Who was Wangrin and Why Does it Matter? Colonial History "from the Middle" and its Self-Representation

Who was Wangrin and Why Does it Matter? Colonial History "from the Middle" and its Self-Representation Ralph A. Austen Thed'unisfirsttheinterprètequestionheroofaposedafricainbook,inLmypublished'étrangetitlehasdestininasimple1973deWangrinbyliteralAmadouanswer:ou,LesHampâtéWangrinroueriesBâ istheheroofabook,L'étrangedestindeWangrinou,Lesroueries d'uninterprèteafricain,publishedin1973byAmadouHampâtéBâ (1973,1999).Butiftheclearlyfictionalname"Wangrin"alreadyraisesidentity problems,sodoesHampâtéBâ'sentirebook:isitapartiallyautobiographical novel,asmostreadersandmanycriticsinitiallyassumed(Amselle1991);orrather theas-told-tobiographyofarealandseparateindividual,astheauthor(1999:257) alongwithhisspouse/literaryexecutorHélèneHeckmann(1994)bothvehemently insisted?Thissecondaryquestioncanalsobeansweredinastraightforward,ifno longersimple,manner.Wangrin-ihz-bookisbaseduponthelifeofanactual person,althoughonewhooperatedundertwodifferentnames(neitherofthem 'Wangrin').Moreoverthisman'sdocumentedcareerasanAfricanjunior administratorinHaut-Sénégal-Niger(nowMali)andHauteVolta(nowBurkina Faso)doesnotfullycoincidewiththenarrativeprovidedbyHampâtéBâ,whomay havederivedatleastsomeoftheepisodesinthebookfromhisowncareer experiences. SinceL'étrangedestindeWangrinhasachieveddeservedclassicalstatus withinthecanonofmodernAfricanliteraturethereisobviouslyinterestin knowingasmuchaspossibleabouttheinspirationforitscentralfigure,although literaryscholarsmightjustifiablyfindsuchaquestionofonlylimitedsignificance. Likewise,thevariouslystatedclaimsbyHampâtéBâabouttheveracityoforal traditionand/orAfricanmemorychallengehistorianstocheckhisinformation againstothersources;but,again,abookwritteninatleasttheformofanovel cannotbethemostappropriateofHampâtéBâ'smanyworkstochooseforsucha test. As an historian, I am therefore obliged to make a better case for grubbing up the facts and fictions of Wangrin than merely wanting to know 'what actually happened.' My argument rests upon three aspects of Hampâté Bâ's book: first, its substance, which deals with a man who not only played some significant role in West African colonial history as an individual but also represents an entire class of intermediaries between the French regime and its local subjects. Second, this narrative does raise interesting methodological problems concerning the relationship (both in Hampâté Bâ's writing and later research) between written documents, oral history, and literary tropes. Finally, the story of Wangrin has become something of a memory project with a life of its own whether as published docu-fiction, scholarly reference, local (mainly in Bobo-Dioulasso) monuments, or Mande Studies 9 (2007) pp. 1 49- 1 64 1 5 0 Ralph A. Austen the 'Route de Wangrin' recently evoked by The person upon whom Hampâté Bâ b Samako Gnembélé (or its orthographic (because of the ambiguity of these nam 'Wangrin'). Apart from his literary incarnat right to fame) for at least two accomplishm First, while officially employed as a gov (Mali) Wangrin helped assemble one of th literature ('folk-tales') from this region, 1972) as the work of Victor Equilbecq, th project (Equilbecq 1972). In his introdu 'Niembélé' (the name under which Wan records) for his intelligence and gives him the published stories.2 "I could say that Equilbecq writes "if I had not changed a few the liveliness and expression that he could have liked, despite his quite advanced kno What Wangrin himself sought out of th available sources although it is unlikely h association with Equilbecq, a man gener colonial administrator.3 However, we do k began working with Equilbecq, Wangrin w where he suffered a "suspension of pa drunkenness."4 Thus the folklore project m ruin, although unlike Equilbecq (who became to further successes with no recurrences o record.5 Wangrin 's other minor but not insignificant historical achievement occurred after his retirement from government service in 1 924 in Bobo-Dioulasso (Burkina Faso). There (under the name Samba Traoré) he became a major urban landlord and the direct owner of the town's first hotel, as well as of a garage operated by a European employee, and lived with his family in the first multi-story house of the town's indigenous quarters. Wangrin's commercial ventures did not survive personal setbacks and the economic crash of 1929 (followed by his own death in 1932) but they still demonstrated that an African could compete with expatriate entrepreneurs in the modern sectors of the local economy. The life of Wangrin as well as Hampâté Bâ's own memoirs further provide us with valuable insight into a category of West African colonial figures generally overlooked in historical and literary writings: the western educated intermediaries who managed much of the day-to-day business of colonial administration and also played an important role in the local politics of the regions where they served, as well as the "office politics" of the territorial regime. I have written about the professional aspects of such a career elsewhere and so will not elaborate on those Who was Wangrin and Why Does It Matter? i 5 1 issues here.6 But Wangrin's generational position, education and his two nam also suggest something about the social positon and origin

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