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Le messianisme ou de la légitime imposture politique: Une lecture de En attendant le vote des bêtes sauvages d'Ahmadou Kourouma
- Rocky Mountain Review
- Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association
- Volume 66, Number 2, Fall 2012
- pp. 185-200
- 10.1353/rmr.2012.0028
- Article
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In Sub-Saharan Africa, one observes a consubstantial intricacy based on a contemporary reality of power where messianism, built on both indigenous and non-indigenous rituals, plays a crucial role in the political arena. This article examines the methods and the legitimacy of the ideological resumption of the "Messiah" myth and its reinvention into terms like "Father of the Nation," "Providential Guide," etc., by political leaders shortly after their African countries gained independence from France. It also shows that "postcolonial messianism," a strategy often used by the power elite, and employed as a new political tool to replace the old order, (colonial or neo-colonial), rather resembles what John L. Austin calls "legitimate imposture."