I am Professor of Romance Studies and History and the Director of the Forum for Scholars & Publics at Duke University. I founded the Soccer Politics blog in 2009 as part of a course on "World Cup and World Politics" taught at Duke University. I'm currently teaching the course under the title "Soccer Politics" here at Duke. My books include Soccer Empire: The World Cup and the Future of France (University of California Press, 2010) and The Language of the Game: How to Understand Soccer (Basic Books, 2018)
This week we’ll be reading the classic novel Les Bouts de bois de dieu (Gods Bits of Wood), by Sembene Ousmane. It tells the story of a strike in West Africa that played a crucial role in the broader history of decolonization. (On Tuesday, Achille Mbembe will be lecturing on the broader history of decolonization in French West Africa). The article by Frederick Cooper, which we’ll also be reading this week, provides an excellent historical analysis of this strike. As you read the novel, compare it to the account provided by Cooper. Are there discrepancies between the two accounts? Differences in emphasis? How do the two different forms — a historical article for an academic journal, and a novel — shape what is told, and how it is told? How does each deal with the role of women in the strike?
One of his most remarkable films, Camp de Thiaroye, tells the story of West African soldiers who were killed near the end of World War II after organizing a revolt to demand equal pay with soldiers from metropolitan France. The entire film is on Youtube, and is well worth watching in full, or at least in part. In it, Sembene manages to dramatize a whole series of historical experiences involving World War II and the colonies, including a fascinating encounter between an African-American soldier from Detroit and the West African soldiers.
As you read Fatou Diome this week, pay attention the ways in which the novel explores the issue of the role of the French language in Senegal, and the way dreams and experiences of migration shape life in the community she depicts. You should also pay attention to the ways in which soccer, vehicled through the global media, shapes identities and hopes within the connected words of France and Senegal. And think about the broader ways in which deeper historical experiences (notably those of the slave trade) are evoked in the novel. (You might want to return to MC Solaar’s song from the beginning of the semester in thinking about this).
Here are some materials that can help you gain a better sense of Fatou Diome as a writer, and of the novel. First, an interview with her during a presentation of the book at a Paris bookstore.
Philippe Bernard, who will be helping to lead our discussion this coming Tuesday, has reported extensively on Africa for Le Monde. Before that, he covered issues surrounding immigration and race in France. In both roles, he produced important and eloquent journalism. Here are two articles by him that I would like those of you who read French to read before next Tuesday so you have a sense of his work. The first is an examination of the lives of the poor in Dakar, the second a fascinating biographical sketch of a Senegalese man who fought for France during the second World War as a “tiralleur Senegalais.” In class, you’ll be able to ask him questions about his work as a journalist and his perspective on the contemporary situation in Africa.
For those of you in the English section, try and find a recent news item related to Senegal before Tuesday that you can bring up in class, and post a link or discussion here in the comments section.
Lyonel Trouillot is one of Haiti’s best known contemporary writers. He comes from a remarkable family: his brother, Michel Rolph Trouillot, is a brilliant and well-known anthropologist, while his sister Evelyn is also a well-known novelist in Haiti. He stands out in his generation of writers because he has never gone into exile, unlike many others, writing consistently from within Haiti and about events in the country. (Another writer who has a similar trajectory is Franketienne, who has written novels in Haitian Creole as well as French). Trouillot also has a regular radio program, and has written poetry and lyrics for popular songs. He also write for several newspapers in Haiti. A list of all his his works is available here.
The two novels by Lyonel Trouillot we will be reading (Children of Heroes for the English section, and Bicentenaire for the French section) are both short, dramatic portraits of life and Haiti. But both are also very complex in their construction, seeking to represent both a particular historical moment and the broader weight of the past in a short text. Bicentenaire dwells more directly on the question of how a novel should and can represent a certain event, and indeed opens with an interesting meditation on the relationship between a particular historical event — the student demonstrations against Aristide in 2004 — and his novel. In Children of Heroes, the past of the Haitian Revolution is present in the statues of heroes in downtown Port-au-Prince, but the novel centers on an act of violence resistance in the present by two children. (You can read a review of the English translation of Children of Heroes here).
We’ll be discussing Trouillot’s approach during lecture on Tuesday. In preparation for that, here are a few videos that can give you a sense of his work. All are in French, since he has rarely given interview in English. As you watch the first two videos, you can also think about (and perhaps critique) the ways in which the the French press presents the novels as well; and you can think about and try to characterize Trouillot’s political position on foreign aid — a topic taken up in other posts on the blog — when you watch the third video.
In preparation for our discussion on Thursday, please share some of your reactions to the novels and/or these videos in the comments section. If you find other materials of interest about Trouillot, please share them as well. Please post your comments by 5 p.m. on Wednesday.
And below is the trailer for a recent PBS documentary on the event I participated in.
What might explain the increasing focus on Haiti? Where else can you find discussions of the Haitian Revolution online, or in movies, works of literature, or music? How might a better understanding of the Haitian Revolution influence attitudes towards Haiti, as well as to the history of the U.S., Africa, and France?
Tomorrow, on the first day of class, we’ll be discussing the song “Les Colonies” by MC Solaar. You can download the song on i-tunes, and can also hear it in the video below, accompanied by images of the slave trading fort in Gorée island, near Dakar, Senegal. The song early on evokes the “paysage de Gorée,” and evokes its history: the island was a major departure point for French slavers departing for the trans-Atlantic slave trade, and the fort is famous for a doorway leading out to the water, known as the “door of no retun.” Click here for a virtual visit of the island prepared by UNESCO, which has declared it a World Heritage Site.
MC Solaar makes a connection in the song between the past of slavery and contemporary forms of exploitation and migration linking Europe and Africa.
Below are the lyrics in French, and a translation of the first verse. Please share your thoughts and comments about the song in the comments section below.
MC Solaar, “Les Colonies” (2001)
On a connu les colonies, l’anthropophage économie
La félonie la traite d’esclaves, la dette, le F.M.I.
Bruno, Jean-Marie, si j’cours j’ai mes raisons
Les mêmes que les deux nègres maigres sous un avion
Avant c’était déjà grave de voir des fers qui entravent
Paysage de Gorée, Maisons des esclaves
Cave sans amour, sans retour ni recours
Sans cours de cassation, sans oreille pour entendre “au secours”
Où sont passés les baobabs et les hordes de gosses
Dans cette ère de négoce où ne vivent que le big boss
Rentablité – instabilité – imbécilité
N’ont fait qu’augmenter les taux de mortalité
Ce sont des larmes qui coulent dans nos artères
Psychose séculaire j’ai peur quand j’entends charter
Parfois je rêve de mettre un gun dans un paquet d’chips
De braquer la Banque Mondiale. Pour tout donner au townships.
C’est trop complexe. Où sont les droits de l’Homme?
L’Homme laisse l’Homeless homeless zigzague et slalome
Donc shalom à tous les gens qui ont connu la haine
Aux enfants de Bohême, Solaar Mamadou Cohen
En soliloque je développe des antidotes non-stop
F**k la parlotte et démenotte les brainlocks.
Je suis socio-poétique sur mike ou sur cahier
Sans brailler. On n’est pas frileux. Pas peur de cailler.
On a connu les colonies
Par le passé, y a beaucoup d’actes qui nous ont mis les nerfs
Frères et sœurs c’est l’heure du pacte pour ce millénaire
L’enfer gère la Terre Mère, Lucifer et Faust
Entrent dans leurs têtes dans le but de refaire l’Holocauste
J’ai vu des mecs parler de haine à la tribune
D’une façon scientifique. Élimination par l’urne !
Donc j’donne la paix à ceux qui me suivent dans l’OPA.
Face à la barbarie, cela sans mea culpa
Si on est là c’est pour toujours pousser l’amour
Pour que nos parcours, chaque jour, coupent la route aux vautours
Et va pas croire cette fois qu’ce sont des bavures
Je t’assure. S’ils ont la haine, on a la bravoure.
Une petite fille vient de naître, elle s’appelle Mélissa
Et si j’opte pour le vote, c’est pour pas qu’elle vive ça.
La vie est belle petite, malgré ces quelques pitres
Fin d’chapitre pour tous les gosses dès l’âge du pupitre.
On a connu les colonies …
Translation of First Verse:
We’ve known colonies, cannibal economies
Felony, the slave trade, debt, the I.M.F.
Bruno, Jean-Marie, if I run I’ve got my reasons
The same as those two skinny kids under the airplane
Before it was already sad to see the chains that locked up
The landscape of Gorée, the Maison des Esclaves
Caves without love, without return or recourse
Without a court of justice, with no ears to hear “help”
Where have the baobabs and crowds of kids gone
In this era of business only the big boss lives
Profit – instability – stupidity
Have only increased mortality
There are tears running through our arteries
A secular psychosis, I’m scared when I hear “charter”
Sometimes I dream of putting a gun in a bag of chips
Holding up the World Bank to give everything to the townships
Looking ahead to the Fall semester, I wanted to share with you some writings I did this Spring and Summer about recent events relating to the issues we’ll be discussing this semester.
As you will learn, I’m a bit obsessed with soccer and politics, which we’ll be exploring throughout the semester. It has been quite an interesting Spring and Summer for French soccer:
In addition, I provided coverage of the scandal involving racism at the French Football Federation. This case, little-covered in the U.S. media, exploded in France when a tape was released proving that high-ranking members of the Federation (including national team coach Laurent Blanc) had discussed ways of limiting the number of players of African and Arab background in the youth academies within the country. I wrote an editorial in French about the issue for Mediapart, the French news site that broke the story. The English-language pieces I wrote about the issue (in order of their appearance) are:
