No CrossRef data available.
Article contents
The Internet and the Democratisation of Knowledge Production: An Africanist Historian's Perspective
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 April 2022
Extract
The end of the Cold War is said to have brought an end to the sanctity of national sovereignty in sub-Saharan Africa, by opening up authoritarian regimes to international pressures for economic and political reform (Konings, 2011). Donor conditionalities of good governance coincided with protests from local populations, who increasingly formed part of a global civil society constituted by transnational activist networks (Keck and Sikkink, 1998; Comaroff and Comaroff, 1999). Within these intertwined processes of globalisation and democratisation, Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) were seen to play a crucial role (Wasserman, 2011). In particular, the internet formed the basis for a new “digital public sphere”, which could circumvent the political and territorial restrictions of authoritarian African states (Mudhai, Tettey, & Banda, 2009). Whilst the initial optimism of this “netaphoria” was significantly tempered by the turn of the millennium, it has recently been resurrected with the “social media revolutions” in the Arab world (Khondker, 2011).
- Type
- Articles
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © International African Institute 2014
References
References
Briand, M. (1961) Rapport sur les Opérations Militaires en Cameroun, Année 1960. Located in Service Historique de l'Armée de Terre, Vincennes, France (6H 241).Google Scholar
Bardet, N. and Thellier, N. (1988) O.K. Cargo! La Saga Africaine d'un Pilote d'Hélicoptère, Paris: Bernard Grasset.Google Scholar
Bayart, J.-F. (1993) The State in Africa: The Politics of the Belly, London and New York: Longman.Google Scholar
Bolick, C. M. (2006) ‘Digital Archives: Democratizing the Doing of History’, International Journal of Social Education, 21 (1), pp.122–134.Google Scholar
Carroli, L. (1997) ‘Virtual Encounters: Community or Collaboration on the Internet?’, Leonardo, 5, pp.359–363.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chafer, T. (2002) The End of Empire in French West Africa: France's Successful Decolonization?, Oxford: Berg.Google Scholar
Chakrabarty, D. (1998) ‘Minority Histories, Subaltern Pasts’, Economic and Political Weekly, 33 (9), pp.473–479.Google Scholar
Chénau-Loquay, A. (2007) ‘From Networks to Uses Patterns: The Digital Divide as Seen from Africa’ Geojournal, 68 (1), pp.55–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cohen, D. J. (2004) ‘History and the Second Decade of the Web’ Rethinking History, 8 (2), pp. 293–301.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Collectif “Changer le Cameroun” (1992) Le Cameroun Éclaté? Anthologie Commentée des Revendications Ethniques, Yaoundé: Éditions C3.Google Scholar
Comaroff, J. and Comaroff, J. L. (1999) Civil Society and the Political Imagination in Africa: Critical Perspectives, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Cooper, F. (2002) Africa Since 1940: The Past of the Present, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coser, L., Kadushin, C., and Powell, W. (1982) Books: The Culture and Commerce of Publishing, New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Deltombe, T., Domergue, M., and Tatsitsa, J. (2011) Kamerun! Une Guerre Cachée aux Origines de la Françafrique, 1948-1971, Paris: La Découverte.Google Scholar
Greenawalt, A. (1999), ‘Rethinking Genocidal Intent: The Case for a Knowledge-Based Interpretation’, Columbia Law Review, 99, pp.2259–2294.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guha, R. (1988) ‘On Some Aspects of the Historiography of Colonial India’ in Guha, Ranajit and Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty (eds.), Selected Subaltern Studies, pp.37–44, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Himmelfarb, G. (1996) ‘A Neo-Luddite Reflects on the Internet’, The Chronicle of Higher Education, November 1, p. A56.Google Scholar
Huyssen, A. (2000) ‘Present Pasts: Media, Politics, Amnesia’, Public Culture, 12 (1), pp.21–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Joseph, R. (1997) ‘Democratization in Africa after 1989: Comparative and Theoretical Perspectives’, Comparative Politics, 29 (3), pp.363–382.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jua, N. B. and Nyamnjoh, F. B. (2002) ‘Scholarship Production in Cameroon: Interrogating a Recession’, African Studies Review, 45 (2), pp.49–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keck, M. E. and Sikkink, K. (1998) Activists Beyond Borders: Advocacy Networks in International Politics, Ithaca N.Y.: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Khondker, H. H. (2011), ‘Role of the New Media in the Arab Spring’, Globalizations, 8 (5), pp.675–679CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Konings, P. J. J. (2011) The Politics of Neoliberal Reforms in Africa: State and Civil Society in Cameroon, Leiden: African Studies Centre & Bamenda: Langaa.Google Scholar
Lamberton, J.-M. (1960) ‘Les Bamilékés dans le Cameroun d'aujourd'hui’, in Revue de Défense Nationale, Paris.Google Scholar
Lonsdale, J. (2002) ‘Globalization, Ethnicity, and Democracy: A View from “the Hopeless Continent”’ in Hopkins, A.G. (ed.), Globalization in World History, pp.194–220, London: Pimlico.Google Scholar
Mbembe, A. (1986) ‘Pouvoir des Morts et Langage des Vivants: Les Errances de la Mémoire Nationalise au Cameroun’, Politique Africaine, 22, pp.37–76.Google Scholar
McLagan, M. (2006) ‘Making Human Rights Claims Public’, American Anthropologist, 108 (1), pp.191–195.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McNeely, I. F., and Wolverton, L. (2008) Reinventing Knowledge: From Alexandria to the Internet, New York: W. W. Norton.Google Scholar
Melleuish, G., Sheiko, K., and Brown, S. (2009) ‘Pseudo History/Weird History: Nationalism and the Internet’, History Compass, 7 (6), pp.1484–1495.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, D., and Slater, D. (2001) The Internet: An Ethnographic Approach, Oxford: Berg.Google Scholar
Mudhai, O.F., Tettey, W.J., and Banda, O.F. (2009) ‘Introduction: New Media and Democracy in Africa - A Critical Interjection’, in African Media and the Digital Public Sphere, pp.1–20, New York: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Myerson, G. (1998) ‘The Electronic Archive’, History of the Human Sciences, 4, pp.85–101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Risenzweig, R. (2006), ‘Can History Be Open Source? Wikipedia and the Future of the Past’, The Journal of American History, 93 (1), pp.117–146.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roberts, R. (2000) ‘History and Memory: The Power of Statist Narratives’, International journal of African Historical Studies, 33 (3) pp. 513–522.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shoup, J. A. (2011), The Encyclopedia of Ethnic Groups of Africa and the Middle East, Santa-Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO.Google Scholar
Slumkoski, C., Conrad, M. and Charlong, L. (2008). ‘History on the Internet: The Atlantic Canada Portal’, Acadiensis, 37 (2), pp.100–109.Google Scholar
Thomas, G. (1998) ‘Retrieving Hidden Traces of the Intercultural Past: An Introduction to Archival Resources in Cameroon’, History in Africa, 25, pp.427–440.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thompson, J. B. (2005) Books in the Digital Age: The Transformation of Academic and Higher Education Publishing in Britain and the United States, Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Tonme, J.-C. S. (2009) La France a-t-elle Commis un Génocide au Cameroun? Les Bamiléké Accusent, Paris: L'Harmattan.Google Scholar
Verschave, F.-X. (1998) La Françafrique: Le Plus Long Scandale de la République, Paris: Stock.Google Scholar
Wasserman, H. (2011) ‘Mobile Phones, Popular Media, and Everyday African Democracy: Transmissions and Transgressions, Popular Communication, 9 (2), pp.146–158.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Willinsky, J. (2005) The Access Principle: The Case for Open Access to Research and Scholarship, Cambridge Mass.: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Gumne, K. N. (2008) Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity in French Cameroun. Available at: https://www.scribd.com/doc/2265461/Cameroun-Genocide-Complaint-With-English-Press-Release (Accessed 5 November 2014)Google Scholar
Nitcheu, B. (2000) Campagne Militaire Française en Pays Bamiléké: Chronique d'un Génocide Annoncé. Available at: http://survie67.free.fr/Afrique/Cameroun/massacres-Bamileke.pdf (Accessed 5 November 2014)Google Scholar
An earlier version of this article was presented as ‘A counter-hegemonic archive? The Revelation of hidden histories on the internet: a case study from Cameroon’ at SCOLMA's 50th Anniversary Conference, Oxford, June 25-26, 2012.Google Scholar
Briand, M. (1961) Rapport sur les Opérations Militaires en Cameroun, Année 1960. Located in Service Historique de l'Armée de Terre, Vincennes, France (6H 241).Google Scholar
Bardet, N. and Thellier, N. (1988) O.K. Cargo! La Saga Africaine d'un Pilote d'Hélicoptère, Paris: Bernard Grasset.Google Scholar
Bayart, J.-F. (1993) The State in Africa: The Politics of the Belly, London and New York: Longman.Google Scholar
Bolick, C. M. (2006) ‘Digital Archives: Democratizing the Doing of History’, International Journal of Social Education, 21 (1), pp.122–134.Google Scholar
Carroli, L. (1997) ‘Virtual Encounters: Community or Collaboration on the Internet?’, Leonardo, 5, pp.359–363.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chafer, T. (2002) The End of Empire in French West Africa: France's Successful Decolonization?, Oxford: Berg.Google Scholar
Chakrabarty, D. (1998) ‘Minority Histories, Subaltern Pasts’, Economic and Political Weekly, 33 (9), pp.473–479.Google Scholar
Chénau-Loquay, A. (2007) ‘From Networks to Uses Patterns: The Digital Divide as Seen from Africa’ Geojournal, 68 (1), pp.55–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cohen, D. J. (2004) ‘History and the Second Decade of the Web’ Rethinking History, 8 (2), pp. 293–301.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Collectif “Changer le Cameroun” (1992) Le Cameroun Éclaté? Anthologie Commentée des Revendications Ethniques, Yaoundé: Éditions C3.Google Scholar
Comaroff, J. and Comaroff, J. L. (1999) Civil Society and the Political Imagination in Africa: Critical Perspectives, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Cooper, F. (2002) Africa Since 1940: The Past of the Present, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coser, L., Kadushin, C., and Powell, W. (1982) Books: The Culture and Commerce of Publishing, New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Deltombe, T., Domergue, M., and Tatsitsa, J. (2011) Kamerun! Une Guerre Cachée aux Origines de la Françafrique, 1948-1971, Paris: La Découverte.Google Scholar
Greenawalt, A. (1999), ‘Rethinking Genocidal Intent: The Case for a Knowledge-Based Interpretation’, Columbia Law Review, 99, pp.2259–2294.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guha, R. (1988) ‘On Some Aspects of the Historiography of Colonial India’ in Guha, Ranajit and Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty (eds.), Selected Subaltern Studies, pp.37–44, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Himmelfarb, G. (1996) ‘A Neo-Luddite Reflects on the Internet’, The Chronicle of Higher Education, November 1, p. A56.Google Scholar
Huyssen, A. (2000) ‘Present Pasts: Media, Politics, Amnesia’, Public Culture, 12 (1), pp.21–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Joseph, R. (1997) ‘Democratization in Africa after 1989: Comparative and Theoretical Perspectives’, Comparative Politics, 29 (3), pp.363–382.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jua, N. B. and Nyamnjoh, F. B. (2002) ‘Scholarship Production in Cameroon: Interrogating a Recession’, African Studies Review, 45 (2), pp.49–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keck, M. E. and Sikkink, K. (1998) Activists Beyond Borders: Advocacy Networks in International Politics, Ithaca N.Y.: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Khondker, H. H. (2011), ‘Role of the New Media in the Arab Spring’, Globalizations, 8 (5), pp.675–679CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Konings, P. J. J. (2011) The Politics of Neoliberal Reforms in Africa: State and Civil Society in Cameroon, Leiden: African Studies Centre & Bamenda: Langaa.Google Scholar
Lamberton, J.-M. (1960) ‘Les Bamilékés dans le Cameroun d'aujourd'hui’, in Revue de Défense Nationale, Paris.Google Scholar
Lonsdale, J. (2002) ‘Globalization, Ethnicity, and Democracy: A View from “the Hopeless Continent”’ in Hopkins, A.G. (ed.), Globalization in World History, pp.194–220, London: Pimlico.Google Scholar
Mbembe, A. (1986) ‘Pouvoir des Morts et Langage des Vivants: Les Errances de la Mémoire Nationalise au Cameroun’, Politique Africaine, 22, pp.37–76.Google Scholar
McLagan, M. (2006) ‘Making Human Rights Claims Public’, American Anthropologist, 108 (1), pp.191–195.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McNeely, I. F., and Wolverton, L. (2008) Reinventing Knowledge: From Alexandria to the Internet, New York: W. W. Norton.Google Scholar
Melleuish, G., Sheiko, K., and Brown, S. (2009) ‘Pseudo History/Weird History: Nationalism and the Internet’, History Compass, 7 (6), pp.1484–1495.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, D., and Slater, D. (2001) The Internet: An Ethnographic Approach, Oxford: Berg.Google Scholar
Mudhai, O.F., Tettey, W.J., and Banda, O.F. (2009) ‘Introduction: New Media and Democracy in Africa - A Critical Interjection’, in African Media and the Digital Public Sphere, pp.1–20, New York: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Myerson, G. (1998) ‘The Electronic Archive’, History of the Human Sciences, 4, pp.85–101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Risenzweig, R. (2006), ‘Can History Be Open Source? Wikipedia and the Future of the Past’, The Journal of American History, 93 (1), pp.117–146.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roberts, R. (2000) ‘History and Memory: The Power of Statist Narratives’, International journal of African Historical Studies, 33 (3) pp. 513–522.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shoup, J. A. (2011), The Encyclopedia of Ethnic Groups of Africa and the Middle East, Santa-Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO.Google Scholar
Slumkoski, C., Conrad, M. and Charlong, L. (2008). ‘History on the Internet: The Atlantic Canada Portal’, Acadiensis, 37 (2), pp.100–109.Google Scholar
Thomas, G. (1998) ‘Retrieving Hidden Traces of the Intercultural Past: An Introduction to Archival Resources in Cameroon’, History in Africa, 25, pp.427–440.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thompson, J. B. (2005) Books in the Digital Age: The Transformation of Academic and Higher Education Publishing in Britain and the United States, Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Tonme, J.-C. S. (2009) La France a-t-elle Commis un Génocide au Cameroun? Les Bamiléké Accusent, Paris: L'Harmattan.Google Scholar
Verschave, F.-X. (1998) La Françafrique: Le Plus Long Scandale de la République, Paris: Stock.Google Scholar
Wasserman, H. (2011) ‘Mobile Phones, Popular Media, and Everyday African Democracy: Transmissions and Transgressions, Popular Communication, 9 (2), pp.146–158.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Willinsky, J. (2005) The Access Principle: The Case for Open Access to Research and Scholarship, Cambridge Mass.: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Gumne, K. N. (2008) Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity in French Cameroun. Available at: https://www.scribd.com/doc/2265461/Cameroun-Genocide-Complaint-With-English-Press-Release (Accessed 5 November 2014)Google Scholar
Nitcheu, B. (2000) Campagne Militaire Française en Pays Bamiléké: Chronique d'un Génocide Annoncé. Available at: http://survie67.free.fr/Afrique/Cameroun/massacres-Bamileke.pdf (Accessed 5 November 2014)Google Scholar
An earlier version of this article was presented as ‘A counter-hegemonic archive? The Revelation of hidden histories on the internet: a case study from Cameroon’ at SCOLMA's 50th Anniversary Conference, Oxford, June 25-26, 2012.Google Scholar