Other radical geographies: Tropicality and decolonisation in 20th‐century French geography

Abstract

This paper analyses the anti-colonialist commitment of a circuit of French geographers who variously criticised French colonialism or directly contributed to decolonisation movements in Africa in the central decades of the twentieth century. Based on the analysis of works and unpublished archives of these scholars and activists, I argue that their work can be considered as a specific French contribution to early critical and radical geographies, exposing the complexity and diversity which constitutes the plurality of geographical traditions, to be understood through their stories of political dissidence. I extend current scholarship analysing histories and theories around the movement of 'radical geography' as well as geographers' works on decolonisation, postcolonialism, and anticolonialism, stressing the need for diversifying geographical research's standpoints beyond Western canons. I especially call for rediscovering other critical and radical geographical traditions from outside the Anglosphere, eventually French anti-colonialist geographies, whose exponents directly collaborated with colleagues from the South, especially the Maghreb and Western Africa. Studying these traditions is indispensable to decolonise geography and make it more international, cosmopolite, and activist. This paper also extends recent contributions demonstrating that, in imperial ages, geography showed more potentiality for inspiring political dissidence than what was commonly believed.

Decentring the Lettered City: Exile, Transnational Networks, and Josué de Castro’s Centre International pour le Développement (1964–1973)

“…The archive shows that Castro’s mentor in joining Vincennes was anti‐colonialist geographer Jean Dresch, confirming that a circuit of French radical geographers practising forms of mutual aid and sharing links with the South existed in France well before the rise of a “radical geography” labelled as such (Ferretti 2021a). 59 In October 1968, after acknowledging Dresch, Castro wrote to the Dean of the Sorbonne to confirm his interest in what he defined as a “new conception of higher education to make better known the big problems of our time” 60 .…”

Geopolíticas da descolonização

“…Entre seus conhecidos intelectuais, cabe destacar Suret-Canale, que esteve envolvido com o trabalho cultural nos primeiros anos da independência da Guiné-Conacri, colaborando com o controverso líder Sékou Touré, um dos mais fervorosos apoiadores do PAIGC (Cabral, 2016). Correspondente de Davidson, Du Bois, Boni e Ki-Zerbo, Suret-Canale escreveu vários volumes sobre a história da África Subsaariana nas décadas de 1950 e 1960, os quais estiveram entre as primeiras tentativas de ver a história do continente a partir da perspectiva dos colonizados (Ferretti, 2021). Amigo e correspondente de Pinto de Andrade, Suret-Canale reafirmou o seu objetivo de informar amplamente a "opinião [pública] francesa" 34 acerca da situação nas colônias portuguesas, comprometendo-se a organizar manifestações públicas de solidariedade com a sua causa na França e na Europa Ocidental.…”

History and philosophy of geography III: Global histories of geography, statues that must fall and a radical and multilingual turn

“…While a growing interest in alternative histories of geography is exposed by recent publications on spatial histories of rebel slaves’ communities in the Americas (Zavala Guillen, 2021), and we can also salute the first attempts to historicise the field of critical geopolitics 25 years after the launch of that label (Koopman et al, 2021), the current rediscovery of critical and radical geographical traditions is strictly associated with current critiques of geography’s colonial pasts as discussed above. This year, it has been especially the case with French geography: Gallic anticolonial geographers who were directly associated with struggles for national liberation in Africa such as Jean Dresch, André Prenant and Jean Suret-Canale have been rediscovered by arguing that their works can be considered as a peculiarly French version of ‘Radical Geography’ between the 1950s and the 1970s (Ferretti, 2021d, 2021e). As for French-speaking scholarship, Dylan Simon’s book on geographer Max Sorre confirms the centrality of these figures in France.…”