Hidden Debates Over the Status of the Casamance During the Decolonization Process in Senegal

Regionalism, Territorialism, and Federalism at a Crossroads, 1946–62

Bibliographic Data

ID8979933
AuthorsSéverine Awenengo Dalberto (0000-0003-2461-1992, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume61
Issue1
Pages67-88
Publication date2020-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Journal of African History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0021-8537 • E-ISSN: 1469-5138
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0021853720000043
OpenAlexW3015085284
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited23

The article studies the contexts in which the idea of a separation of the Casamance from the rest of Senegal arose during the process of decolonization. The idea was an outgrowth of colonial representations forged since the end of the nineteenth century. It was first formulated by the French authorities in secret discussions with the representatives of the Casamance in the context of the 1958 referendum. It was taken over by local political leaders who saw it as a possible answer to the debates over representation that arose in the post-war process of democratization, and later by proponents of political mobilization at the sub-regional level after independence. By examining this little-known moment of possibility, the article shows that the claims of the current armed independence movement are in fact part of a longer, more ambivalent history in which a separatist imaginary of the Casamance took shape

Ambivalence · Archaeology · Colonialism · Context (archaeology · Decolonization · Democracy · Democratization · Federalism · Geography · Independence (probability theory · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Referendum · Regionalism (politics · Sociology · The Imaginary · African history and culture studies · African Studies and Ethnography · African Studies and Geopolitics · Law · Psychology · Social Psychology

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