2016
Anaïs Wion et al., « Introduction: Pragmatic literacy in Africa », Institut de recherche et d'histoire des textes, ID : 10.4000/afriques.1941
Literacy and writing practices have been both a subject of research and a starting point for analyses of societies and their history. The state of research and reflection in this field is rich and diverse, especially for historiography in the West. But what about studies of the practices and uses of writing on the African continent during ancient and modern times, apart from the colonial period? Since new studies in historiography can now be used to reconsider the tools and topics of history, how do classical methods from medieval history and its so-called “auxiliary sciences”, as well as methods from anthropology, sociology or linguistics, change (if they do so) our way of looking at how writing has been used in Africa? Given the development of studies on literacy and writing in Africa since conquest and colonization, the contribution made by the articles published in this issue of Afriques to the study of earlier periods will hopefully help us grasp the points of continuity and rupture in these strata of African written cultures.