History and Literature/Domination and Resistance: Re-Reading the British-Sudan

Abstract

This article is hinged on the assumption that the history, and indeed the historiography, of the violent domination of Africa in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century has been written from and therefore could be situated, tentatively, in-between two discordant perspectives: that of the perpetrator and the victim. Whereas it is true that these histories, particularly those of North African States (Egypt and Sudan) have largely been preserved in, and are ac- cessible both in English and Arabic, recent findings have shown that there still exist a third and an un-explored perspective – the experiential-literary-histori- cal. In trying to explore the latter – that in which the Sudanese writer, Muhammad Miftâh al-Faytûrî attempts not only to ‘tell’ but also ‘show’ how and why the themes of domination and resistance in African history should be reread – this study relies on a combination of Western, Eastern and Afro-Ara- bic historical-theoretical styles, including those of al-Jabartî, Ibn Khaldûn, Ali Mazrui, Friedrich Nietzsche and Nawal Saadawi. The article subsequently finds the following questions highly imperative: Exactly how many histories of the domination of and resistance to oppression in Africa are in existence? In other words, what is the difference between Afranj, Africanist and African histories of domination and resistance? What exactly is the philosophy upon which the ‘perpetrator’ premises his ‘history’ of Africa and how is his perspective sub- verted by that of the ‘victim’? How might the attempt to re-read the history of domination and resistance in Africa benefit from the methods and insights of literary writers and critics? How has the literature of the colonial era func- tioned in writing/telling the hi/story behind the hi/story, and in filling the gaps in Africa’s memory and dignity?

History and Literature/Domination and Resistance: Re-Reading the British-Sudan

Ce texte se base sur l’hypothèse selon laquelle l’histoire et, bien entendu, l’historiographie de la domination violente de l’Afrique à la fin des 19ième et XXe siècles ont été écrites et situées entre deux perspectives discordantes : celle du coupable et celle de la victime. Même s’il est vrai que ces histoires, plus particulièrement celle des Etats de l’Afrique du nord (Egypte, Soudan), ont été préservées en grande partie en Anglais et en Arabe, de nouvelles découvertes ont montré qu’il existe bel et bien une 3e perspective encore non explorée : celle dite expérimentale-littéraire-historique. En tentant d’explorer cette perspective, l’article explore trois poèmes de Muhammad Miftâh al-Faytûrî (Aghânî Ifrîqiyah 1967) qui tire son style théorique des travaux d’al-Jabarti, Ibn Khaldun, Ali Mazrui, Friedrich Nietzsche, et Nawal Saadawi parmi d’autres.

L’article pose des questions essentielles, à savoir : combien d’histoires de la domination sur l’Afrique et sa résistancecontre l’oppression existe-t-il exactement ? Qu’est ce que la différence entre les histoires de domination et de résistance Afranjes, Africanistes and Africaines ? Comment la tentative de relire l’histoire de domination et de la résistance en Afrique peut-elle bénéficier des méthodes et enseignements des narrateurs et critiques littéraires ? Comment la littérature de la période coloniale a fonctionné dans l’écriture/narration de l’histoire derrière l’histoire et dans la restauration de la mémoire et la dignité africaines ?