The African Baguette

The African Baguette explores France's influence in Francophone Africa. From politics to education, AfBag specifically seeks to uncover the relationship between the French language and two local languages of French Africa: 1) the Wolof language in Sengal and 2) the Berber languages in Morocco. France's footprint in both North Africa and the 14 West African countries of the Franc Zone is most evident through the use and plurality of languages. While the footprints are relatively easy to uncover, the stigma of the footprints' are more ambiguously in place. Let's reveal and reflect upon the raison d'etre in l'Afrique Francophone.

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Senegal--Less franco than I thought

Written by kateaaby on

Just as contemporary French/Arab relations help us better understand Morocco’s relationship with the French language, recent changes in the French/Senegalese relations give us an insight into French’s reputation in Senegal—And there are increasing signs that this reputation may be decreasing. Tony Chafer’s article, "France and Senegal: The End of the Affair,” is very relevant to the language theme that I explore in this wiki and gives specific context to the discussion of the French language in Senegal.

Chafer first provides a brief history of France and Senegal’s relationship since decolonization and then reflects on how the two countries’ common norms are increasingly less common. Senegal is the oldest colony of France, home to a French military base, and was one of the 14 “franc zone” nations that used the overvalued CFA franc currency until 1994. According to Chafer, “These close links with France guaranteed the continued flow of funds to help pay for French teachers and lecturers for Senegal’s secondary schools and its university, as well as the French military and technical advisors who continued to work in most government ministries.”

However in recent years, some of these links between France and Senegal have been undone by the political economy. For example, directly after decolonization in Senegal, President Senghor helped promote President De Gaulle’s “la Francophonie” movement (which ultimately lead to the “Organization of Francophone States”), yet in 2001 President Chiraq did not attend Senghor’s funeral and three days later France changed from the franc to the euro. Furthermore, France devalued the CFA franc in the franc zone in 1994, which ended Senegal’s shared currency with France and caused many economic hardships throughout the country.

This apathetic behavior from France towards Senegal is part of what Chafer attributes to be the decline of the “special relationship” between the two nations. Chafer says that “an array of clientlest networks underpinned the special relationship. These networks, linking African and French political, business, and military elites, thrived on French development aid and provided many opportunities for corrupt practices.”

While the language policy in Senegal was formed in French and by the French, it is arguably changing into a much less French organism. Chafer suggests that Wolof is in fact the “language of success” in Senegal and that English is actually gaining more importance among the elite than French.

There are many ways to speculate about why French is on the decline (and possible Wolof and/or English are on the rise)—here are some examples from Chafer:

1) Senegalese students’ admiration to study in the United States has increased since the immigration requirements in France are becoming increasingly difficult. In fact, in reaction to France’s opposition of the Iraq War, Senegal would not openly reject the U.S.’s participation in Iraq, and President Wade acknowledged giving support to the U.S.

2) English is the language of international trade—something Senegal has a much larger stake in now that French international trade policies are declining since the devaluation.

3) France’s language policy in Senegal has excluded many Senegalese from the best jobs in its own country, such as private sector opportunities.

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