The CLA Conable Distinguished Lecture Series in International Studies

CLA Conable Lecture Series presents Elizabeth Schmidt Loyola University MarylandDepartment History Thursday, November 103:30 – 5:00 pmCenter for Campus LifeBamboo Room, 2610Nationalism, Secession, and Guinea's Exit from the French Union:  Reflections on the 'No' Vote in the 1958 Constitutional ReferendumIn September 1958, the people of Guinea voted "no" in an empirewide referendum on a new French constitution that would have perpetuated colonial subordination.  The majority of electors in the seven other French West African territories, in metropolitan France, and in the empire more broadly, endorsed the constitution and joined the new French-dominated Community.  Guinea alone opted for immediate independence as a solitary nation-state.  It chose this path despite strong interterritorial ties and deep sympathies for federalism.  Some historians have argued that Guinean political activists abandoned the more difficult federal project, despite warnings that balkanization would jeopardize African social, economic, cultural, and political development, in favor of the immediate the gratification of national political sovereignty.  This paper counters that the French Community, as defined in the 1958 constitution, did not offer the possibility of a federation in which African states would be equal partners.  The proposed constitution undermined the great federations of French West Africa and French Equatorial Africa, which many had hoped would serve as the basis of large, politically and economically viable African states.  Rather than abandoning federalism, Guinean political thinkers and activists who voted "no" confronted the political reality that metropolitan France would thwart the establishment of federations that were not under its control.  Therefore, political independence, even on a territorial basis, became the precondition for alternative visions of federalism that were Africa centered, rather than focused on the metropole.  For Guinea, territorial independence was not the first choice.  However, it was the best option available in September 1958. Interpreters provided upon request subject to availability. Please make your request today by going to Access.rit.edu