Between Afropolitans and New Sankaras Class Mobility and the Reproduction of Academics in Burkina Faso

ARTICLES Between Afropolitans and new Sankaras Class mobility and the reproduction of academics in Burkina Faso

Michelle Engeler

Abstract: Using the notion of Afropolitanism, which refers to highly mobile and well-connected “Africans of the world,” this article examines the relative privileges of university graduates within Burkina Faso across generational divides. Compari- sons emerge between cohorts graduating in the 1970s and the 2010s. While graduates of the 1970s enjoyed access to a privileged status through their local university education and a related network of global cosmopolitan qualifi cations and credentials, contemporary students have only limited access to this route of class mobility. Th e frustration engendered by this helps to explain the shape of the uprising that ousted the president of Burkina Faso in 2014, as the diminishing access to Afropol- itan identities pitches the younger generation of students into diff erent emerging constellations of political mobilization. Keywords: academics, Burkina Faso, class, generations, mobility

“La patrie ou la mort nous vaincrons” (Home- Th e theorist and philosopher Achille Mbembe land or death, we shall overcome)—such was the has also refl ected on the notion of Afropolitans.1 motto of the famous national leader and revo- He emphasizes the position of Africa and Afri- lutionary fi gure of Burkina Faso, Th omas San- cans in the global world and argues in a recent kara, in the 1980s. Th is emotive call to action interview that “Afropolitanism is a name for was resurrected, resung, reshared, and retweeted undertaking a critical refl ection on the many in 2014 as many Burkinabe, among them also ways in which, in fact, there is no world without students, mobilized and took to the streets to Africa and there is no Africa that is not part of overthrow a government that they saw as part of it,” and further, “Afropolitanism is a geography a corrupt political elite out of touch with their of circulation and mobility” (Mbembe and Bal- needs and that prevented their access to aspira- akrishnan 2016: 29, 34). tional promises for a brighter future as “highly Although the notion of Afropolitans does not mobile and well connected, successful young Af- represent an emic expression stemming from ricans of the world,” in the words of Taiye Selasi within Burkina Faso, I perceive its semantic re- (2005), a novelist and photographer, who in one lation to mobility and cosmopolitanism raised of her essays names them “Afropolitans.” by both Selasi and Mbembe as helpful to cap-

Focaal—Journal of Global and Historical Anthropology 80 (2018): 77–90 © Stichting Focaal and Berghahn Books doi:10.3167/fcl.2018.800106 78 | Michelle Engeler ture what past students oft en represented and education and universities in (West) Africa and that of which present-day students dream. Fur- Burkina Faso. Th e next section focuses on the thermore, one of the concept’s critiques, which present-day campus of the public university in argues that the term promotes the rapacious Ouagadougou, including its politics, students, consumerism of the African elites who repre- and professors. Th e third section portrays two sent that “mobile Afropolitan class” (raised by, students of the 1970s, and the fi nal section e.g., Dabiri 2014, 2016; Gehrmann 2016), is in- concludes by discussing the reproduction of deed helpful for my purpose, as young students academics, the challenging passing of “Afro- also have materialistic dreams about their future politanism” or “middle-class status” from one lifestyle. In fact, it is the students’ dreams com- generation to the next, and new means of or- bined with Sankara’s ideology that adds to the ganizing for political change in contemporary picture and promotes a more nuanced perspec- Burkina Faso. tive “between Afropolitans and new Sankaras.” I return to this complex of themes and historic actuality throughout this article when examin- Life courses and the university ing students, both past and present, and how as political arena they position themselves in relation to their national history, and in particular to revolutionary Th e points of departure of this article are the life moments and heroic political fi gures. Th is con- course experiences of diff erent generations of tribution compares university cohorts from the students at the public university in Ouagadou- 1970s, when the public university was institu- gou, Burkina Faso, which since 2015 has been tionalized in independent Burkina Faso—back called Université Ouaga 1 Professeur Joseph Ki- then called the République Haute-Volta, or the Zerbo, abbreviated to Université Ouaga 1 Pr JKZ Republic of Upper Volta—with students en- (see, e.g., Bassole 2015). Ouagadougou’s public rolled in the 2010s. Th is article’s main concern university was founded in 1969 as the Centre is to understand the reproduction of Burkinabe d’enseignement supérieur and became an offi - academics and the related class mobility amid cial university in 1974 (McFarland and Rupley political transformation processes. By compar- 1998). Compared to the neighboring former ing the two generations of students, their life French colonies, this was a relatively late devel- histories and ways of organizing, this article fi rst opment: Senegal, for instance, established the reveals the diminishing access to class mobility fi rst francophone university in 1957, renamed through the local university, as the homeland no Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar in 1987 longer holds the promise of a well-connected (Ouedraogo and Traore 2010: 3). Th us, the Ré- and upwardly mobile Afropolitan identity. Th e publique Haute-Volta, or the Republic of Upper frustration engendered by this disruption of Volta, as the country was called aft er indepen- upward class mobility second helps to explain dence in 1960 and until 1984, did not have any why student union movements have lost much institutes of higher education before 1969.2 By of their good reputation and did not play a van- then, the education of the national leaders, or guard role during the 2014 Burkinabe uprising. cadre, was—just as during the colonial period— Finally, the article demonstrates the need for a accomplished at the universities of neighboring transnational and global historical perspective, countries like Senegal or Côte d’Ivoire, or in Eu- as national or continental borders cannot con- rope, mainly in France (2010: 4). fi ne the reproduction of academics, class mobil- In general, the literature states that the uni- ity, and political transformation processes. versities of West Africa (at least the European- Th e article is organized as follows: the fi rst style ones; Islamic universities are far older) section provides the reader with background in- were mostly built aft er World War II and related formation on the history and context of higher to the colonial administrators’ demand for local Between Afropolitans and new Sankaras | 79 staff (Eckert 2000: 244).3 Moreover, there were Following this brief regional, institutional, only a small number of institutions of higher and historic background of (West) African uni- education. In postcolonial West Africa many versities, I now proceed to change our perspec- of the newly independent states invested in the tive and take a closer look at people “making” creation of universities or higher education in- and “living” the public university in Ouaga- stitutions, and the transition from the colonial dougou. In other words, I shall follow Th andika to postcolonial period was also marked by the Mkandawire’s call to have a closer look at people “intellectualization of political culture,” to quote actually “animating the universities in Africa” the well-known Africanist Ali A. Mazrui (1978: (1995: 75) instead of emphasizing only the cri- 17). Hence, the fi rst generations of graduates, of- sis of institutions of higher education and their ten trained in France or Great Britain, returned dilapidation—not least in order to understand to their motherlands and inspired not only the the reproduction of academics in Burkina Faso. creation of local universities but also postcolonial politics. Th ey became the intellectual and political elites of their countries. An insightful “Th ousands of new Sankaras”: article by Andrea Behrends and Carola Lentz Today’s students (2012) sheds light on these developments in Ghana by describing the history of formal edu- Th e initial focus of my oral life history research cation over three generations of highly educated project was a group of older people who studied men and women from a marginalized region and graduated in the 1970s.7 During my fi eld- in northern Ghana. Th ey show that the very work, I supplemented these historical narratives fi rst of them were elites, whereas the following by interviewing current professors and students generations have oft en struggled to achieve or as well. Finally, this article also draws on partic- maintain some degree of middle-class status. ipant observation of present-day university life Th us, higher education was and is an avenue to collected during my fi eldwork between January higher status, but while the fi rst generation of and September 2014 in Ouagadougou, when I locally trained academics are oft en described spent a considerable amount of time on campus as sociopolitical elites, present-day students in- between more formal interviews.8 During that stead oft en struggle to make ends meet and are time, I learned that the university represents a not necessarily part of the local struggle to be highly political arena and that, both in the past part of the recently much-hyped “Africa rising” and in the present, many students are actively and related scientifi c discourses on the African involved in various associations, union move- middle classes.4 ments, or political parties that seek to actively However, independence and postcolonial shape the political landscape. political transformation processes also brought the military forces back into leading positions, Present-day campus life which frequently resulted in serious confl icts between academics or intellectuals and military- One of the students I became acquainted with trained leaders. Moreover, tensions between during my fi eld stays was George Ouédraogo. colonial-trained educators/professors and post- At the time of our conversations, he was 27 colonial students shaped the early years of many years old and studied history, one of approx- institutions of higher education in West Africa.5 imately 35,000 students who were enrolled at Much of the literature, including recent con- the Université Ouaga 1 Pr JKZ in 2014.9 His tributions, that deals with higher education in case illustrates what I consider typical for many Africa is at least partly concerned with the com- present-day students: George lived with his un- plex topic of the politics of and around educa- cle about 12 kilometers from the city center and tional systems and institutions.6 university campus in the peri-urban outskirts. 80 | Michelle Engeler

Each morning, he lined up with hundreds of instance, to how teaching was organized and other people who used the road to the city cen- alludes to the fact that the staff -student ratios ter—rarely on foot, mostly by bicycle, motor- were very low compared to other countries in bike, or car. Neither of his parents, who lived the world. Moreover, he depicts the high expen- in the countryside, had attended university, ditures in nonacademic areas and describes the and they had a rather moderate income—again immense costs of students’ support, which in quite common for many present-day students: the case of Burkina Faso amounted to 81 per- most students at the public university in Oua- cent of the total primary school budget (1985: gadougou come from rather precarious house- 4)—hence, he suggested corresponding budget holds with parents who did not attend higher cutbacks, which were later realized as Burkina education institutions.10 Unlike in the 1970s, Faso signed the structural adjustment programs better-off families and highly qualifi ed parents in 1991 (5). in the 2010s no longer send their children to It is possible to conclude that foreign alterna- the public university but, depending on their tives/interventions and private institutions have resources, prefer to enroll them at other, more undermined the university as a public and local prestigious private local institutions of higher vehicle for education and upward class mobil- education or at private or public universities ity. Yet, these transformations have also drained abroad. Th ere has been increased privatization local public interest and investment into this of the school system in Burkina Faso since the state-supported institution of middle-class re- 1990s, and private universities started to estab- production because local elites now seek to lish themselves particularly in Ouagadougou sustain their own position as Afropolitans and (Pilon 2004). In this context, Anne-Emmanuèle reproduce this status through their own chil- Calvès and colleagues state that growing disap- dren, rather than through a new generation of pointment vis-à-vis public schools in particu- students from the countryside. Th is can be ob- lar has pushed wealthy urban families to send served in the context of George Ouédraogo’s their children into the private system, a trend many activities that help him to survive eco- that has increased social selectivity (2013: 136). nomically. Hence, he was not just a student but Jacinthe Mazzocchetti (2014) also argues that has worked in various places. At the time of the university in Ouagadougou lost much of our conversation, he taught history at the high its good reputation in the 1990s, when Burkina school level and gave private lessons to some Faso signed the structural adjustment programs pupils from better-off families, among other required from the International Monetary Fund things.11 At the same time George was prepar- (IMF) and the World Bank (in 1991). Th e major ing his master’s degree in history on the Tribu- cuts to public spending and concomitant lib- naux populaires de la révolution, the People’s eralization processes had deleterious eff ects on Revolutionary Tribunals established during education, for instance, by reducing the number Sankara’s presidency. George was particularly of professors per student and decreasing student interested in one aspect of Sankara’s system of allowances (2014: 6). courts: the idea of sending defendants to trial In contrast to the narrative of external pres- for corruption, tax evasion, or “counterrevo- sure put on the Burkinabe state and its educa- lutionary” activities. As George talked about tion system, Keith Hinchliff e’s (1985) World Sankara and the tribunals, I quickly learned Bank working paper hints at another facet of that he, like many other young people in Oua- the story by mentioning the immense amount gadougou, saw Sankara as his idol. He proudly of money spent in countries like the Republic recited his speeches and showed his fascination of Upper Volta/Burkina Faso to establish and for Sankara’s way of looking at things, trying maintain higher education institutions in the himself to follow his principles. George was one 1980s. Hinchliff e relates these high costs, for of the “new Sankaras” growing up aft er Sanka- Between Afropolitans and new Sankaras | 81 ra’s assassination in 1987, and he embodies the ation national des etudiants burkinabè (ANEB) veracity of a popular Sankara quote: “You can were not at the forefront of the political changes kill Sankara today, but tomorrow thousands of of 2014. Instead, social movements like Le new Sankaras will be born” (“Tuez Sankara au- balai citoyen (the Citizen’s Broom, or the Civic jourd’hui, demain naitront des milliers d’autres Broom), an association that arose in 2010, fi g- Sankara,” quoted in, e.g, Hagberg 2015: 118).12 ured among the key actors.13 Other important Being a “new Sankara” went hand in hand with participants included women’s movements, the distancing himself from those in power—at the movement ça suffi t, the Collective anti-référen- time of research from President Blaise Com- dum, opposition parties, and others (for details, paoré and his entourage, who were later ousted see Hagberg et al. 2015: 203). Th ese movements by the social movements of 2014. were also actively present on social media and To gain a better understanding of these events followed by many students like George. and the revolutionary position of past and pres- Th ere is much literature on student union ent students at the university, a brief excursion movements such as the ANEB, for instance, into Burkina Faso’s history is necessary. Blaise contextualized by the social unrests between Compaoré, former ally and friend of Sankara, 1998 and 2001, which followed the assassina- was later involved in a coup d’état during which tion of the journalist Norbert Zongo, or in 2011, Sankara was murdered. Compaoré thereaft er when the student Justin Zongo died aft er being became head of state and remained president of assaulted while in police custody.14 Against the Burkina Faso from 1987 until 2014. His resig- background of the reproduction of local ac- nation followed the so-called Burkinabe upris- ademics and the blocked paths for social mo- ing, which refers to a series of demonstrations bility through the university, it is, however, not and riots in Ouagadougou in October 2014 that surprising that student unions have lost much quickly spread to other cities in Burkina Faso of their reputation as sites of hope and prom- (Hagberg et al. 2015). Th e unrest began in re- ise. Social movements like Le balai citoyen, in sponse to attempts at changing the constitution contrast, captured current discontent much bet- to allow Compaoré to run again for president ter and were successfully represented by “new and extend his 27 years in offi ce. Th e protests Sankaras” and “Afropolitans.” An example is one were driven by masses of people, many of whom of the movements’ leaders, commonly known were university students and young graduates. as Smockey: a son of a Burkinabe father and a Sankara’s slogan (inspired by Che Guevara) “La French mother, he studied in France and be- patrie ou la mort nous vaincrons” (Homeland came a well-known artist in diff erent settings or death, we shall overcome) was, as discussed and countries (De Bonneval 2011). Th us, he rep- earlier, omnipresent and served as a popular re- resents both a mobile African of the world and a frain, also for songs from local musicians and strong supporter of the Burkinabe cause. in discussions on social media like Facebook or To sum up, my fi rst conversations with young Twitter. In the end, Compaoré yielded to pres- people on the campus of the university in Oua- sure from the streets and fl ed the country. Soon gadougou introduced me to some aspects of aft er, a transitional government took over and Burkina Faso’s sociopolitical terrain, the com- organized presidential elections in 2015. plex world of present-day students and young Campus life at the time of research in the graduates, and “the past in the present,” as fi rst half of 2014 can be characterized as being shown by personalities like Th omas Sankara, in preparation for the “next revolution,” and who constantly infl uence the life and perspec- students were also part of the Burkinabe upris- tives of young graduates, also in terms of the ing. Importantly and contrary to former periods complex dynamics of knowledge production, of political change, strikes, and civil unrests, the the universities’ relation to the former colonies, student unions and associations like the Associ- and the politics of and around the university 82 | Michelle Engeler campus. Earlier utopian aspirations of nation- terviewed by local newspapers and asked to re- hood that promised personal social mobility fl ect on current political issues, including topics through political revolution and economic de- that went beyond educational matters at the velopment were historically based on university university, and he was frequently invited to institutions (including union movements), with several roundtables. I was able to participate in students as both the drivers of change and the one of these events, which discussed the topic benefi ciaries of its outcomes. Nowadays, other of political ideology and was organized by the social movements appear to be more successful. local research institute L’institut Général Tié- To fully understand these generational cleav- moko Marc Garango pour la gouvernance et le ages, it is worth turning to more senior mem- developpement (IGD) and the Fondation inter- bers of the university, who enjoy many of the national du parti centre suédois (CIS). During privileges to which students aspire. that conference, Professor Somé gave a lecture and discussed the necessity of having a politi- In between: Current professors cal idea, a kind of future vision for society, with the mainly young audience. Professor Somé on During my research stay, I got to know some of that occasion also accused contemporary youth the present-day professors, that is, the teachers of only having individualistic and capitalist of the current generation of students, and I con- dreams instead of pursuing more social goals. ducted several interviews to familiarize myself Overall, professors like Mr. Somé can be with their professional career trajectories. Most described as representatives of a cosmopolitan of them studied in the 1990s, probably a couple academic class enmeshed in global networks of years in Burkina Faso and then on to obtain with wide-reaching international contacts and their doctorates in countries like France or Bel- as local opinion leaders. Revealingly, many of gium. Because of their academic development, the professors I interviewed were not especially they have had fairly mobile life trajectories and successful and complemented their teaching experienced diff erent regional settings within with engagements in consultancy projects to and beyond the African continent. One could increase their income. Th ese secondary jobs describe these highly qualifi ed people who re- oft en led to their reduced presence on campus, turn to their country of origin as “returnees”; which was criticized by students like George however, the chance that they will continue their Ouédraogo who experienced huge diffi culties mobile lifestyle for professional reasons remains in making appointments with their professors. quite high. Mr. Somé shall serve as an example In regard to the reproduction of local academ- here, in that he represents a well-known profes- ics, the relationship between current professors sor of philosophy for whom it was diffi cult to and students exemplifi es the breakdown of di- fi nd much time to participate in an interview. rect contact between established professors and Th e few times I got to talk to him, I learned that the students, who are no longer trained to take he had studied in Burkina Faso, completed his their place. Th is disjuncture between pathways studies in France, and then had the opportu- toward Afropolitanism appears even more pro- nity to become a professor back at the univer- nounced when we examine the life histories of sity in Ouagadougou, which, as he explained students who graduated in the 1970s. Th ese men to me, was an opportunity he did not refuse— built cosmopolitan identities on the foundation among other reasons to “help to develop the of their student careers at the local university, country.” yet they enroll their children in other institu- In Ouagadougou, I soon learned that Pro- tions, thereby bearing witness to the declining fessor Somé was not only a successful academic position of the university in a global market- who had written many books and articles but place of academic credentials and professional also a popular opinion leader. He was oft en in- qualifi cations. Between Afropolitans and new Sankaras | 83

Afropolitans, nation builders, academics: view each interview as an encounter with self- Th e students of the 1970s representations in which interviewees position themselves within their national landscapes and In the 1970s, campus life in Burkina Faso dif- Afropolitan imaginaries (Rosenthal 1993). Th ere- fered signifi cantly from nowadays—the univer- fore, details that go beyond the linguistic do- sity had 374 students in 1974, most of whom main (such as time, location, demeanor, dress, had a bursary and lived in student dormitories. housing) are noteworthy, as well as interview- As for politics, times were restless and in partic- ees’ understanding of historical events and their ular shaped by the military: from the dissolution positioning as part of a national vanguard. of the First Republic (1966) to the proclamation of the Second Republic (1970) and its dissolu- Between teaching and public service tion (1974), the country sailed on to become the Th ird Republic (1977). In 1980, the regime of Mr. Sanogo resided in a huge house that included Lieutenant-Colonel Aboubacar Sangoulé Lam- an annex and a garage and that was walled and izana, who had been in power since 1966, was guarded by a watchman. Our talks took place fi nally overthrown aft er massive protests and outside the building on the spacious and cov- Colonel Saye Zerbo from the Comité militaire ered veranda with comfortable armchairs, pretty de redressement pour le progrès national (CM- fl owers, and friendly dogs. Th e housemaid al- RPN) took power, only to be overthrown two ways served us beer, not local ones but Desper- years later by the Conseil provisoire de salut du ados, which was formerly brewed by a French people (CPSP), headed by Commander Jean- beer company (Brasserie Fischer) but is nowa- Baptiste Ouédraogo. It is Ouédraogo who in- days owned by Heineken, a multinational com- stalled Sankara as prime minister, but Sankara pany based in the Netherlands. During one of was briefl y imprisoned in 1983 and, soon aft er our meetings, his grandchild stayed with us his release, joined Blaise Compaoré and Henri for a while and was later picked up by his fa- Zongo in a military putsch that overthrew his ther, that is, Mr. Sanogo’s son. On that occasion former ally Ouédraogo. Aft er this, Sankara be- Mr. Sanogo mentioned in passing that his own came head of state, and the CPSP was replaced children mostly went to private institutions of by the Conseil national de la Révolution (CNR). higher education or attended university abroad On the revolution’s fi rst anniversary, the coun- rather than the local university in Burkina Faso. try was renamed Burkina Faso. Th ree years later, Once Mr. Sanogo started talking, it was very in 1987, aft er a coup d’état and the assassination diffi cult to interrupt him or to ask questions. My of Sankara, Compaoré became the new head of research assistant and I accepted the challenge state and remained in power until 2014.15 and ended up sitting on the veranda several Th is is by necessity a broad outline of Bur- times to listen to his narratives on his life and kina Faso’s recent history, which has specifi cally career trajectory and to at least try to ask one been informed by a succession of military men. or two questions. Interestingly, Mr. Sanogo had However, as the following short biographies of certain story lines that he repeated each time students of the 1970s will show, not only the and that hence refer to the compositional struc- country’s history has infl uenced the life trajec- ture of Mr. Sanogo’s orally narrated life history. tories of the local educational elite (and vice Mr. Sanogo was born in 1946 in Bobo- versa), but events, processes, and movements Dioulasso. Like many students past and present, in other countries and continents have as well. he completed his primary and secondary edu- In general, my intention in gathering life histo- cation in Catholic institutions, which are oft en ries and contextualizing them as events is not organized as residential boarding schools run so much to establish the credibility of personal by predominantly European Catholic priests or narratives as historical accounts but rather to monks. While some of my interview partners 84 | Michelle Engeler stressed their families’ infl uence when ex- all of these groups formed the Union générale plaining why they ended up in these boarding des étudiants voltaïques (UGEV), based in Da- schools—most oft en parents or uncles were kar. With the opening of the public university in members of the military and pushed the chil- Ouagadougou, the UGEV also opened a branch dren into formal education—others reminded in Burkina Faso: the Association des étudiants me that the colonial authorities forced them to voltaïques de Ouagadougou (AEVO), aft erward go to school. Mr. Sanogo, however, had a dif- renamed the Association nationale des étudi- ferent explanation and said, with a twinkle in ants burkinabé (ANEB), which is still actively his eye, that he himself had wanted to go to that present on campus these days. particular school because the pupils there had However, Mr. Sanogo did not get lost in de- nice uniforms with berets, and he wanted to tails about 1968—or about his own commitment have that attire too. to the protests in Senegal—but instead empha- Although designated to become a priest, sized that he was later sent to France to fi nish in the 1960s he decided instead to become a his studies. He completed his diploma and re- teacher and attended the teachers’ college in turned to Burkina Faso in 1969 to start teaching Bobo-Dioulasso. He explained that decision philosophy at the high school Prytanée militaire and change of course various times to me, and du Kadiogo (PMK), where Th omas Sankara was always with reference to his wife, Claire, whom one of the students, and at the Cours normal he met around that time. des jeunes fi lle, where Jacqueline Ki-Zerbo, the In 1966, the local authorities selected him to wife of Joseph Ki-Zerbo, was also teaching. In continue his training at the university in Dakar, the politically turbulent years that followed, Mr. Senegal, and Mr. Sanogo went there to study Sanogo gave up teaching and entered the state philosophy. However, in May 1968, associa- administration to work for the Ministry of Ed- tions of Senegalese students called for a strike ucation and Culture. However, another person of indefi nite length and for a boycott of all ex- with a higher university degree soon replaced aminations (see Bianchini 2004). As a reaction, him. Mr. Sanogo instead got a scholarship to police quashed riots on campus, and armed go to the United States and fi nally obtained his forces expelled foreign students from the coun- PhD from the University of Southern California try (e.g., Staff ord 2009: 129). Th ey were said to before returning to Burkina Faso in 1982. Be- have fomented the unrest. It is important to cause of his connections with Sankara, whom note that at that point in time the fi rst genera- he knew from high school, in the following tion of Burkinabe students were oft en enrolled years he again worked for the Ministry of Ed- at the university in Dakar before coming to the ucation. Toward the end of the revolutionary newly established public university in Ouaga- period, he also became a professor at the uni- dougou. In Senegal, they actively participated versity in Ouagadougou and, following the as- in the student movements of the time. Th e cre- sassination of Sankara, decided to remain there. ation of the Fédération des étudiants d’Afrique But around 2000, aft er he had written a dissen- noire en France (FEANF) in France in 1950 is tient article for a local newspaper, the university described as the initial phase for social move- administration suddenly cast doubt on his qual- ments among African students, including in ifi cations and degree and initiated proceedings the Burkinabe context, as, for instance, Joseph to review him. He decided to leave campus and Ki-Zerbo was among their members and later instead started to work as a consultant for vari- presided over the Association des étudiants vol- ous research projects, fi nanced among others by taïques en France (AEVF), a structure related the United Nations Development Programme to the FEANF (Bianchini 2015: 87). Ki-Zerbo (UNDP). went on to become the cofounder of the Mou- At the time of research, he was still busy with vement de libération national (MLN). In 1960, this type of work and oft en present at diff erent Between Afropolitans and new Sankaras | 85 roundtables or workshops, mostly sponsored by diploma in 1983, he started to work for the RTB international donors or research institutes. and worked there until 2013. At the time of our conversation, he was busy launching his own Pioneers and unionists recording studio and worked for the RTB on a project-by-project basis. I was waiting for Gabriel Somda, born in the Mr. Somda explained to me that the RTB was early 1950s, at the cafeteria of the principal of- actually one of the fi rst national radio and TV fi ce of the national Radio Broadcasting and stations in francophone West Africa and was al- Television Station of Burkina Faso (Radiodiff u- most constantly on air. He and a couple of others sion télévision du Burkina Faso, RTB) and had of the same generation were the fi rst producers never seen him before. I had thought I would there who had a university background—they meet a person in suit pants and probably a were pioneers, he proudly explained me. Because short-sleeved shirt. Instead, a man dressed in of his passion for music, he was asked to produce fashionable jeans, T-shirt, and baseball cap dy- music clips and, more generally, culture-related namically headed toward my table and, aft er broadcasts, and he had the opportunity to work greeting countless people, took a seat in a casual in various cities in the world. and unceremonious way. In fact, Mr. Somda Over the course of our conversation, I learned looked like he did not respect age—or the re- that his brother was a very close and rather well- lated attributes of seniority I oft en saw in Oua- known ally of Sankara, and that Mr. Somda also gadougou—and instead created a completely knew many of the current ministers and poli- diff erent kind of accessible image outside of the ticians because many of them were also mem- established forms of hierarchy. bers of the student union movement ANEVO Mr. Somda began to study linguistics at the (later ANEB), which, as he sarcastically noted, newly established university in 1974 aft er com- had once battled against those in power only pleting his primary and secondary education to now themselves suppress student unrests. in diff erent towns of the country. Aft er a cou- He was adept at navigating the political terrain ple of years, he applied to the African Institute and continuously worked for the RTB, and he for Cinematography (Institut africain d’édu- was even able to pursue private endeavors such cation cinématographique, INAFEC) and was as the production of music clips. However, he accepted. Already one year later, however, he himself related his steady career not to his suc- was excluded from that institute and from the cessful maneuvering but to his personality and university because he actively participated in ideology, which is strongly informed by his local student protests between 1978 and 1979. ethnic background, the Dagara-speaking com- Th e student union movements organized these munity, and related beliefs. To underpin this, he protests, and Mr. Somda was an active member explained that he had long ago left the Catholic of the aforementioned AEVO. Because he was Church but remained strongly attached to local unable to continue his studies in Burkina Faso, beliefs into which he had been initiated years his parents decided to send him to Abidjan; before. According to him, that was also why his however, he explained to me that the authori- wife had left him to live in Bobo-Dioulasso in- ties had already blocked his matriculation there, stead of Ouagadougou. His only child, a daugh- making it impossible for him to continue with ter, stems from another relationship. his studies. Instead, he decided to make music and travel to Lagos, among other places, where Afropolitans at ease he was inspired by Fela Kuti’s Afrobeat. In 1981, he nevertheless returned to Ouagadougou and To summarize, the samples of biographical ma- fi nished his studies at the university and the terial of students of the 1970s show a diversity INAFEC, respectively. Right aft er receiving his of actual paths, entrance points, and exits in 86 | Michelle Engeler how they tried various educational pathways, processes in Burkina Faso. A point of compar- sometimes changing educational institutions ison between the 1970s and the present is that and punctuating their educational experiences the university as an institution draws in or en- with periods of employment and travel. Hence, rolls students from similarly humble and mostly their own actions, also based on their distinctive rural backgrounds. Hence, Mr. Sanogo (who perceptions and motivations, have shaped their enrolled in the 1970s) and George Ouédraogo educational and vocational decision making. (who studies nowadays) both came from rural However, the political circumstances strongly areas and had parents who had little formal infl uenced their experiences and led to oft en education. Moreover, in their lives as students very mobile life trajectories that underwent sev- similar political ideals and ways of organizing eral changes of course. Whether a student of the themselves exist—be it in union movements 1970s nowadays spends his aft ernoons on his or associations. As my example of the young own private veranda with children who study in 27-year-old history student shows, these his- the United States strongly depends on the capa- torical parallels mean that political ideals of bility and creativity to maneuver the oft en com- the past still resonate today. George was inter- plex political terrain. Mr. Sanogo and Mr. Somda ested not only as an academic in the legacies have succeeded quite well: Mr. Sanogo pursued of Th omas Sankara; he was also committed to his studies at the fi rst institutions of higher ed- Sankara’s ideas and ideals in order to give sense ucation designated to educate future teachers, to his everyday life. It goes without saying that and later became a public servant and a univer- these similarities provoke questions related to sity professor, while Mr. Somda profi ted from the making of locally educated people and fu- studying languages as well as cinematography ture leaders of the country. and started to work at the national Radio and In the 1970s, future elites were trained at the TV station. Both men can be described as Afro- public university in Ouagadougou. Yet, the lo- politans in the sense that they were highly mo- cal university no longer represents a vehicle for bile and well connected. Hence, the students of class mobility anymore: those graduates who the 1970s actually represent a type of pioneer, or successfully completed their degrees and be- proto-Afropolitan, who returned to their roots. came part of an educated elite send their chil- Moreover, this generation of academics helped dren abroad rather than to the Université Ouaga to form a nation in the making and coestab- 1 Pr JKZ. Th ey thereby simply try to pass on lished a particular perspective of their country’s their Afropolitan, that is, mobile life trajectory future, as well as their own, by becoming part of in the hope that a diploma from a European or student unions like the ANEVO (later ANEB) US university would be more helpful to “be- or by taking up Sankara’s revolutionary ideas. come somebody” or to remain part of a middle Finally, they formed part of “the upper eche- class in the sociopolitical terrain back home. lons of educated professionals, civil servants, In contrast, present-day students and gradu- military, clergy and politicians in Africa” (Lentz ates in Ouagadougou do not represent Afropol- forthcoming: 3) and thus represented national itans and remain unsure whether they can even elites—not only in their own words but also in expect a middle-class future. Th us, their student the way in which they entered scientifi c debates. experiences are diff erent compared to those of the 1970s when, as discussed, Mr. Sanogo and Mr. Somda studied in the context of regional Conclusion exchange, pan-Africanism, and student union movements, and benefi ted from small student Th is article started with a discussion of the re- numbers as well as fi nancial support from the production of academics and its relation to state when studying both at home and abroad. class mobility amid political transformation Budget cuts, structural changes, and political Between Afropolitans and new Sankaras | 87 transformation processes since the 1990s have dents, such as Le balai citoyen. By doing this, altered local educational opportunities, and en- they participate in political change and dream tering professional life has become very diffi cult, of Afropolitan status—but not only in Burkina especially in the context of fi nding desirable jobs Faso: the Burkinabe uprising and its key actors commensurate with students’ degrees. Nowa- and movements represent a great inspiration days, the transition from education to work is for many people and social groups in neighbor- far more diffi cult, or at least elongated. Without ing countries and farther afi eld. Th ese fi ndings state funding and because of their humble back- highlight the importance of discussing the mak- grounds, students are forced into various parallel ers and breakers of African universities, their activities, and most of them work while enrolled claims to the past, and their ambitions to train to make ends meet. Many of them struggle to future professors and decision makers in trans- make the transition from these piecemeal jobs to national perspective. stable employment with future prospects. Despite, or maybe because of, these changes, present-day students are still inspired by the he- Acknowledgments roes and ideologies of the past. Th ey creatively combine these ideals with more contemporary Th e Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) aspirations for a good life and new ways of or- generously funded data collection for this arti- ganizing themselves. While their everyday life cle. In addition, I am grateful for the fi nancial is extremely localized and their capacity to support of the research fund for outstanding progress physically and fi nancially restricted, junior researchers of the University of Basel, they are well connected to the outside world which has made publication possible. Data through virtual networks. Th us, they are part analysis and the fi rst draft of this article de- of a global youthscape that is both capitalistic veloped during the generous fellowship of the and nostalgic. And yet, when they coordinate International Research Center on Work and themselves as a local youthful body, they be- Human Lifecycle in Global History (re:work) come strong political actors with the power to at the Humboldt University Berlin in Germany. change the course of national history, as the Furthermore, I would like to thank Charlotte developments in Burkina Faso in 2014 showed. Bruckermann and two anonymous reviewers Although students of the 1970s enjoyed inter- for vital comments on earlier versions of this ar- national connections, migratory experiences, ticle. I am also deeply grateful to my informants and good job prospects, contemporary students in Burkina Faso, who shared their life stories have the power of sheer numbers as they mo- with me. Special thanks go to my research assis- bilize en masse within a mainly local context tant, Nestor Zante, who is now a PhD student at but equipped with global tools. Struggles over the Centre for African Studies Basel. class mobility and generational hierarchy inter- sect within the shift ing landscape of academic institutions and the opportunities they provide Michelle Engeler holds a PhD in social an- to those aspiring to attain a novel status. Impor- thropology and is currently a postdoctoral re- tantly, the lasting legacy of particular political searcher at the Centre for African Studies Basel fi gures transcends generation and class, and (CASB), University of Basel, Switzerland. Her retains the power to motivate and mobilize a research interests focus on the conjunction of younger generation. people’s life trajectories and political transfor- Formerly powerful student union move- mation processes in West Africa and include ments, however, appear to have lost much of analyses of youth, intergenerational relations, their effi cacy, and students increasingly follow and mobility patterns of highly qualifi ed people. social movements that are not specifi c to stu- E-mail: [email protected] 88 | Michelle Engeler

Notes and in 2010, 45,000 students, 10,262 of whom were fi rst-year students (Ouedraogo and Traore 1. Th ere is much debate on who actually “in- 2010: 4, 18). vented” the term (see, e.g., Coetzee 2016). 10. For similar observations, see Mazzocchetti 2. On 11 December 1958, the Republic of Upper (2014) or Kobiané et al. (2009, 2010). Volta became a self-governing colony within the 11. Th is simultaneity of many diff erent income- French Community. Before attaining autonomy, generating activities is quite typical for young it had been French Upper Volta and part of the people living in West Africa (and beyond) (see French Union. On 5 August 1960, the country Engeler 2016; Engeler and Steuer 2017). gained full independence from France. Under 12. Th e articles of Ernest Harsch (1998, 2009, 2013) the rule of Th omas Sankara, who came to power also discuss the legacies of Th omas Sankara. through a military coup d’état on 4 August 1983, 13. See also Le balai cityoyen’s website at www.leb- the country changed its name from Upper Volta alaicitoyen.com (accessed 11 December 2017). to Burkina Faso (on 4 August 1984), meaning 14. Discussed, e.g., in Bianchini and Korbéogo pays des hommes intègres, that is, “land of hon- (2008); Hagberg (2002); Hilgers and Mazzoc- orable people” or “land of incorruptible people.” chetti (2010); Loada (1999, 2006); Mazzocchetti 3. Pierre Van den Berghe explains that the fi rst (2006, 2009, 2014). European-style university appeared on African 15. For useful information about the history of soil in 1827, when the Fourah Bay College was Burkina Faso and Th omas Sankara, I recom- established as a theological seminary in Sierra mend the special issues of the journal Politique Leone (1973: 15). africaine published in 1985 and 1989, both of 4. Scientifi c interest in the so-called middle classes which are introduced by Otayek (1985, 1989). has recently experienced a renaissance; for over- views with an anthropological approach, see, e.g., Carrier and Kalb (2015) or Heiman and References Fehérvá ry (2012) or, particularly helpful in the context of this article, Lentz (2015, 2016). Bassole, Herman Frédéric. 2015. “Enseignement 5. See Sanou (1981) and Sanou and Charmillot supérieur: L’Université de Ouagadougou devient (2010) for further information on the university l’‘Université Ouaga 1 Professeur Joseph Ki- in Ouagadougou. Zerbo.’” Le Faso, 26 December. http://lefaso.net/ 6. For insightful contributions that discuss the re- spip.php?article68833. lations of power and knowledge production, see Behrends, Andrea, and Carola Lentz. 2012. “Educa- Mazrui (1978) or Ogen and Nolte (2016). tion, careers, and home ties: Th e ethnography of 7. I have conducted interviews with both female an emerging middle class from northern Ghana.” and male academics, but the number of male Zeitschrift für Ethnologie 137 (2): 139–164. informants predominated; this representatively Bianchini, Pascal. 2004. École et politique en Afrique refl ects gender distribution at the university in noire: Sociologie des crises et des réformes du the 1970s. Nowadays, the distribution is much système d’enseignement au Sénégal et au Burkina more balanced. For the purpose of this article, Faso (1960–2000). Paris: Karthala. I decided to include a male representative for Bianchini, Pascal. 2015. “Th e three ages of student present-day students as well, as the discussion politics in francophone Africa: Learning form of gender issues with regard to academic repro- the cases of Senegal and Burkina Faso.” In Stu- duction is not the key topic here. In order to dent politics in Africa: Representation and activ- guarantee their anonymity, all names contained ism, ed. Th ierry M.Luescher, Manja Klemenčič, are pseudonyms. and James Otieno Jowi, 85–108. Oxford: African 8. I spent a total of fi ve months in Ouagadougou, Minds. and this was split into two fi eld visits, both of Bianchini, Pascal, and Gabin Korbéogo. 2008. “Le which were funded by the Swiss National Sci- syndicalisme étudiant, des origines à nos jours: ence Foundation (SNSF). Un acteur permanent dans l’évolution socio- 9. Data for 2014; cf. Cissé (2017). For compari- politique du Burkina Faso.” JHEA/RESA 6 (2–3): son, in 1974 the university had 374 students, 33–60. Between Afropolitans and new Sankaras | 89

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