Un continent et son histoire. Les tendances actuelles de l’historiographie en Afrique de l’Ouest
A continent and its history: current trends in historiography in West Africa

Summary/Abstract: Contemporary African historiography proves to be both rich and varied and to have a well‑defined identity. Faced with the diversity of approaches, the proposed analysis was limited to works in French from academic scholars based in West Africa. The objective pursued was to identify a series of recurring problems in discourses about the past, so that the current scientific concerns can be more coherently explained, and that the efforts the African historians make to place their research in the theoretical frameworks of the sciences to be better understood socially. Some themes are recurring, others are new, responding to the concerns of a globalized world. Writing history by Africans and for Africans proved to be complicated, and not only because of the inevitable epistemological problems. In Africa, history is called upon to explain and justify the present and invited to become the key to unlock what is to come. In this context, the historian is called to assume and play his or her role in the public discourse and at the same time to respect the scientific desiderata of the discipline he or she serves.

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