Mlamuli Hlatswayo, November 2013
Introduction
This essay takes the position that Achille Mbembe’s On the Postcolony (hereafter referred to
as Mbembe’s text) does to a large extent, break with the colonial library.
Furthermore, Mbembe’s text offers a critical analysis of postcolonial Africa
through the privileging of African subjectivities, and a rejection of dominant
modes of representations, which is largely found in Marxism and neo liberal
discussions on Africa. Mary Porter argues that Mbembe rejects these simplistic
binaries (“West” and “South”, “Developed” and “Developing” etc) and the
segmented historical trajectories which not only influence the different modes
of representations in Africa, but they are also influenced and informed by the
Colonial archive (Porter, 2003: 274).
This means that dominant scholarships on Africa and about Africa (which usually refer to Sub Saharan Africa and tend to ignore North Africa), are shaped by the Manichean allegoric framework, in how Africa is often perceived as the world par excellence of everything that is incomplete, destructive, brutal and characterized by extremes (whether its poverty, corruption, maladministration, warfare and others) (Mbembe, 2001: 9) (this will be discussed further in the essay). Using this understanding as a point of departure, the essay will critically engage with the idea of the colonial library, using various scholars such as V.Y. Mudimbe and Guarav Desai, in showing the manner in the colonial archive is not only compromised but actually has consequences on the current representations of Africa. Centrally, the essay will be showing the various ways in which Mbembe’s text could be argued, breaks away from the colonial archive, and the other instances where it could be said to be working within that library. The essay will also offer a critical comment, in problematizing the notion of “Africa”, and what that actually means, in context to the colonial library and Mbembe’s text. Thus the essay will offer a conclusion based on the aforementioned discussion points.
On the colonial archive
Before the essay goes on to critically discuss Mbembe’s text
and its attempt to break with the colonial library, it will first discuss the
structural aim of the colonial library, its role in knowledge production about
Africans and the various ways in which it continues to shape thoughts and the
frameworks of writings on Africa. In his book, The Invention of Africa, V.Y. Mudimbe defines the colonial library
as the “set of representations and texts that have collectively ‘invented’
Africa as a locus of difference and alterity” (Praeg, 2013: 8). This refers to
the various ways in which science, anthropology and religion (as signified by
the missionaries), created a hegemonic colonial discourse in which they sought
to “study” what they considered “Africans” and “African behavior”, which
ultimately came to represent and form the colonial library, which one could
argue, acts as a referral point in informing the current discourse on Africa
and about Africans. This leads to the colonial library constructing Africans’
knowledge about themselves and their presupposed singular mode of being in the
world (Mbembe, 2001: 9). It should be emphasized that the colonial library’s
primary function was to “study” African societies so as to help facilitate and
help make colonization efficient. Thus knowledge accumulation and its
production lacked thorough methodological research, and was structurally
engineered to deny the African lived experience of human agency - through the
consistent representations of Africans as a singular people, who are primitive
and who are inherently at an antithesis to western civilization. This colonial
discourse, which has informed the colonial library, manifests itself in
contemporary postcolonial writings about Africa, as seen in Peyi
Soyinka-Airewele and Rita Edozie’s argument that contemporary discourses on
Africa are largely shaped by the frameworks of the colonial library, and thus
resort to showing Africa as the “uncivilized” “Global Other” that lacks
international institutions, civil society, dynamic cultures and is without a
history prior colonization (Soyinka-Airewele and Edozie, 2010: 13). Thus one
could argue, and echo Mbembe’s point in the chapter “Time on the Move”, in
suggesting that with regard to the colonial library, its impact cannot be
restricted to a specific time or space (only during the colonial period), its
consequences and effects transcend that time and that particularly space, and
are (as argued in the essay) still continued to been seen and felt, especially
when the simplistic binaries are employed to again position Africa as the
Deformed Other that is not at par with the world (Mbembe, 2001: 10) (the
importance of time will be further discussed in detail in the essay).
Mbembe and the attempt to reject the colonial
archive: Focus on African subjectivities
In Heart of Darkness,
Joseph Conrad’s novella employs the typical colonial stereotypes to describe
how his central character, Marlow, travels to the “dark place” (which signifies
the Congo, and thereby represents Africa) in pursuit of not only of the
mysterious Mr. Kurtz (who is a colonial official), but also uses the Congo as a
performance space for colonial authorities to prove their masculinity, and to
assert their dominance over the “pre-historical”, and “bestial” Africans. The
Congo In the novel is consistently being represented as a space of vast
pre-historical yet paradoxically ahistorical savage creatures who appear human
but are not really human beings, who like animals, require white male
leadership to be put to use which is best suited for the creation of the
colonial hegemonic masculinity – thus the Africans are viewed through an
instrumentalist framework (Conrad, 2006: 63). Perhaps what is interesting about
Conrad’s text is the manner in which Africa and the agency of Africans is
seemingly silenced, as they are not given a voice, they are not even allowed to
speak so as to prove their collective agency – thus they portrayed as bodies that
lack collective wills and thought processes. The Conradian perspective on
Africa and African agency, has largely being informed by the colonial library
and has come to represent the typical contemporary discourse on Africa,
especially on how the West uses the continent to assert their “absolute
otherness” and in the process, continue showing the series of lacks that seem
to define their understanding of what “Africa” is, or rather ought to be.
As mentioned in the
introduction, Mbembe’s text rejects the binary that is enforced by the
contemporary discourses, including various modes of writing on Africa, through
a focus on the idea of African subjectivities. Mbembe does this through a
critical analysis of what could be referred to as the mutual zombification and
mutual brutalization that shows how postcolonial African states lack the
collective project for social transformation. This is seen in how Mbembe adopts
what is seemingly an Afro-pessimistic view about postcolonial Africa, in how he
discusses the various ways in which postcolonial African regimes have sought to
maintain the same colonial superstructure - which had relations between
subjects and citizens – into the contemporary politics needed for their
survival (Mbembe, 2001: 40). This is seen in how the colonial
neo-patrimonialism of creating a small class of “citizens” who had privileges
and were loyal to the colonial project manifested itself in postcolonial
African states as they too adopted a similar approach in how they maintained
(and to some extent, still continue to maintain) the economic and political
superstructure of colonization, and merely replaced the elites with individuals
who are sensitive to their regimes (idea of the political petty bourgeoisie).
This was especially seen with the Mobutu Sese Seko regime in the then Zaire, in
how he created a shifting patronage system of corruption whereby he hired,
fired and rehired cabinet ministers randomly (including also detaining and
sometimes killing them) so as to ensure that their loyalty to him were
unquestionable and thus reduce dissent in the process (Meredith, 2006: 302).
One could argue that although Mbembe’s text attempts to transcend the colonial
library, he inadvertently finds himself accepting it and confirming its
stereotypes about postcolonial Africa. This is seen in how he structures his
text by beginning to acknowledge the power of the colonial library and its
impact on how it continues to frame references, discussions and discourses on
Africa. He goes on to essentialize his understanding of “Africa”, by continuing
to talk about the Otherness of Africa, in terms of how its corruption, geometry
of violence, social dislocation and neo-patrimonialism is seemingly
unparalleled in the world, and thus Africa is again the performance space of
being the signifier of the world par excellence of all the negatives in a
singular entity. Thus one could even take this argument further and argue that
Mbembe’s understanding of what “Africa” is could be similar to the colonial
library, not necessarily because of the apparent Afro-pessimism but because of
the absence of the collective agency of postcolonial African states.
In addition, Mbembe could be said to be
adopting a Sartrean mode of thinking about postcolonial Africa, in how he
especially discusses the various ways in which postcolonial African states have
retained the indigenous social bases of their economy (still continuing with
agriculture only, still continuing to mine that particular resource), which was
instrumental during the colonial administration, however they have not chosen
to diversify their markets and thus have opted to continue with the colonial
economic superstructure (Mbembe, 2001: 41). Mbembe frames and positions his
arguments (not just the point being made here) as entirely being the fault of
the postcolonial African states, and thus he gives them agency with regard to
their responsibility for their status quo. With this mode of thinking, Mbembe
ignores (or rather chooses to disregard) arguments made by African scholars
such as Dani Nabudere, Siba Grovogui and Jacque Depelchin who argue that states
don’t exist in isolation, they exist within the international system of states
(Grovogui, 2012: 228). Thus the challenges faced by postcolonial African states
should be looked at in context to the pressures of multinational corporations,
regional and global organizations (with superpowers) and the international
financial institutions – and especially how they negotiate these presented
challenges within the global system of states. This, one must emphasize, does
not mean that postcolonial African states lack agency and should be represented
as always being acted upon, rather it means that in order to commit to a more
holistic understanding of the challenges faced by postcolonial African states,
there is a need for us to understand the challenges being faced, both domestic
and international, and especially how they choose to respond to these
challenges. Thus Mbembe’s approach of adopting what could be characterized as a
Sartrean mode of thinking appears to rob us of the opportunity of understanding
the aforementioned dynamic challenges that are being faced by the postcolonial
African states, and the potentially innovative and creative ways that they are
being problematized, negotiated and even solved.
On the Rejection of Time as a linear construct
One of the significant ways in which Mbembe’s text breaks
with the colonial library is the manner in which it problematizes the idea of
time as a linear construct (Mbembe, 2001: 8). This means that for Mbembe, discourses
on Africa have failed to account for time as
lived, in its multiplicity and simultaneities (Mbembe, 2001: 8). This refers
to the way in the colonial library and contemporary discourses on Africa have
sought to diagnose the problems facing postcolonial Africa without considering
the complexities of different societies, and the different challenges facing
them. The consistent need for discourses on Africa, and Mbembe critically
engages well with this, to construct a general or singular understanding of
African states not only limits the understanding of the complexities and
difficulties faced and their understanding, but actually undermines the
scholarship itself in how it becomes fundamentally flawed from a methodological
perspective. This means that if the scholarship on postcolonial Africa uses the
understanding of “Africa” as a place of sameness and critically engages with its
challenges without the sensitivity that the challenges of Sub Saharan Africa
are very different to the challenges facing North Africa (and how even in
Sub-Saharan Africa, concerns facing the South African state are very different
to the ones facing the Kenyan state) – then becomes methodologically
compromised as it would not be taking into consideration Mbembe’s notion of entanglement in how different societal
traditions, factors, challenges, issues and even the various ways of
negotiating them all contribute to creating the different postcolonial African
states (Mbembe, 2001: 14). Furthermore, Mbembe critically discusses what he
refers to as the “long dogmatic sleep” regarding the long held discourses on
Africa which prioritize the interpretation of looking at African traditional
societies as simple, immemorial and without development or progress (Mbembe,
2001: 3). This discourse is rooted on the colonial obsession with difference as
a means of legitimization and asserting dominance and power. In addition, the
seemingly “long dogmatic sleep” of postcolonial Africa is also consolidated by
the colonial idea of consistently looking at African cultures and traditional
societies as being ahistorical and without a future, perpetually trapped in the
present. This was classically seeing by the South African movie, The Gods Must Be Crazy, in which the
central character, Xi, a khoisan from a small community, goes to the end of the
world in pursuit of getting rid of “the evil thing”, which is a Coca Cola
bottle (Uys, 1980). The movie employs the colonial discourse in how the Coke
bottle, which Xi and the Khoisan community are not familiar with, is used to
signify their level of separation from development and progress, as Coke, which
is a global brand, cannot be recognized. The movie continues to show a parallel
in how the Khoisan communities are always portrayed as a peaceful, inquisitive,
childlike “little people”, who continue their nomadic lifestyle while the white
man (Mr. Andrew Steyn) is always there to help Xi and guide him. The uses of
the colonial discourse are very much many in the movie, however the point of
emphasize is that the continued and sustained contemporary discourse on Africa
continues to portray the African traditional societies as simple, cultural
societies that are outside of globalization and its impact on culture and
identity. As mentioned before in the essay, this discourse not only undermines
the complexities of traditional African societies, it also perpetuates the far
more detrimental idea of a singular African identity and undermines the notion
of African subjectivities which Mbembe focuses on.
On violence and the post-colonial African body
Porter argues that in the text, Mbembe attempts to balance
the interplay between bodily needs in the text, and their significance for
autocratic domination in postcolonial Africa (Porter, 2003: 636). This is
seeing in how Mbembe critically discusses the relationship between the autocrat
and the subject, and the way violence is used as a political tool of
legitimization, on the consciousness of the subjects (Mbembe, 2003: 151). This
relationship between the body senses, subjects and the autocrat is discussed
well when Mbembe provides a context and exams political cartoons in Cameroon,
in how is one instance, he discusses how a powerful autocrat is asleep, dreams
of being overthrown, questioned and held accountable by the people, when is he
about to be burned, he wakes up in panic, sweating, vulnerable and paranoid
(Mbembe, 2003: 151). This shows well Mbembe’s notion of the inherent
relationship between the autocrat and the subject, and how even in power, the
autocrat are, like the governed subjects, always vulnerable and paranoid about
their safety, and mainly use violence, and its brutality as a means of legitimation
and consolidating their authorities. The autocrat’s vulnerability is again
discussed through what could be called bio-politics, in how Mbembe looks at his
sweating, his hot face, phallus, the legs and wrists which are becoming thin
and his overhang abdomen – which signifies excess (Mbembe, 2001: 151). Mbembe
makes a similar point in his public lecture at Stellenbosch University, in
which he discusses the global rise of biopolitics, in which the body becomes a
contested space for identities, understandings and could essentially be read as
a text (Graham, 2011). This focus on the body and its meaning in relation to
the relationship between the autocrat and the subjects, is significant in that
it allows us to explore in detail the use of violence as an instrumental of
vulnerability, and allows us to understand, how postcolonial regimes such as General
Sani Abacha in Nigeria, Mobutu in Zaire and Jean Bidel Bokassa in the Central
African Republic (CAR) used violence as a tool of smashing resistance and soliciting
conformity. With Mbembe’s approach of using biopolitics as a framework of
analysis with regard to violence and autocracy, one could perhaps begin to
understanding the notion of the use of rape as a political tool during warfare.
This is largely seen in the Great Lakes region, where rebel movements such as Joseph
Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), who have kidnapped roughly over 66 000
children and have used them as child soldiers and sex slaves (Green, 2008: 20).
The LRA could be interpreted as coming out of a marginalized society, who have
sought to use rape and child soldering as an instrumental tool of regaining
their dispossessed power through the use of dominance, violence and brutality
on the bodies of the most vulnerable members of society, especially children
and women.
On the absence of history
One could argue that history is central to the understanding
of contemporary discourses and events, especially in providing a historical
period in what has shaped it, influenced it and shaped it into its current
status quo. Mbembe, in his text, focuses on African subjectivities, and does
not provide a historical perspective to as the current challenges that are
facing postcolonial Africa. The historical analysis he provided only sought to
address the power of colonial discourse, and how it informed the undermined
colonial library. The absence of a historical perspective in Mbembe’s text,
robs us of the opportunity to understand the complexities of the relationship
between the colonizer and subject, and how that has manifested itself into the
relationship between the autocrat and the ruled. Furthermore, with regard to
violence, one could argue that violence and its effects cannot be contained and
contextualized within a certain period. Its effects and consequences transcend
time and could have far reaching effects on a long term period. Mbembe’s lack
of historical analysis deprives us of the long term understanding of the role
of how the colonial project’s use of violence changed on a long term period,
and whether the effects of violence and its understanding during the colonial
period had any effects on the postcolonial leaders and their use (and
understanding) of violence. Thus a historical understanding would have engaged
with these questions and ensured a much more holistic understanding.
“Africa”: its invention and its geographical location
One could argue that understanding of “Africa” and discourse
about Africa have largely reflected the Hegelian argument of how because “the
thing is, and it is merely because it is… and this simply immediacy constitutes
its truth” (Mbembe, 2001: 3). This means that due to the colonial project, and
for the colonial scholarship to underpin that enterprise, there was a need to”
study” “Africa” and “African behavior”, this approach culminated not only in
the sustained and continued “thingi-fication” of the Colonized African Self in
the colonial library, it also led to the essential invention of Africa, as
Mudimbe argued, in the colonial sense (Mudimbe, 2013: 8). This led to certain
misinformed, derogatory and racialized ideas about the African lived
experience, and thus gave legitimization to the colonial enterprise (“because
they are not one us us, they are not fully human”). With this as a background,
thus there is contestations within Postcolonial African Studies with Mudimbe
and others arguing whether its possible to explain and talk about Africa
without invoking the already corrupted and compromised colonial library? And
Mbembe, who continued the argument asked in African
Modes of Self Writing, whether we can continue talking about slavery,
colonialism and apartheid as the three key events that shape the identity of
Africa (forming essentially what Africa is)? (Mbembe, 2002: 239). Whether, like
Leonard Praeg has argued, is it possible to talk about Africa only as a
geographic area without alluding to anything else, or rather continue to
produce and reproduce continuously about Africa and its changing dynamics,
without essentializing and looking for its sine
qua non (central core)? One is therefore suspicious of the “Africa” that
Mbembe’s text is critically engaging with, it re-affirms the colonial discourse
about “Africa” as the violent, dark and brutal continent that is ahistorical
and illogical. It should be emphasized that one is aware that the atrocities,
corruption and violence that Mbembe is talking about as happening in
postcolonial Africa, with countries like Cameroon, the DRC, Sudan and others
experiencing the worst of the atrocities. However the point one is focusing on
is rooted in Chimamanda Adichie’s argument of the dangers of the single story,
on how the picture of Africa that Mbembe is examining may have contemporary and
historical relevance, however it is not the only one, and the insistent on only
portraying it as the only one appears to conform to the colonial discourse and
thus re-establishes the problematic understanding of Africa.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the essay did take a position and argued that
to a large extent, Mbembe’s On the
Postcolony could be said to be breaking with the colonial library. The
essay also tried showing the limitations of the text in how it could be seeing
to be at times confirming to the colonial archive, especially regarding its
understanding of postcolonial Africa and the re-affirming the colonial
stereotypes. Furthermore, the essay did critically engage with the idea of the
colonial library, using various scholars such as V.Y. Mudimbe and others, in
showing the manner in the colonial archive is not only compromised but actually
has consequences on the current representations of Africa. The essay, in
conclusion, did offer a critical comment, in problematizing the notion of
“Africa”, and what that actually means, in context to the colonial library and
Mbembe’s text.
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