Political Disillusionment and the Fine Line Between Independence and Neo-colonialism in Early Post-colonial Africa: A Literary and Historical Perspective from Senegal with Aminata Sow Fall

Focusing on the role of the French empire in the emergenceof political disenchantment in the early post-independanceFrancophone African society, this paper draws fromAminata Sow Fall’s literary textsLa Grève desbàttu (1979)andL’ex-Père de la nation(1987) to examine the politicalhistory of Senegal. Analysing these texts, we highlight twokey aspects in this political history: the continuous externalinfluence and contemptuous complicity of the formercolonial power in various aspects of governance in post-independent Francophone African countries, and thecomplicity of the post-colonial leaders whose limitedconceptualisation and interpretation of independencecreate conducive conditions for disenchantment. I arguethat these dynamic influences which impact the validity ofindependence in Senegal, also represent the reality ofmany francophone African societies. To foreground thearguments in this article, I shall employ the post-colonialtheory which facilitates the understanding of the impact ofimperialism on ex-colonies, and sociological criticism whicharticulates the relationship between these texts and thesocial realities of the society from whence they emanate,drawing out specific insights about how they align with theinterpretation of the chosen literary sources. In conclusion,I proposed that a re-evaluation of the role of internal andexternal political players is needed for the advancementand genuine emancipation of post-colonial African societie