Books by Ferdinand de Jong
Routledge, 2023
This book examines the resurgence of religious heriage in a secular age and frames such heritage ... more This book examines the resurgence of religious heriage in a secular age and frames such heritage as both legacy from the past and promise for the future. Thinking about the temporalities of re-enactments and reconstructions, this volume examines whether heritage practices incorporate religious time into secular practice.
Decolonizing Heritage: Time to Repair in Senegal, 2022
This book is now out with Cambridge University Press in March 2022
Reclaiming Heritage: Alternative Imaginaries of Memory in West Africa, 2007
Reclaiming Heritage: Introduction
Masquerades of Modernity: Power and Secrecy in Casamance, Senegal, 2007
This is a book review by the late Sidney Kasfir published in African Arts.
Articles by Ferdinand de Jong
Colonial archives constituted a technology that enabled the collection, storage, ordering, retrie... more Colonial archives constituted a technology that enabled the collection, storage, ordering, retrieval and exchange of knowledge as an instrument of colonial governance. It is not surprising that when such archives were inherited by independent nation-states they were not given the authority previously granted them and have often been neglected. What, then, is the future of colonial archives in postcolonial nations? How should we rethink these archives in relation to decolonial futures? This essay introduces a collection of articles that explore the repertoires of action latent in archives and how colonial archives are being reconfigured to imagine decolonial futures.
In the last two decades, an increasing number of artists have engaged the spectres of colonialism... more In the last two decades, an increasing number of artists have engaged the spectres of colonialism that continue to haunt us in our postcolonial present. Interrupting established historical narratives of colonial domination, artists have started to address the legacy of imperialism by examining the colonial archive. At work in the archive, these artists examine the possibilities of decolonialising colonial subjectivities. Through the return, recuperation, and re-enactment of archives, archival art points to the potential of forgotten pasts and unanticipated futures lingering in the imperial archive. As the articles in this volume demonstrate, such archival interventions often serve an emancipatory agenda.
Politique africaine, 2010
Archive of Darkness: William Kentridge's Black Box/Chambre Noire, 2018
This article examines the intervention of one work of art in the public debate about Germany's co... more This article examines the intervention of one work of art in the public debate about Germany's colonial past. It suggests that Black Box/Chambre Noire by South African artist William Kentridge has provided a forum for the calibration of archival evidence and ethnical considerations on reparation, reconciliation and forgiveness.
In 1895 the colonial administration of Senegal sentenced Sheikh Amadu Bamba to exile for stirring... more In 1895 the colonial administration of Senegal sentenced Sheikh Amadu Bamba to exile for stirring anti-colonial disobedience. At his trial, Bamba allegedly recited a prayer in defiance of the French authorities. Although there is no archival record to prove that the prayer was recited, since the 1970s Bamba's disciples have flocked to the former seat of colonial power to commemorate his act of resistance; their testimony has displaced the authority of the colonial archive and imagines a decolonial utopia in archival absence. This article examines how their prayer subverts the colonial archive, while it remains entangled in its substrate.
Politique africaine, 2014
Non loin de Dakar (Sénégal), le lieu aujourd'hui connu sous le nom de Sebi Ponty fut choisi à deu... more Non loin de Dakar (Sénégal), le lieu aujourd'hui connu sous le nom de Sebi Ponty fut choisi à deux reprises pour héberger d'ambitieux projets d'éducation : l'École William Ponty et plus récemment l'Université du Futur africain. Ces projets, conçus pour stimuler le développement économique, ne remplirent pas leurs promesses, mais les lieux portent encore la marque de leurs infrastructures laissées en état de ruine. Nous exhumons ici les visions afro-utopistes du futur qui ont sous-tendu ces projets ainsi que les afro-nostalgies qu'ils ont suscitées, ce qui nous permettra de mettre au jour le palimpseste des temporalités à l'oeuvre à Sebi Ponty.
... The Kumpo then returns to the sacred grove and the villagers go home. ... In some societies m... more ... The Kumpo then returns to the sacred grove and the villagers go home. ... In some societies masks are regarded as reincarnated ancestors, in others as incarnations of forest spirits. However, not all masks are regarded as ancestors or spirits by their audiences (Tonkin 1979: 241). ...
The archive has emerged as a critical tool to conceptualise the heuristic value of history, herit... more The archive has emerged as a critical tool to conceptualise the heuristic value of history, heritage, and memory in debates on postcolonial futures. In this special issue, we take stock of the possibilities for the colonial and postcolonial archive to provide frameworks for the imagination of postcolonial futures. In the current climate of postcolonial malaise, the archival imagination may constitute a significant component in the reconfiguration of postcolonial futures. However, such claims can only be made if we are indeed allowed to imagine the city as an archive, to be read in an archival way. How can such a concept of the city be defended?
Francosphères, 2014
Saint-Louis is the former capital of French West Africa that was recognised by UNESCO as a World ... more Saint-Louis is the former capital of French West Africa that was recognised by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 2000. Using De Certeau’s distinction between strategies and tactics, this article examines how the cityscape of this colonial city is ‘archived’. It is suggested that different archival impulses generate different affects for the cityscape.
African Arts, 1998
... Danse masquée. ; Tradition et modernité. ; Islamisation. ; Christianisation. ; Mouvement sépa... more ... Danse masquée. ; Tradition et modernité. ; Islamisation. ; Christianisation. ; Mouvement séparatiste. ; Langage rituel. ; Genre. ; Division sexuelle. ; Jola. ; Localisation / Location. INIST-CNRS, Cote INIST : 23465, 35400007513303.0010. Nº notice refdoc (ud4) : 2469772. ...
Book reviews by Ferdinand de Jong
Africa
Knotty timber requires hard wedges, and Hicks does an excellent job in challenging many of his mu... more Knotty timber requires hard wedges, and Hicks does an excellent job in challenging many of his museum colleagues who resist the return of Africa's cultural heritage by hiding themselves behind the need for careful 'provenance' research, which might take forever, resembling the notorious 'dictionary projects' of German learned academies which, after 100 years, have reached the letter F. Hicks' timely intervention is a must read.
Papers by Ferdinand de Jong
Uploads
Books by Ferdinand de Jong
Articles by Ferdinand de Jong
Book reviews by Ferdinand de Jong
Papers by Ferdinand de Jong
Colonial archives constituted a technology that enabled the collection, storage, ordering, retrieval and exchange of knowledge as an instrument of colonial governance. It is not surprising that when such archives were inherited by independent nation-states they were not given the authority previously granted them and have often been neglected. What, then, is the future of colonial archives in postcolonial nations? How should we rethink these archives in relation to decolonial futures? This essay introduces a collection of articles that explore the repertoires of action latent in archives and how colonial archives are being reconfigured to imagine decolonial futures.