‘Writing Is a Journey’

International relations academic, Folashadé Soulé-Kohndou, thinks African governments are starting to negotiate better terms with more powerful countries: ‘African governments are increasingly better at avoiding the zero-sum trap (especially when dealing with US-China rivalry) and they are adopting measures that strategically play rivals against each other to get better deals.’

Written by Folashadé Soulé-Kohndou

Jul 1, 2022

Photo Illustration by Ojima Abalaka / THE REPUBLIC.

First Draft is our interview column, featuring authors and other prominent figures on books, reading, and writing.

Our questions are italicized.

What books or kinds of books did you read growing up?

Growing up in Benin Republic, I mostly read books from francophone African authors. My father who was a journalist travelled a lot across the continent and always brought back at least one book for us to read. Francophone African literature classics from Jean Pliya, Olympe Bhêly Quenum, Ferdinand Oyono and Tidiane Dem amongst others were all part of my upbringing.

Several of these authors’ books were also part of the Beninese school curricula which meant that I had the opportunity to read and analyse them at school as well. Overall, these books provided me with a first window into African lives and traditions before and after independence, but also gender and class dynamics within African societies. I also read French classics and particularly enjoyed Guy de Maupassant’s novels.

What’s the last thing you read and disagreed with?

Most things I read and disagree with are related to some publications in my research area i.e., Africa’s relations with rising powers, especially China. The debates and writings tend sometimes to be very binary without much nuance.

Often, the continent and its actors are presented either as passive or victims without much agency. It reinforces the trope of a continent that is powerless and needs assistance to define the partnerships that work best for them.

What’s the last thing you read that challenged your mind about something?

Gaël Faye’s Petit Pays recounts the author’s life as a young boy witnessing the early start of hatred and violence among Tutsi gangs and Hutu militias at the verge of the civil war in Burundi and how this progressively became a new norm in his family and friends’ circles.

The book was very mind-challenging to me especially as it is written from the perspective of a young boy and in his own words. It sheds light on the progressive banalization of violence and its disastrous psychological effects.

The debates and writings [on Africa’s relations with rising powers] tend sometimes to be very binary without much nuance.

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About the Author

Folashadé Soulé-Kohndou

is a senior research associate and lecturer in International Relations at the University of Oxford.

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‘Writing Is a Journey’