1. Whatever their faults, the current boundaries are considered untouchable by most African leaders and policymakers. Although Africa’s development needs, as well as its cultures, often cut across borders, realigning them could start a slide down a slippery slope that could create a multitude of states, few of them viable. Nevertheless, some Africans today, noting that farmers and herders move freely across borders in search of water and grazing grounds much as their ancestors did in precolonial times, now advocate modifying the artificial borders to facilitate freedom of movement and regional cooperation between neighboring states. As the twentieth century draws to a close, African borders may be entering a period of transition toward greater fluidity, much as they were in precolonial times, when they were periodically redrawn.
2. The British policy of indirect rule was adopted to maintain public security as cheaply and effectively as possible. Accordingly, the British interfered in local affairs only when necessary and supported traditional tribal leaders whose authority was left largely intact although subject to British review. Indirect British rule also led to the creation of an African civil service that was better trained and numerically stronger than in the French colonies and provided a better basis for self- government. The records of the Belgians and the Portuguese in this regard were the worst. As Newt Gingrich wrote (in his doctoral dissertation), “Belgium ran the Congo as a profitable business. It wanted the largest possible profit from the minimum investment of capital and manpower.”
3. In training for the civil service, the colonial powers, under a policy of “divide and conquer”, often favored one ethnic group, usually a minority – in Nigeria, Igbo over Hausa, Fulani, and Yoruba; in the Gambia, Aku over Mandinka; and in Rwanda and Burundi, Tutsi over Hutu. Such favouritism gave these groups an advantage and laid the basis for ethnic conflict in later years.
4. The French, on the other hand, ousted most of the existing chiefs and appointed French-educated Africans in their place, passing political power to a small elite group that they had created in their own image – educated in French schools, speaking good French, and with tastes typically French. The existence of this elite helps to explain France’s special relationship with its former African colonies and accounts for the French ambiance in many cities of francophone Africa.
5. French government in the colonies, moreover, was highly centralized, as in metropolitan France, and its cultural policy was assimilationist, seeking, as many have described it, to make Africans culturally into black French people. In so doing, they prepared the foundation for nationhood in each of their colonies and at the same time fostered a common identity among the cultural elites of francophone Africa.
6. “While Britain trained bureaucrats”, writes American correspondent David Lamb, “France trained leaders.” Moreover, maintains Lamb, “…the legacy of French colonialism is much stronger in Africa today than that of Britain. France, in fact, retains extraordinary influence today in its former colonies, and in many cases remains the paramount economic and cultural force dominating their affairs.”
INTO AFRICA – Intercultural insights, Yale Richmond and Phyllis Gestrin
I. COMPREHENSION
- Write the number of the paragraph corresponding to the following titles. (3 pts)
- How today’s ethnic conflicts came into existence.
- The influence of former colonial powers in post independence Africa.
- Borders are more of a reality on European maps than in the minds of most Africans.
- The different ways African colonies were run by Europeans.
- The consequences of French cultural policy in the colonies.
- Local politics in the eyes of the French.
- Information transfer: Read the text and complete the chart with information given below. (2.25 pts)
Ø Little interference with local politics.
Ø Traditional chiefs are given consideration.
Ø Traditional leaders were replaced.
Ø Government was centralized.
Ø More bureaucrats
Ø Creation of an elite.
Ø Closer ties with former colonies
Ø Better educated civil servants
Ø Encouraged self-government.
- Vocabulary in context: find the synonyms of these words in the indicated paragraphs (0.75 pt)
Ø Frontier (paragraph 1)
Ø Intervened (paragraph 2)
Ø Heritage (paragraph 6)
- What do the underlined words refer to? (1 pt)
Ø Them (paragraph 1 = realigning them)
Ø It (paragraph 2 = it wanted)
- Choose the right answer (1 pt)
“realigning them could start a slide down a slippery slope”
Ø realigning them could be risky
Ø realigning them could make life easier
Ø realigning them could make movements quicker
- Are the statements “true” or “false”? Justify your answers (1 pt).
Ø Most African leaders think current boundaries are perfect.
Ø The elite are the people who help retain France’s influence in Africa.
| COLONIAL POLICIES | |
| THE FRENCH | THE BRITISH |
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