No. 1 (2021): Media and Decolonisation in Francophone Africa (1940s-1970s)

Special issue edited by Gabrielle Chomentowski (CHS/CNRS) and Thomas Leyris (IHRiS/Lille).

Editorial coordination within RHCA by Romain Tiquet.

This thematic issue of the Revue d'Histoire Contemporaine de l'Afrique is devoted to  media (press, cinema, radio, television) in French-speaking African countries during late colonialism and up to the first decades after independence. Using different national cases (Belgian Congo, Senegal, Togo, Upper Volta, Côte d'Ivoire, among others), and based on interviews and unpublished archives, the authors look back at the formation, career and role of different actors from these media (journalists, development workers, missionaries, film distributors, etc.). They analyse the content (written and audiovisual) and its reception; and they question the breaks and continuities that spanned the political divide of independence in the development of these media. In each of these seven articles, media study—considered here as an object and not just as a source for historians—reveals the need to vary scales, from the local to the global, and through the imperial, in order to contribute to the cultural history of these African countries.

This first issue of RHCA also includes a Miscellaneous article, Critical Reviews, a "Sources, Fields & Context" article and an interview.

To read the journal's editorial policy laid out by the editorial board, click here.