Provisional notes on the postcolony

Bibliographic Data

ID7548854
AuthorsAchille Mbembe (0000-0003-0006-3194, corresponding author)
Year2022
Pages134-174
Publication date2022-12-23
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeREVIEW
Review ofOn the Postcolony, Achille Mbembe, 2019
VenueDiscourse on Colonialism (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.4324/9781003101406-8
OpenAlexW4312100550
ISBN9781003101406
LanguageEN
Citations received383
References cited56

The exercise of power in African states since independence—generalised here under the term the ‘postcolony’—has been marked by a liking for ceremonial and by an exhibitionism that is the more remarkable seeing how illusory are the states’ practical achievements. Furthermore, power is exercised with a degree of violence and naked exploitation that has its antecedents in previous colonial regimes. People's response is a ribaldry that revels in the obscene. The general question is why this power, despite its obvious limitations, is seemingly so effective. More specifically, why does the population apparently collude with its government; how can it laugh at the antics of its rulers and yet at the same time join in celebrating them? The argument put forward here along with evidence mainly from Cameroon and Togo is that, if analysis focuses on the detailed processes and rituals of collusion, it becomes clear that there is an intimacy, an almost domestic familiarity, in the relationship between ruler and ruled which effectively disarms both and turns power-play into performance

Argument (complex analysis · Art · Collusion · CONTEST · Economics · Independence (probability theory · Political economy · Political science · Population · Power (physics · Ruler · Sociology · African history and culture studies · African Studies and Ethnography · Demography · Law

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