French Literature Reviews - 2026

V. Y. Mudimbe, L'invention de l'Afrique
Francophone and Oral Literatures

Valentin Y. Mudimbe

The Invention of Africa: Gnosis, Philosophy, and the Order of Knowledge

Présence africaine, coll. « History, Politics, Society », 2021

Translated from English by Laurent Vannini

ISBN: 9782708709508 — 516 pages, 20 €.

It is a strange destiny that defines the trajectory of the book The Invention of Africa (1988), translated here into French by Laurent Vannini. Its author, Valentin Y. Mudimbe, is recognized as one of the finest analysts of the social sciences, classical and modern humanities, and philology; Mudimbe is also an exceptional novelist. Yet it took a generation for his book to be translated into the French language and intellectual traditions that nurtured it. Here, Mudimbe explores three epistemological territories—Greek and Latin philology, religious libraries, and colonial ethnography—to take aim with a certain verve at literatures in search of a "vernacular" Africa, a neo-pharaonic modernity inaugurated by a triumphant ancient Egypt, standing firmly on its African feet, which taught the Greeks a lesson in order to establish an intellectual production detached from the Western world. The book continues to be the subject of commentary and critique. It is undoubtedly one of the most widely cited works in Africanist literature, and is required reading across multiple disciplines in American universities.

V. Y. Mudimbe, born December 8, 1941 in Jadotville (Likasi)

As a young man, he joined a Benedictine monastery to train for the priesthood, but left in order to study the forces that shaped African history. He and his family left Zaire to escape Mobutu's dictatorship in the early 1980s. After teaching at Haverford College and Stanford University, he currently teaches at Duke University.

Mudimbe focuses closely on phenomenology, structuralism, mythic narratives, and the practice and use of language. As a professor, he teaches courses on these subjects, as well as on ancient Greek geography.

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You can read a review of this work by M. Mégevand in the journal Littérature…

And on en-attendant-nadeau.fr:

"Who's Afraid of the Colonial Library?", by Catherine Mazauric (online November 6, 2021).

The French-speaking reader interested in English-language scholarship questioning the Western epistemological order has learned patience: more than twenty years (between 1989 and 2012) to read a French version of The Empire Writes Back by the Australian trio of Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths, and Helen Tiffin; thirteen years (1994–2007) to discover that of The Location of Culture by Homi K. Bhabha; more than twenty years again (1985–2006) for Can the Subaltern Speak? by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak… and thirty-three years (since 1988) before having in hand the French translation by Laurent Vannini of Valentin-Yves Mudimbe's landmark essay, now published by Présence africaine in a series directed by historian Mamadou Diouf, author of an illuminating preface.

Published in French translation by Laurent Vannini, Valentin Y. Mudimbe's study explores three epistemological territories: Greek and Latin philology, religious libraries, and colonial ethnography. The work examines literatures in search of a vernacular Africa and a neo-pharaonic modernity inaugurated by an ancient Egypt that taught the Greeks a lesson, aiming to establish an intellectual production detached from the Western world. The author focuses closely on phenomenology, structuralism, mythic narratives, and the practice and use of language, drawing on his background as a scholar and analyst of the social sciences and humanities.

The trajectory of the book reflects broader dynamics in the circulation of postcolonial and critical thought between the English- and French-speaking academic worlds. As a widely cited work in Africanist literature and required reading across multiple disciplines in American universities, it engages with the Western epistemological order through rigorous critique. Readers interested in contemporary philosophy, African studies, and the critique of colonial knowledge may find this translation by Laurent Vannini a relevant contribution to ongoing intellectual discussions.