“New Dawn”  Reloaded  or  Nouvelle Aube Nouvelle. 

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(english version)

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Twentieth century manifesto for neo-progressivism in Benin

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(A reconstructive deconstruction approach)

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Mario A.

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Foreword

Benin, humble country by its size, is no less big by its illustrious history and its great men, it’s brilliant merits, its fascinating culture and its no less fascinating mysteries.

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Country of West Africa, located in the Gulf of Guinea, marked history by its legendary resistance against the interference of the colonists, and this way of being at the forefront of the great events of History, such as independence.

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The object of this manifesto will be as much as possible, to understand what prevents such a promising country and nation from achieving and claiming the well -being to which it has always sucked.

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What is suffocating, boring, limits, musulates its true development and why? Following which, having more or less identified the stumbling blocks, attempt to offer effective means of definitively remedying them.

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In short….. history

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In the 1960s, one of the first to emancipate from the imperial grip, he was appointed “the terrible child of Africa”, as much by admiration as by desolation, the years following his independence, being enameled with Constantly turbulence, putsch of all kinds.

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Paradoxically, he was also held in high esteem and with much distinguished deference as “Latin district of Africa”, in reference to the great learning of his intellectual elites.

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On December 11, 1990, after a revolutionary period, having its quantities as much as its Tares, led by an iron fist by the fire general Mathieu Kerekou, Benin recurrent as a pioneer, opening the ball with democratic regimes in Africa And in the sub -region and ensures a constitution (cf. Nation’s living forces) guaranteeing the inalienable individual freedoms of the person for all and the primacy of democracy, with its implicit respect for a healthy and edifying multipartyism.

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From this moment to the present day of the 21st century (2016), democracy despite some upheavals was able to be carried out in a graceful way, respecting the principles of alternation and as much as possible of transparency. The weapons have been definitively stored, and the voice of the ballot boxes, heard and privileged.

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The former terrible child of Africa has become a guide in the art of the democratic exercise of power, inspiring models for other surrounding countries.

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It is therefore strong from this spirit that this manifesto is written. Noting that Benin had great victories, in its history, to reinstate, reincite, Benin and its children to reconsider all the big victories and conquests which were its own to project what could be those which could be within its reach in a globalized world, if it really decides and if it exploits the potentialities, invaluable riches, which it conceals, thus returning to this “pioneer” spirit having always characterized it, all in a spirit of intelligent progressivism, as one would say one Of his immense literature and men, Jean Pliya, “braiding the new old -fashioned rope”, nevertheless resolutely turned towards the future, decided to surpass themselves.

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Culture (literature, painting, innovation, museums, filmography, theater, plastic arts, ethnology, history, oral and vernacular languages)

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Auxiliary note

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Here is an anything but exhaustive list, the heritage studied being so varied and rich, we thought of flying over and presenting the essential, a good start to explore and know this rich, particular and varied culture

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Literature

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“Doguicimi” by Paul Hazoume

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“Initiate” by Olympe Bhêly Quenum

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“An endless trap”

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“The rope braiders” by Jean Pliya

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“Slave” by Félix Koutchoro

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“The ghosts of Brazil” by Florent Couao-Zotti “

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Philosophy & Sociology

Abiola Félix Iroko, Man and Termites in Africa, Editions Karthala, 1996

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Abiola Félix Iroko,  Cowry shells  in West Africa from the tenth to the twentieth century, Anrt, 1988, 980 pages [5]

Abiola Félix Iroko, Josette Rivallain, Marie-Claude Eyraud, Laboratory of Ethnology,

(Paris), Beninese calabashes: collections of the Museum of Man, Laboratory of Ethnology, National Museum of Natural History, Sépia, 1998 [6]

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Abiola Félix Iroko, Ogunso John Igue, Yoruba cities of Dahomey: the example of Ketu, 1975 [7]

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Abiola Félix Iroko, The Slaves Coast and the Atlantic trafficking: the facts and the judgment of history, New Press Publications, 2003

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Maurice Ahanhanzo Glele,

Birth of a black state (the political and constitution of Dahomey, from colonization to the present day), LGDJ, Paris, 1968.

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The Republic of Dahomey, political and constitutional encyclopedia series, Editions Berger-Levrault, Paris, 1970.

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Danxome, from Adja power to the Fon, Nubia, Paris

, 1975.

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Religion, Culture and Politics in Black Africa, Economica, African Presence, Paris, 1981. Award Received from the Academy of Overseas Sciences (Prize Mr. and Mrs. Louis Marin (1982)

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Arts and museums

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Man Museum (1)

Zinsou Foundation (2)

French Institute (3)

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Aesthetic :

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Plastic arts

Sydney Zossou, (1)

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Painter,

Sculptor, designer, Dreamer

Art on stencil

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Patrice “Jeff Batcho” (2)

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Painter

Designate

Merz artist

(Recycling of detritus in work of arts)

Hop philosopher

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MUSIC

Kan Kanon (3)

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Versatile artist

Activist

Freedom Fighter

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Patrice “Jeff Batcho”

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Prose Combat

Poet

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ENOD (4)

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Philosopher

Mystical

Recall

Producer

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Tourist attractions :

Red Star (1), Cotonou, Sud, Economic Capital

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No return (2), Ouidah, South

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Temple of Pythons (3), Ouidah, South

Royal Palace of Abomey (4), South/ Northern

Igbo Dascha hills (5) &

Marian cave (6)

Northern, middle,

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Cf. Annual pilgrimage to Marian Caves. August 15 of each year

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Palais Royal Egba (7) (Egbakotan), Septentrion, Zou

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W (Safari) park, north

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Cultural events

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January 10: Vodoun festival

August 1: Independence Day

August 15: yam festival

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Annual pilgrimage to Marian caves

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Place of Benin on the international geopolitical chessboard (before and in the 21st century)

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Before

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Geopolitically the old Dahomey already in the 17th and 18th century was a powerful asset in international relations. Beyond the inevitable pangs of triangular trade and Don Point Noir: slavery of human beings which lasted almost two centuries without interruption beyond the Atlantic, first before trade with the Portuguese powers in a first Time then after with the French colonial empire under which he fell under Ke Joug, the former Dahomey was strategic to have an anchor in West Africa.

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Extraordinary assets like easy access to the ocean was strategic to bloom trade, import and export goods and windows by sea: which has not escaped the colonial forces which knew how to exploit it and build ways railways to connect these points of repatriation of resources.

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Essentially this continued until independence in 1960.

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Intellectually, the Dahomean intellectual elite was unstoppable, the ultimate in French -speaking black intelligentsia, hence its name Latin district of Africa.

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Which in an indirect way made propaganda for the project of the world Francophonie. Many of these immense minds were headlights in development through in particular international organizations of all kinds: from the organization of the Francophonie, to that of the United Nations, from the GATT (today WMC: World Trade Organization) of UNESCO, etc.

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After

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Today in the 21st century, some Precolonial Patracts It is forced to see are intact and perfectly preserved despite it makes it emphasize many advancements in many areas: especially those of Lentreprenatiat, access to education is the girl And woman, the observation of laws as to the protection of inalienable rights of the human person. Strong commendable efforts.

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In the international community, the current Benin, although many times, very promising, struggles to find its place in the middle of overwhelming colossi such as the G5, the G13, the G25, where the fight is another league, Another league and the underside of the sometimes more scathing card, bloody also some would add.

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Although,

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Benin was part of the claims for subsidies for the Fair Trade in Geneva negotiations, during 2000-2010, at the WTO, ratified the Cancun agreements, associating with member countries of Mercosur and ACP (Africa Pacific Caribbean). There are known facts, it is to believe that the fruits did not hold in promise flowers and that sustained efforts continue to be exercised before and devers the international scene to ensure a glorious future for the whole nation and posterity

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The sacred, the mysteries and the so -called endogenous sciences and considerations of their positive or negative impact on development or are we “blessed in the dark?”

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In this part, we are not going to appear to define or redefine what the sacred is in the Beninese context and its concrete applications in the physical or material sphere by the different cults or endogenous practices which result from it.

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We will humbly leave the experienced anthropologists and sociologists of religion this titanic task. We will rather understand how the latter impact development, sometimes positive, sometimes negative, sometimes if their reality is neutral to the development of the said sustainable development.

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Let us remember that

The sacred, universally is recognized as this momentum of the individual not only believes in a beyond the sensitive world, physically and materially visible, but a feeling of veneration which springs from this calm and passionate certainty that beyond From the material exists and is sometimes benevolent, sometimes the opposite according to the merit of our actions.

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Its central and fundamental object being the divinity and possibly deities subject to the latter. Let us also remember that Benin, formerly Dahomey, is recognized as being the cradle of Vodoun “. Suffice to say that without the collective imagination the vodoun is inseparable from Benin.

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When we mention Benin to those who are foreign there, when they know something about it, the first assimilation is made in Vodoun.

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In a verbalized or subconscious or infrared way, according to the interlocutor with an admiring fascination reaction or with a pout of fear, of dread, sometimes, often the two emotions interpenetrate.

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It is not uncommon to see this same reaction in the natives of Benin, having adopted the path of imported confessions. Practitioners alone of the various endogenous cults, having remained faithful to the ancient religious tradition, creed of their ancestors, are unreservedly enthusiastic and lively preachers.

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But what is voodoo? Only the initiates could reveal the depths but for any spirit a too curious, detached and factual self -privileging calm and exceeded analysis, the vodoun, cult surrounded by an aura of mystery, either frightening, repugnant or attractive, pleasant , either the two, confusing themselves is a religion in the same way as all the other great religions of history, like Hinduism, Buddhism, Shintoism, Taoism, Western Paganism, Mysteries of Eleusis, Orphism, Sufism, Judaism and Christianity, to name only those there, having its own, its particular pantheon of benevolent and revenge, combining polytheism and monotheism, religious specialists would say is a cult henoh cult .

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Where the fundamental laws of life and nature are prescribed and its followers strive to follow them as best they can.

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Respect for the will of the divinity often speaking through deities being subordinate to it is required. We consult before a great decision, a large -scale initiative, ancestors and deities in order to know what they think.

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Are they favorable, is the right decision, is it likely to prosper or not. The privileged mode of this consultation is done through the FA, which is the science of divination par excellence that one finds, both in Nigeria and in certain other neighboring countries such as Ghana, which would say to us ancient Egyptian esoteric traditions. It is also known by the term geomancy, that is, literally “divination by the earth”

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As we can see, great humility is at work in this implorating attitude, highlighting the tacit conviction that humans will not be supported by a higher principle is fallible and vain. Fundamental credo shared, all in all, all the founding religions of the world.

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The pantheon of deities is strictly hierarchical, hierarchy whose summit is God. Each deity has a precise and well -defined function, which must be viewed for this or that end and according to rituals obeying no less precise principles.

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A very summary list of these deities in Beninese voodoo folklore would be as follows: Ogoun, Legba, Heviosso, Yemandja, Oya, Shango, IFA, Hovi, etc.

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Now what is the concrete impact of this cultural wealth on the development and prosperity of the Beninese nation in the 21st century? This is our question.

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Very schematically we could say that before the invasion of the colonists, it structured social construct, the exchanges between men, and more or less, despite some legitimate reservations, was synonymous with harmony and vector of peace.

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After the invasion of the colonists, which demonized this cultural heritage, a complex was born among the Aboriginal people. Two major attitudes came out: a total rejection of part of the former practitioners ensued, kissing the new Christian cult to be the only legitimate, the other is a practice in the shadow of ancient worship, the latter Being constrained to follow the Christian credo at the risk of being severely repressed by the new master colonist.

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This ban on the old cult seems to refer now to release its destructive, harmful side, not to say destructive. Now instrumentalized as a means of counterattack against the oppressor-liberator that was the colonist.

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Whether our brothers in the Diaspora were deported as our in situ ancestors. Unhappy

This counter attack did not stop fighting the colonist but to harm himself between brothers, relatives, friends, enemies and this well after the departure of the colonist.

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Giving it a certain way, although often, we dodge the question by learning protests, without real arguments, claiming that this is false, that our practices are diabolical. Sad irony. Is fire in itself bad?

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Is the force in itself bad? The answer is obviously no. It all depends on what we do with it and with what end of mind. Destroy or build. Consolidate or disjoint.

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We use the fire to cook the food, to heat, to scare away the darkness when it is dark. Thus the strength to defend the weak without recourse, protect the widow and the orphan, restore the good, the good and the beautiful, the just.

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As you can use the fire to burn a beautiful building out of jealousy and envy, or the strength to divide to better establish its power and consolidate its insatiable thirst for power.

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It all depends on use. At least, supposedly.

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Considering the positive impacts to development, this heritage makes the particular richness of Benin that is only found on this land and whose extensions on other continents only echo at the base: Danhomè. An invaluable value and an important windfall for the tourist influx and the cultural influence of Benin worldwide.

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Scientific, anthropological, social research of humanities in the scientific community of the world. If the debate around was cleared and the practices sanitized, brilliant by their constructive, consolidator, positive aspect.

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As for the negative impact, it is regrettable that in use, endogenous practices are used for too often selfish and destructive ends.

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The energy being invested there is more obscure than clear. Instead of thinking about the general being of the community and the individual, too often, the low instincts of jealousy, envy, revenge or the spirit hurting to hurt, this famous “spirit” From Beninineurie “, free wickedness takes on the ascendancy on the potential nobles of the thing.

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As long as the constructive approach, the positive attitude vis-à-vis endogenous sciences, it will unfortunately be a brake for the sustainable development of Benin, because it removes the development of brilliant skills which if they were supported by the positive forces of His consolidating gold gear of yesteryear would make a formidable leap forward towards this development to which we all aspire but which so few of us do much to reach it and enough to never reach it.

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Asian creeds are beautiful examples of how ancestral achievements and those of harmoniously twinned modernity can coexist and literally be the conscientious choice to “take the best of both worlds” to reach a stronger synthesis than the two isolation systems taken.

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In this, they have a lot to teach us. The apparent and insoluble contradiction can be exceeded and open the way to a real new dawn.

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(*It would be regrettable not to take advantage of this opportunity so as not to put for the reader’s attention, a curious fact that gives to think: Behanzin, immense king of the line of monarchs danhomênou, very great initiate with voodoo, ardent mysteries Defender of his sustainability, fierce fighter of the interference of the colonist in the affairs of his nation, towards the end, having made, in all dignity, fascinated by this Savior that is Christ, Savior given by the colonist , clearly for other purposes than laudable humanist and altruistic ends, ends up converting to Catholicism on the island of Martinique where he was deported, put into exile. He therefore finally accepted Christ. His name of baptism was Alexander)

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Construction and definition of the “Beninese nation”

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Before we appear on the concept of the nation, it seems to be of the first importance of looking at the identity issue. Identity, and more precisely the cultural identity is the base on which a nation is built, its foundation, its soil. In our case, what is Beninese identity? How can we characterize and circumscribe it? What are the constituent elements making it a single value?

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For the anthropologist and the historian (cf. Abiola Félix Iroko), which makes a culture and therefore his identity, are relatively invariable practices through time, central us and customs, unique to culture, resistant to ‘Type of duration, a conglomerate of beliefs, credo, its laws, its objective right, its stories, its tales, its cosmogonies reporting in the universe, its rationalization and its appropriation of the real surrounding it and in which, it evolves.

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Although the Beninese nation is a socio -cultural construct relatively recent (roughly accession to independence, in 1960), culture, or cultures of which it is the sum, are much older.

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But although its different cultures are protean and slightly different from each other (very schematically southern, the Fon, Goun, Yoruba, Adja culture, in the Center Fon, Nago, Mahi, to the North, Bariba, Lukpa, Lukpa, Lukpa, Lukpa, Lukpa, Lukpa, Lukpa, Dendi, Peulh, Kotokoli, Kabier, etc.), a hard core seems to unify them: the belief in tutelary forces, the most prevalent of which is God and that he should honor, the veneration of the divinity and a pantheon of Other deities being affiliated to him, respect for the ancients, the elders, the moral and spiritual values of the community in which one fits and evolves, an almost reverential worship at the place of the ancestors, who by their departure, have a quality Almost gods or guides, directors, protectors and benevolent spirits.

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We can say without risking too much what was the mental climate before our colonization. During colonization, rationalism inherited from the colonist, this famous Cartesian spirit, gradually had this new intellectual elite disdain, cultural achievements, at least, a good number of them, as nothing other than superstition and obscurantism.

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“Doguicimi” by Paul Hazoume, a great writer and immense ethnologist, retained as as the first writer of Benin, Dahomey at the time is a good illustration of this dynamic at first sight, of this twinning of the Cartesian, clinical, factual method, which Try to understand, to analyze and on the other hand, the almost proud enthusiasm of a heritage that we let us hear that it was looted, stolen, mutilated and devalued.

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The most moderate were trying to be less radical and to take “the best of both worlds”. After the independence and the said decolonization being followed, the two trends still took more relief.

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A decade later, with the advent of Leninism Marxism, under the leadership of General Mathieu Kérékou, there is a ban on sacral and endogenous practices, legally prohibited under the term of “charlatanism”, strong repressed and susceptible to prosecution judicial for those who joined it.

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This repression had a goal: that of breaking with practices deemed to be arranging, obscurantist and not framing with socialist progressivism and the Marxist ideal, supposed to be under the star of positivism and scientific rationalism.

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And yet so far, at the beginning of the 21st century, endogenous practices are still underway and benefit from a certain rehabilitation with each year, on January 10, with the festival of Vodoun (rehabilitation initiated under the reign of President Nicéphore D. Soglo) and despite fervent Christianity or strong Muslim confession, of most Beninese, it is not uncommon to see believers, for very specific circumstances, to use endogenous traditions and their authorities, in order to to find solutions to some of their daily dilemmas.

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So returning to the identity question, it seems that although the approach, according to eras with so -called endogenous practices (FA consultation, ceremonies and libations to deities, pharmacopeia, etc.) is changing, the practice is constant and Stable, enough to make it an invariable and a strong cultural trait of Beninese identity.

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Beninese land is often called “the cradle of vodoun”. And always many tourists, great scholars, children of the great African diaspora, like a pilgrimage to Mecca or Lourdes, come to discover the fascinating wealth of this heritage.

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As for the Beninese nation, it is young and ambitious, and does not escape the different challenges experienced by a young nation (regionalism, nepotism, clientelism, etc.) but it is clear its relative cohesion in time, when the old Demons of the division are not attracted as an instrumentalization and personalization of power by political actors.

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Something that the genius of the Beninese people sooner or later manages to detect and transcend in the long term.

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“Fraternity-justice-work” is the credo of this new Beninese Brave Nation. Many things remain to be done and several other obstacles remain to be overcome to always tend towards this ideal that she herself fixed.

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Although it would be unfair not to emphasize all the great victories of the Beninese people to ensure national unity beyond its crises, there have been disputes several times in history where its sustainability was threatened and put to the test.

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We believe with the former convictions that this genius of the Beninese people can go even further and accomplish greater conquests still

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“L ‘Aube Nouvelle” by Jean Gilbert Dagnon

(and Jean Pliya )

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(a deconstructive approach)

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Chorus :

Children of Benin, standing!

The freedom of a sound cry

Sings on the first fires of the dawn;

Children of Benin, standing!

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Formerly to his call, our ancestors without weakness,

Have known with courage, ardor, full of joy,

Deliver the blood price of brilliant fights.

You too, builders of the present,

Stronger in the unit, every day to the task,

For posterity, build tirelessly!

(Chorus)

II.

When everywhere blows a wind of anger and hatred,

Beninese, be proud, and a serene soul,

Confident in the future, look at your flag!

In the green you will read the hope of renewal,

From your ancestors the red evokes courage;

From the richest treasures yellow is the omen.

(Chorus)

III.

Your sunny mountains, your palm trees, your greenery,

Dear Benin, everywhere make your long adornment.

Your floor offers everyone the richness of the fruits.

Benin, now that your sons all united,

Of a fraternal momentum share hope

To see you forever happy in abundance.

(Refrain) [2]

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At the end of the colonial and freshly independent period, the former Dahomey had precisely needed a unifying hymn, creating national unity, a feeling of community or the dissensions of the past (among other things brothers of different latitudes or beliefs etc. ) would be liquidated for the Beninese people to look unified, unified in the same direction: the future, strong of the lessons of the past.

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Minimalistic deconstruction

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Upright

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Because it is standing that we are leading a fight, not seated, not lying. Standing favors action. It is a call for the action of the children of the new nation. You have to be proactive for this social project to be a success for yourself, for us, for all, etc.

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The serene soul designates the peace of the heart which is fundamental for anything solid, profitable and for oneself and for others

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Builder of the present. Building is synonymous with building, like an architect who has a plan, erects a monument.

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The present is both synonymous with immediacy and present, that is to say a gift: it is customary to say that the past is a memory and the future, an unknown in the great equation of life.

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Hence the builder of the present takes all its symbolic sense: agile architect alert, vigilant, enjoying the gift of life here and now making it absolutely better to leave something bigger to posterity and our contemporaries.

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Posterity

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Posterity is clarification because it is necessary to build higher, larger than these predecessors: to be more ambitious and thereby, our proud posterity will be grateful to us and will try itself in turn to do just as much and if possible outdo us .

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This keeps a high standard of excellence so that no one in the sacred chain of beings is tempted for too long to rest on its laurels.

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The manes of our ancestors

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Without our ancestors and their heartbreaking sacrifices so that we are currently alive, there would be no life, hope, pleasure of honor, grandeur and glory. It is through their sacrifice that we taste, if only through, to their glory acquired in the struggle and the fight, the sword and the crossbow, the gnashing of teeth and the blood flows.

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Without adversity, glory is bland and flavorless. The manes of our ancestors that we honor and have to honor are there to remind us: we have an obligation with regard to them and with regard to those who succeed us who will eventually regu it.

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The excellent St Exupéry said somewhere: we borrow the earth from our children

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The mission is therefore essentially double: honor of the ancestors and fight for those who come after us, thus honoring the sacred chain of beings, thus braiding the old rope the new

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Tribute to great men in the history of Benin (a non -exhaustive list)

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Kings

Guezo, Glele, Behanzin, Bio Guerra,

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Honorable actors

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Paul Hazoume, Oanilo Behanzin, Hubert Maga,

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Olympe Bhêly Quenum, Félix Koutchoro, Jean Pliya,

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General Mathieu Kerekou, Doctor Fagla,

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Jean Gilbert Dagnon, Félix Iroko,

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Cardinal Bernard Gantin, Monsignor Isidore de Souza,

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G.G Vikey, Gnonas Pedro, Isaac de Bankole,

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Angelique Kidjo, Djimon Hounsoun,

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Bertin Nahum, La Famille Zinsou, Maurice Ahanhanzo Glele, Francis Zossou, etc.

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Secularism (s)?

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Being a state with multiple religious and philosophical credos, a certain secularism is in order to allow all this crucible to live in a certain harmony.

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Religions: 53 % of Christians; 23, 8 % of Muslims, 18, 1 % traditional religions. Andc.

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So in a democratic country that respects secularism, it must be recognized, is in order: the mosque, the endogenous temple, the church and other creeds have the right to exist on condition of not disturbing the peace of quiet people from the country .

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On this point, admit

on that this good country is a venerable example in compliance with the freedom of worship prescribed by its own constitution.

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Thorny consideration on parity

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As suggested in the title above, delicate question, thorny question. Parity. What does it suppose? An equal and equitable access to the privileges of all, men and women, boys as well as girls.

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Alright . But what seems in the forced statement?

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Whatever the postulate seems to be founded.

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First men and women are complementary, not equal. On some things the woman surpasses man from afar: it is obvious of nature.

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On others, man crushes in capacity, agility, endurance and power his female consideration.

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Asking for parity would be like asking a fish to run next to a cheetah.

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Equal Rights, Equal Fights! Right?

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Not quite …

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Because the woman instrumentalizes her weakness to maximize her profits and by a conditioned, helped, sometimes allowed, more often than not, the body of the laws, thus made new victims who had not so “pink” previously except that In appearance: brave and honest men.

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From victim she goes to a blurred status combining an executioner who does not know what she does and a fragile thing that should be complained about and protected.

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In both cases, it benefits from immense concessions and always from extenuating circumstances.

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From the moment the woman decided to emancipate from the yoke of the head of the family, the man has the right following this absolutely tortuous and wobbly logic to emancipate from his responsibilities towards her. Being they were moral, pecuniary, affectionate, etc.

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And where does that lead us? Finally and painfully in the abyss and a thick ass.

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If the fact that the woman is now financially independent now gives her the right to spit on the noblest efforts of her fathers before her to preserve her from the worst although awkwardly, what does that say about her?

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And no, of this said oppressive patriarchy?

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If we can be a worse oppressor than the previous one for a simple reason then we can…. What is the value of our struggle to acquire the power to do so? Or protect yourself from oppression?

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The power to do it does not mean the duty to do so. Otherwise the first superpowers would have sprayed the rest of the world in a pugilat of ashes a long time ago.

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There is a nature of power which often escapes these wonderful beings that are women: deterrent power and active power. Not all, fortunately. There are extraordinary feminine leaders and mastering the real protocol of his exercise.

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Here we are talking about the potentates believing that by their plot of power they created the universe.

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This is not the case . Like everything there is a beginning, an apogee and a decline, no one escapes this law. She is impersonal. Propose hoc, nothing personal.

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The first feminism was noble, the one we witness today resembles a set of people claiming the right to destruction and self -destruction without consequences. Contradictio in adjecto…

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References & key works

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Abiola Félix Iroko

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Abiola Félix Iroko, Man and Termites in Africa, Editions Karthala, 1996

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Abiola Félix Iroko, Cowry shells in West Africa from the tenth to the twentieth century, Anrt, 1988, 980 pages [5]

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Abiola Félix Iroko, Josette Rivallain, Marie-Claude Eyraud, Laboratory of Ethnology

(Paris), Beninese calabashes: collections of the Museum of Man, Laboratory of Ethnology, National Museum of Natural History, Sépia, 1998 [6]

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Abiola Félix Iroko, Ogunso John Igue, the Yoruba cities of Dahomey: the example of Ketu, 1975 [7]

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Abiola Félix Iroko, The Slaves Coast and the Atlantic trafficking: the facts and the judgment of history, New Press Publications, 2003

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Maurice Ahanhanzo Glele,

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Birth of a black state (the political and constitution of Dahomey, from colonization to the present day), LGDJ, Paris, 1968.

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The Republic of Dahomey, political and constitutional encyclopedia series, Editions Berger-Levrault, Paris, 1970.

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Danxome, from Adja power to the Fon, Nubia, Paris, 1975.

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Religion, Culture and Politics in Black Africa, Economica, African Presence, Paris, 1981. Award Received from the Academy of Overseas Sciences (Prize Mr. and Mrs. Louis Marin (1982)

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Olympe Bhêly Quenum

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An endless trap (Roman, Édit Stock, Paris, 1960, translated into English and Slovenian) 6 Editions by Pésence Africaine editions, Paris.

*

The song of the lake, edict. African presence, Paris, 1965 (translated into Russian and Czech, adapted and played on France Culture)

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Liaison of a summer (ed. Sagerep, Paris, 1968: collection of news, some are translated into several languages; this work contains the text of my meeting with André Bret

on, in 1949).

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A child from Africa (ed. Larousse, Paris, 1970; translated into Russian; novel to make young education and life in traditional Africa known to young people); New edition (African presence pocket).

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The initiate, novel, edict. African presence, 1979.

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Vodou calls, a novel based on the functioning of a Vodou ritual (ed. L’Harmattan, Paris, 1994).

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Jean Pliya

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The favorite tree, collection of short stories (the favorite tree, the red car, the man who had given everything, the night guard), Yaoundé, Cle editions, 1971

*

Kondo the shark, devoted to King Behanzin, Yaoundé, Cle, 1981 (Grand Prix Littéraire d’Afrique Noire 1967, ex-aequo with François-Borgia Marie Evembe [3])

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The chimpanzees in love, the appointment, the last chance, news, the African classics, 1977

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The private secretary, Yaoundé, Cle editions, 1973

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Les Tresseurs de Cordes, Paris, Hatier, Abidjan, Ceda, 1987

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The stubborn girl, traditional tales and stories of Benin, Abidjan; Dakar; Lomé, Nouvelles African Editions, 1982

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Florent Couao Zotti

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The ghosts of Brazil, Ubu Éditions, 2006

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Poulet-Bicyclette et Cie, Gallimard,

2008

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If the sheep’s court is dirty, it is not for the pig to say, the snake in Plumes, 2010 (ISBN 978-2-268-06890-9) (Ahmadou-Kourouma Prize).

*

La Traque de la Musaraigne, Marseille, Jigal, 2014.

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Western Tchoukoutou, 

Gallimard, 2018 (ISBN 978-2-07-278006-6). Roland-de-Jouvenel prize from the French Academy 2019

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Hyperlinks

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https://fr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/florent_couao-zotti

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https://www.etonnants-voyageurs.com/couao-zotti-florent.html

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https://fr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/l%27aube_nouvelle

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https://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrc/memberscvs/glele.htm

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https://www.erudit.org/fr/revues/ei/1988-v19-n2-ei3033/702358ar/

*

https://www.la-croix.com/journal/les-religions-benin-2017-02-08-110082349

*

https://fr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/tourisme_au_b%C3%A9nin#:~:Text=ci is%20 une%20r%C3%A9Gion%20propice,des%20 plages%20 bord%C3%A9es%20de %20 Cocotiers.

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https://www.routard.com/guide/code_dest/benin.htm

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https://fr.tripadvisor.ca/attractions-g293764-activities-benin.html

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http://www.africine.org/index.php/entretien/francis-zossou-realister-beninois/643

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In Memoriam

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Patrice Jeff Batcho

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Sylvain Zosou

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Franck Aristide Diogo

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Magnificent citizens,

Even more magnificent brothers in arms … Here, a humble testimony and duty of memory of your brief but titanic passage …

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Started on Sunday April 10, 2016, 11:35 p.m.

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Finished the 23 .2. 23/23:46

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L’émission qui n’en finit pas de commencer.
Dans le passé et dans le futur sur Radio Galoche et ailleurs.

Épisode 1: à la recherche de la récursivité

Épisode 2:

 

What is the value of a work of art? How does a particular meaning  become perceptible? These questions naturally interact within the framework of  history of art, but also in the way we categorise the practices of contemporary art.

In 2012, as part of an exhibition at the Monnaie de Paris, Benjamin Efrati and Noel Sarlaw respond by proposing an intriguing theory, putting in perspective the Significatogenesis of Mario Amehou and the research of the economist Frédéric Lordon.