René Maran’s Batouala: the leading role of the colonized

Abstract

This article analyzes the book Batouala, by René Maran, from a postcolonial point of view. We aim to make a summary of the 19th century, marked by the diffusion of racial theories and by the European neocolonialism in the African continent. Then we will contextualize the beginning of the 20th century with the emergence of the European avant-garde that found in the “primitive” African arts a new form of inspiration and the continuity of the thought of “superiority” to justify the atrocities committed in the colonies. To conduct this analysis, we do not dwell on the aspects of ritual tribal customs, initiation feasts, dances, and hunting. We examine the book through the perspective of the colonized, highlighting critical points and whenever possible relating them to the critical work of Franz Fanon.