My Country, Africa - (Verso's Southern Questions) by Andrée Blouin (Paperback)

About the Book

""We who have been colonized can never forget" Andrâee Blouin--once called the most dangerous woman in Africa--played a leading role in the struggles for decolonization that shook the continent in the 1950s and '60s, advising the postcolonial leaders of Algeria, both Congos, Ivory Coast, Mali, Guinea, and Ghana. In this autobiography, Blouin retraces her remarkable journey as an African revolutionary. Born in French Equatorial Africa and abandoned at the age of three, she endured years of neglect and abuse in a colonial orphanage, which she escaped after being forced by nuns into an arranged marriage at fifteen. She later became radicalized by the death of her two-year-old son, who was denied malaria medication by French officials because he was one-quarter African. In Guinea, where Blouin was active in Sékou Touré's campaign for independence, she came into contact with leaders of the liberation movement in the Belgian Congo. Blouin witnessed the Congolese tragedy up close as an adviser to Patrice Lumumba, whose arrest and assassination she narrates in unforgettable detail. Blouin offers a sweeping survey of pan-African nationalism, capturing the intricacies of revolutionary diplomacy, comradeship, and betrayal. Alongside intimate portraits of the movement's leaders, Blouin provides insights into the often-overlooked contribution of African women in the struggle for independence."--

Book Synopsis

"We who have been colonized can never forget"

Andrée Blouin--once called the most dangerous woman in Africa--played a leading role in the struggles for decolonization that shook the continent in the 1950s and '60s, advising the postcolonial leaders of Algeria, both Congos, Ivory Coast, Mali, Guinea, and Ghana.

In this autobiography, Blouin retraces her remarkable journey as an African revolutionary. Born in French Equatorial Africa and abandoned at the age of three, she endured years of neglect and abuse in a colonial orphanage, which she escaped after being forced by nuns into an arranged marriage at fifteen. She later became radicalized by the death of her two-year-old son, who was denied malaria medication by French officials because he was one-quarter African.

In Guinea, where Blouin was active in Sékou Touré's campaign for independence, she came into contact with leaders of the liberation movement in the Belgian Congo. Blouin witnessed the Congolese tragedy up close as an adviser to Patrice Lumumba, whose arrest and assassination she narrates in unforgettable detail.

Blouin offers a sweeping survey of pan-African nationalism, capturing the intricacies of revolutionary diplomacy, comradeship, and betrayal. Alongside intimate portraits of the movement's leaders, Blouin provides insights into the often-overlooked contribution of African women in the struggle for independence.

Review Quotes

"Embodying pan-Africanism, Blouin befriended, counseled or lobbied the first presidents or prime ministers of Algeria, both Congos, Ivory Coast, Mali, Guinea and Ghana."
--Stuart A. Reid, New York Times

"An amazingly good and moving description of a childhood blighted by the horrors of colonialism, told by an extraordinary woman ... Riveting."
--Jessica Mitford

"A penetrating study of colonial society."
--Studs Terkel

"Magnificent ... Illuminates our understanding of how the politics of a country shapes its people's lives."
--Tillie Olsen

"Our enemies attack her all the time. Not for what she's done, but simply because she is a woman, and she is there, in the thick of it."
--Patrice Lumumba

"An extraordinary and vital work by one of the towering figures of anticolonial resistance. That Andrée Blouin has not been as renowned as Lumumba, Sankara, Cabral, has always been a scandalous injustice. This new edition of her memoir goes some way to redressing that, and is a publishing and political event of immense importance."
--China Miéville, author of A Spectre, Haunting: On the Communist Manifesto

"Through My Country, Africa, Blouin's extraordinary story is being released for a second time, this time into a world that shows greater interest in the historical contributions of women. New readers will learn of the girl who went from being stashed away by the colonial system, to fighting for the freedom of millions of black Africans."
--Wedaeli Chibelushi, BBC

"This is a must-read for anyone interested in the intersection of race, gender, and freedom."
--Publishers Weekly

"Measured and nuanced ... My Country, Africa is an intense history of colonialism. Blouin's story serves as a microcosm for the near misses, cycles and reason-defying hope that characterise Africa's past."
--Colm McKenna, Irish Times

"Bravo, Verso Books, for publishing Andrée's, more relevant than ever, story."
--Rosita Sweetman, Irish Independent

"All readers of this insider's view of the fight for African independence will be inspired by the contribution made by this important and much neglected woman in the black liberation movement."
--Roger McKenzie, Morning Star

"[Blouin's] general lack of recognition is of course an indictment on the ethnocentric, as well as androcentric, way history is narrated ... riveting"
--Tola Ositelu, Afropean

"A remarkable autobiography that feels like a relevant reflection on the present, not a historical account ... Blouin's voice rings loud and clear throughout her account of her life, conversational and at times proudly regaling. I found myself gripped, like a junior listening to a family elder, and wondered how she seemed so comfortable in her skin and in command of her story despite such painful experiences."
--Nesrine Malik, Guardian

"A moving testimony to political radicalization, independence, and the skillful use of language as a weapon in the hands of a fearless activist. As a woman in the male-dominated world of state leaders in the 1960s, her biography is unique"
--Von Julian Weber, Die Tageszeitung

About the Author

Andrée Blouin was a central figure in the struggles for decolonization that swept Africa in the 1950s and 1960s. Her activism gave her a front-row seat to the triumph and tragedy of national liberation movements across the continent.