Crossing ‘La Terre Noire’: Refurbishing Roads and Encountering Sacred Space in Post-Colonial Dahomey and Benin October 20, 2011

Marcus Filippello is a visiting assistant professor in history at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He received his doctorate in African history from the University of California-Davis in 2010. His project, “Crossing the ‘Black Earth’: Environmental Change, Eco-Nationalism, and Post-Independence Autonomy in a Beninese Forest Community,” is based on his dissertation. The manuscript analyzes the textual nature of a road traversing a valley of seasonal wetlands to emphasize social and environmental change in southeastern Benin, West Africa. Professor Filippello will be in residence at the Institute for Advanced Study in fall 2011 with the Environment, Culture, and Sustainability group of Quadrant.

Filippello’s study assesses the complex nature of relationships between Africans and their surrounding environment. In this presentation, he examines how a small rural community in southeastern Dahomey/Benin perceived environmental change in a post-colonial era. Raising questions that address how Africans negotiated the transition towards independence from European colonial rule, he contends that members of the community refashioned nationalist narratives during a road-building project that carved through their valley home. They did so by drawing on the perceived power generated by a sacred forest that lay adjacent to the new route.

Official Website: http://www.ias.umn.edu/thursdayscalf11.php