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Preface and Acknowledgments

This book is about the not-so-distant past of Ivory Coast. It is an attempt to shed light on the political economy that informed how the country became an African miracle of sorts in the three decades that preceded the 1980s. It opens a window onto those years when agricultural production went up, deep-sea ports were constructed, hydroelectric dams were built, and an apparent welfare state was instituted; all of which left an impressive paper trail. Thereafter, the phenomenal economic growth of the country seemingly came to a halt, a situation that comforted the predictions of those who had early on argued that the spectacular growth of the Ivorian economy was built on shaky ground. At the current conjuncture where talks on a new Ivorian economic miracle abound, I want to provide a historical analysis that interrogates the past and moves the country’s international history beyond the familiar terrain of the Françafrique. This is achieved through a transnational history approach that attends to both local and global forces to understand the making and remaking of the so-called “Glorious Years” of Ivory Coast.

From the outset, I want to make it clear that this is not a work in economics. Rather, I reflect historically on the larger “social life” of some economic ideas. In fact, the project of this book began as a doctoral dissertation in history. Its primary goal in that first iteration was to provide a theoretically informed historical critique of US-led development efforts in late colonial and postcolonial Ivory Coast. My initial inclination was to offer a typical bilateral history of the foreign relations between the United States and Ivory Coast over the latter’s modernization. But a new and creative look at the legacy of France’s colonial past in Ivory Coast, the US Cold War crusades, and France’s neocolonial projects in Francophone Africa soon turned the notion of a bilateral relationship between Abidjan and Washington into a dynamic triad and more.

From this perspective, then, one of the issues that this project aimed to address and still relates to is the triangulated conceptualizations of development in Ivory Coast, the United States, and France. While the US perspective on these conceptualizations will be of prime concern, a look at the way Ivorian elite and French colonial bureaucrats and later coopérants conceived of the modernization of Ivory Coast will also be explored. In effect, given the historical French (neo)colonial presence in Ivory Coast, it was important to inquire into how France perceived US involvement in Ivorian development. Were there attempts on the part of the French to collaborate with the Americans, or were they out to sabotage, as some US sources suggest, American efforts in Ivory Coast development projects? Moreover, how did the Ivorian elite react to both France and the United States as providers of developmental assistance and the ultimate example of modernity at work? Did they have their own alternative ways of undertaking development? What input (if any) did the people involved in the implementation of modernization projects bring to development as experienced in Ivory Coast? How did the Ivorian people who were supposed to receive the benefits of development negotiate its inherent regime of discipline?

These are some of the issues that the book has set itself to address. In my attempt to provide answers to the questions posed above, I have adopted an approach that is informed not only by diplomatic/transnational history, historical geography, and the anthropology of knowledge production in its interaction with society and social change. My analysis also draws inspiration from the social and critical studies regarding the moral economy of developmentalism. Moreover, I have purposefully engaged Ivorian (and African) scholars and intellectuals whose voices, as a rule, rarely find their way into the mainstream debates on political economy and its transnational history. Much more could have been said, as I sketch out in the conclusion of this book. But it is my hope that what has been initiated here will inspire others and that we will pay a more critical attention to the very production of knowledge regarding the Ivorian miracle.

. . .

A work of this magnitude could not have been completed without the assistance of many people and institutions from Ivory Coast, France, and the United States. I would like to acknowledge the generosity of many of them: First, my heartfelt thanks to the University of Abidjan-Cocody, the US Department of State, the French Ministry of Culture, and Georgia State University for granting me fellowships that allowed me to initiate this project as a doctoral dissertation. Later, the Kennedy Library Foundation, the LBJ Library Foundation, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, and Gettysburg College offered short-term grants that covered expenses to conduct further research and deepen the findings of the project and ultimately turn the dissertation into a book. In tending to such work, I benefited from the assistance of many archivists and librarians across the Atlantic pond.

For their diligence and help, I want to thank the librarians of the Humanities Library (Bibliothèque de la FLASH) at the University of Abidjan-Cocody (Ivory Coast). In the United States, where the manuscript took its current shape, I am grateful to Sharon Kelly (JFK Library), Jennifer Cuddback (LBJ Library), and Dwight Strandberg (Eisenhower Library), as well as to the many librarians at Georgia State University, at Hobart and William Smith Colleges, and at Gettysburg College who expedited many of my interlibrary loan requests for “French books” (or rather, books in French). In France, I benefited from the professionalism of many: Mme. Marie-Madeleine Burckle introduced me to the archive of the Office de la Recherche Scientifique et Technique Outre-Mer (ORSTOM), now Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD). When she was on leave, Raphäelle Aviat processed my requests, and, going beyond the call of duty, she opened new hexagonal spaces for me. Her friendship and those of Estelle Mathieu and Marie-Aline Perreira at IRD are most appreciated. In Nantes, Audrey Loirat not only hosted me on my various trips to the Centre des Archives Diplomatiques but was also my guide in the picturesque terroir of Britanny and the Pays de la Loire. In Aix-en-Provence, I made a crash landing in Brima Samaké’s university dorm. I thank him for hosting me and making my sojourn most enjoyable. Appreciations are also extended to Evelyn Camara at Centre des Archives d’Outre-Mer (CAOM).

While on the Chateaubriand Fellowship in Paris, my path crossed with those of many researchers whose assistance was most helpful: I extend my gratitude to Hyeonju Kim for introducing me to the various French schools of translation studies and sharing her own insights into (post) colonial cultural translation and the issues of traduction relais and dubbing; Elisée Coulibaly for helping me navigate the landscape of French Africanism; Mohamed Camara for the weekly chats on the sociology of development at the Maison Lucien Paye (Cité Internationale de Paris), and Desiré Médégnon for our stimulating debates on African philosophy; Iván Merino Horta for the thought-provoking discussions in the Parisian parks and cafés about anthropology, transnationalism, and postcolonial theory. I also appreciate all those former and still-active Orstomians as well as their colleagues at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) who shared their Ivorian experiences with me. In particular, I thank Jean-Pierre Dozon, Alfred Schwartz, Hélène Perrot, Ariane Deluz, Jean-Louis Boutillier, Marc Augé, Jean-Pierre Chauveau, Patrice Roederer, Georges Balandier, Chantal Blanc-Pamard, Philippe Couty, Jean-Loup Amselle, and Catherine Aubertin.

In the United States, I equally benefited from the collaboration of many senior Africanists, all of whom I am indebted to: I thank William Zartman, Immanuel Wallerstein, and the late Aristide Zolberg for their acceptance to share with me their field-trip experiences to Ivory Coast. Along these lines, I extend my gratitude to Dénis Zunon and Amadou Koné, who shared their experience of the Ivorian intellectual milieu of the 1970s. While the book relies mainly on written records, my interviews with Ivorian intellectuals, France’s ORSTOM researchers, and US Africanists as research partners were very rewarding.

In Atlanta, where I wrote the earlier iteration of this work, many people deserve a note of appreciation, including Mike Stevens and his wife, Debbie; Eric Kleist; Jennifer Dickey, Aubrey Underwood; Dana Wiggins; Dexter Blackman; Robert Woodrum and his wife, Amanda; Edie Riehm; John Farris; Charles Perrin; Laurel Koontz; Veronica Holmes; and Andy Riesinger. In particular, I thank Fakhri Haggani and Shannon Bontrager for their friendship, sharp comments, and critical engagement with my ideas; Heather Lucas for her camaraderie and for proofreading various parts of my earlier drafts; and Carrie Whitney for guiding my first steps in anthropological literature as well as keeping the light of poetry and providing prompt inputs whenever I was “lost in translation.” Appreciations are equally in order for Albert G. Ouattara, Siendou Konaté, Tim Stoneman, DjongaYomatété, Wonderful Dzimiri, Taka Ono, Ravi Ghadge, and Gail Powers for their timely cheer-ups.

A tout seigneur tout honneur. I extend a heartfelt thank-you to the members of my dissertation committee: Dr. Mohammed H. Ali, Dr. Emanuela Guano, Dr. Christine Skwiot, and Dr. Ian C. Fletcher, without whom this work might not have reached fruition. A special appreciation goes to Ian, not only for the impeccable supervision of my doctoral experience, but also for his friendship and the provision of a model of integrity and a truly committed scholar-activist. While I know I cannot live up to his model, I truly hope that someday his selfless commitment to his students will be acknowledged by all. Thanks also to Professor Odile Goerg, Dr. Yael S. Fletcher, Dr. Larry Youngs, and Dr. Jeremy Crampton, whose insights, advice, and assistance helped me improve many a point. Along these lines, I extend my appreciation to Dr. Denise Davidson, Dr. Jared Poley, Dr. Duane Corpus, and Dr. Katie Harris for making me keep alive the European dimensions of my research; and to Dr. Michele Reid for her informal mentoring at GSU and beyond.

In 2008, I left GSU and took up a teaching post at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. There, in upstate New York, I was fortunate to find colleagues who generously gave their time and friendship that helped me initiate the revision of the dissertation in view of turning it into a book. In particular, I thank Lisa Yoshikawa, Lowell Bloss, George Joseph, Thelma Pinto, Darren Magee, Suzanne McNally, Kanaté Daouda, Judy Mahoney, and the late Maureen Flynn. At Gettysburg College, which I joined in 2010, numerous people equally offered assistance that deserves mentioning. My appreciation to my colleagues in the Department of History: Bill Bowman, Michael Birkner, Tim Shannon, Magdalena Sánchez, Barbara Sommer, Dina Lowy, Pete Carmichael, Allen Guelzo, Karen Pinto, and Becca Barth. In the Africana Studies Program, I thank Jen Bloomquist, Scott Hancock, Paul Austerlitz, Linus Nyiwul, Hakim Williams, McKinley Melton, Florence Jurney, Thomas Jurney, and Suzanne Gockowski. Colleagues from other departments and programs provided additional support, including Emelio Betances; Verónica Calvillo; Kerr Thompson and his wife, Susan; Alvaro Kaempfer and his wife, Malinda; Ryan Dodd; Tsu-ting Tim Lin; Kerry Wallach; and Jess Firshein. A special blagodaria to Radost (Radi) Rangelova for not only reading searchingly the entire manuscript, but also for accepting to accompany me during so many research trips for this project, for offering constant moral support at home and abroad, and for teaching me so much more. . . . Radi: without your love, companionship, and bighearted encouragements, this book may have not seen the light of the day.

Many more people helped in other capacities: Julien Brou Kouamé provided timely technical support for the numerous illustrations that dot this work. Ibra Sene and especially Cheick Kaling helped with the research at the Archives Nationales du Sénégal. Monica van Beusekom, Jeanne M. Toungara, Phil Muelhenberg, Greg Mann, Joe Downing, Emelio Betances, Bill Bowman, and Larry Grubbs read various chapters and provided insightful comments. When the manuscript landed at the desk of Ohio University Press, Gill Berchowitz and Jean Allman received it enthusiastically. I thank them, together with the other editors of the New African Histories Series, for the confidence they placed in the project. My appreciation is also extended to the reviewers and copyeditor of the manuscript for helping me clarify murky points and thus improve my overall argument. Last but not least, I thank my cousin Moussa Bamba for hosting me whenever I was doing research in the Greater Washington, DC, area. Along the same line, I acknowledge the generosity of Sindou Soumahoro, Moussa Coulibaly, Marc Papé, and Bertin Kouadio. My final thank-you goes to my family in Ivory Coast: my mom, Mayantié Chérif; and my siblings, Massiami, Amara, Mouandou, Adama, and Yahya. I am indeed grateful to you for the constant support and timely prop-ups you provided so that the project could be finished and not turn out to be a dereke deni kan bah.