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Contemporary 'Africa Rising' narratives in historical perspective

历史视角下的当代“非洲崛起”叙事

基本信息

批准号：
AH/M010686/1
负责人：
Clive Gabay
金额：
$ 20.97万
依托单位：
Queen Mary University of London
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Fellowship
财政年份：
2015
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2015 至无数据
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FM010686%2F1
关键词：
Contemporary Africa Rising narratives historical

项目摘要

In recent years a very positive policy and scholarly 'Africa rising' narrative has emerged. Based on Africa's economic growth and democratisation, this narrative differs significantly in tone from the depiction of death, starvation and warfare which seemed to define popular coverage of the continent through the 1980s and 1990s. In an anglo-centric context, this narrative has even penetrated popular culture, via Africa film festivals, 'Afropolitan' literature, and popular television, where Severino and Ray's book 'Africa's Moment' (2010) appears being read by a central character in the critically acclaimed US drama House of Cards.Because it is optimistic, this narrative about Africa's 'rise', although contested, appears discursively distinct from some of the more evidently pejorative Afro-pessimism which dominated coverage of Africa in the preceding decades and rendered Africans as helpless or violent. This project however seeks to interrogate precisely what is new about these narratives by exploring positvity about Africa during three selected historical periods. Because Africa rising narratives have emerged as a progressive response to more pessimistic narratives about Africa, the project will explore, in a British context, historical iterations of this narrative promoted by self-identified progressive movements which have come to the fore during periods of British reconsideration of its relationship with Africa, driven by broader geo-political and economic events. In order to historicise the current Africa rising moment the project will focus on the following movements and periods:i) Missionary societies working in Southern Africa from the 1800s-1820s, a time of British consideration of the African interior;ii) 'Paramountcy' and African rights movements during the 1920s-1930s, as British policy sought to make sense of growing nationalist sentiment in its African colonies alongside the threat of war in the European theatre; iii) Liberal-settler and multi-racialist movements in the 1950s-60s, when British policy was concerned with establishing working relationships with the new African governments, and settler communities in its current and former colonies. The project explores these periods through empirical archival research. A detailed understanding of the ways in which British progressive movements have rendered Africa optimistically will help to historicise contemporary Africa rising narratives, and illustrate the discursive continuities and ruptures which define these narratives across time as well as their relationships with the simultaneously pessimistic narratives which have been the primary focus of critical scholars on British and imperial representations of Africa. Indeed, because of this focus on the evidently pejorative nature of Africa's representation, much of this literature at first glance appears unable to comprehend modern narratives which focus more squarely on African agency, achievements, growth and development. The project thus contributes to ongoing critical debates regarding Western representations of Africa, but takes a different tack from more conventional approaches. It challenges received critical wisdom that the British encounter with Africa has always been based on racially-informed pessimism regarding the capabilities of Africans, by instead focusing on more positive representations of Africa and Africans, whilst being cogniscant of the racial prejudices which may have informed these perspectives as well. The project provides the foundations for studies of positive narratives about Africa across different imperial centres, as well as optimism expressed towards Britain's other colonial possessions, and brings the study of optimism within the purview of other regional specialists, and disciplines, including history, politics, literature and film, as well as the concerned general public. Project developments will be disseminated via popular African news and commentary websites.

近年来，出现了一种非常积极的政策和学术上的“非洲崛起”叙事。基于非洲的经济增长和民主化，这种叙事在语气上与对死亡、饥饿和战争的描述截然不同，后者似乎定义了20世纪80年代和90年代对非洲大陆的流行报道。在以英语为中心的背景下，这种叙事甚至已经渗透到流行文化中，通过非洲电影节、非洲文学和流行电视，塞维里诺和雷的书《非洲的时刻》(2010)似乎正在由广受好评的美国电视剧《纸牌屋》的主人公阅读。因为它是乐观的，这种关于非洲崛起的叙事虽然有争议，但似乎与过去几十年主导非洲报道的一些更明显的贬义非洲悲观主义截然不同，这些悲观主义使非洲人变得无助或暴力。然而，这个项目试图通过探索在选定的三个历史时期对非洲的积极态度来准确地询问这些叙事的新之处。由于非洲崛起叙事是对有关非洲的更悲观叙事的进步回应，该项目将在英国的背景下探索这种叙事的历史迭代，这些历史迭代是由自我确认的进步运动推动的，这些进步运动在英国重新考虑其与非洲的关系期间脱颖而出，受到更广泛的地缘政治和经济事件的推动。为了记录当前的非洲崛起时刻，该项目将关注以下运动和时期：i)19世纪至19世纪20年代在南部非洲工作的传教士社团，当时英国考虑非洲内陆；ii)20年代至30年代的“至高无上”和非洲权利运动，因为英国的政策试图解释其非洲殖民地日益增长的民族主义情绪以及欧洲剧院的战争威胁；iii)20世纪50年代和60年代的自由定居者和多种族主义运动，当时英国的政策涉及与非洲新政府以及现在和以前的殖民地的定居者社区建立工作关系。该项目通过实证性的档案研究来探索这些时期。详细了解英国进步运动是如何乐观地呈现非洲的，将有助于对当代非洲崛起的叙事进行历史化，并说明定义这些叙事的话语的连续性和断裂性，以及它们与同时悲观的叙事的关系，后者一直是批评英国和帝国对非洲的表征的主要焦点。事实上，由于这种对非洲代表性的明显贬损性质的关注，这些文献乍一看似乎无法理解更直接地关注非洲机构、成就、增长和发展的现代叙事。因此，该项目有助于正在进行的关于西方代表非洲的批判性辩论，但采取了与更传统的方法不同的方针。它挑战了已有的批判性智慧，即英国与非洲的接触始终基于对非洲人能力的种族了解的悲观态度，转而专注于对非洲和非洲人的更积极的表现，同时认识到可能也影响了这些观点的种族偏见。该项目为研究不同帝国中心对非洲的正面叙述以及对不列颠其他殖民地的乐观态度提供了基础，并将乐观研究纳入其他区域专家和学科的范围，包括历史、政治、文学和电影以及有关的公众。项目发展将通过受欢迎的非洲新闻和评论网站传播。