by France during the second half of the nineteenth century and later become part of French West and Equatorial Africa, the development of anthropology can be linked to colonial expansion. In addition to colonial officials and missionaries, teachers—trained at the École Normale William Ponty—contributed to expand ethnological and historical research on local cultures and societies. After the achievement of independence, the colonial legacy of anthropology hampered the growth of the discipline in the national contexts born out of the disintegration of French West and Equatorial Africa. History and sociology became instead popular, the former considered able to return to the new nations the agentivity lost with colonisation, the latter for its application to the understanding and planning of change. Relations with France remained crucial to the development of higher education and scientific research in French-speaking West African and equatorial contexts. The discussions of this new century focus on the importance of re-localising African studies within Africa itself without forgetting that the time is over when a country, a centre and a unique perspective could claim the monopoly over the knowledge of African cultures and societies.