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A Certain Amount of Madness: The Life Politics and Legacies of Thomas Sankara by Amber Murrey
utopologist's review against another edition
4.0
Some of these essays are jargon-ridden in order to avoid saying the word "capitalism" since, as one of the last essays mentions, discussing Sankara from his own Marxist-influenced perspective is something that contemporary scholarship and perception in the West ties itself in knots to avoid doing. Many of these essays, however, are well-written and contain a lot of useful information about a criminally under-discussed figure and time period.
The worst essay is absolutely, unequivocally, Craig Phelan's. Whoever that man is, his political analysis is laughably bad and his work in this volume embodies the worst tendencies of white academics to soften the politics of the Global South into something palatable by liberals who don't want to question the current order.
The worst essay is absolutely, unequivocally, Craig Phelan's. Whoever that man is, his political analysis is laughably bad and his work in this volume embodies the worst tendencies of white academics to soften the politics of the Global South into something palatable by liberals who don't want to question the current order.
edmondduong's review against another edition
4.5
For those interested in Thomas Sankara, I would advise you to watch the documentary "Thomas Sankara: The Upright Man".
A Certain Amount of Madness is quite an exceptional collection of essays on the life and legacy of Thomas Sankara. Sankara, in his short reign as leader of Burkina Faso, had shown us a prospect of another future for Africa by building upon humanist socialist ideologies. His focus on the historically disenfranchised — the peasantry, women, the non-urban Burkinabè society — while rejecting neocolonialism and imperialism showed his dedication to reinventing an egalitarian society. His untimely death at the hands of his close ally Compaoré backed by imperialistic France had brought all this progress to a halt. Under Compaoré's rule, Burkina Faso suffered the very problems that Sankara had warned about in accepting foreign aid and loans. Presently, Burkina Faso is a country with one of the lowest HDIs, suffering from effects of structural adjustments, and is rife with corruption, inequality, and many other social problems. From Sankara's ideology, one could imagine a better future that never came true.
The different essays touch on different parts of Sankara's life, policies and ideas, showing his 'madness' in his rejection of Western hegemonic ideologies that were imposed upon many post-colonial western Africa states, favouring instead a society that believes in self-determination over imperialist control. While this book is largely approving of Sankara's rule, it does not shy away from criticising Sankara's shortcomings, some of which had led to his eventual assassination.
While most of the 23 essays in this volume are of quite a high standard, there are a handful that fail to reach this level. Some of the essays are too superficial and others are jargon-filled to the point of unintelligibility. It is interesting how some authors disagree with one another in their essays, presenting a well-rounded view on Sankara from both sides.
As one of the few English compendiums on Thomas Sankara, A Certain Amount of Madness was quite the comprehensive overview of what Sankara's impact on the world is. I must give credit to Murrey for the well-structured and edited book. Sankara allows us to glimpse a possible socialist future for the world. Let us remember the name of the greatest African revolutionaries: Thomas Sankara.
A Certain Amount of Madness is quite an exceptional collection of essays on the life and legacy of Thomas Sankara. Sankara, in his short reign as leader of Burkina Faso, had shown us a prospect of another future for Africa by building upon humanist socialist ideologies. His focus on the historically disenfranchised — the peasantry, women, the non-urban Burkinabè society — while rejecting neocolonialism and imperialism showed his dedication to reinventing an egalitarian society. His untimely death at the hands of his close ally Compaoré backed by imperialistic France had brought all this progress to a halt. Under Compaoré's rule, Burkina Faso suffered the very problems that Sankara had warned about in accepting foreign aid and loans. Presently, Burkina Faso is a country with one of the lowest HDIs, suffering from effects of structural adjustments, and is rife with corruption, inequality, and many other social problems. From Sankara's ideology, one could imagine a better future that never came true.
The different essays touch on different parts of Sankara's life, policies and ideas, showing his 'madness' in his rejection of Western hegemonic ideologies that were imposed upon many post-colonial western Africa states, favouring instead a society that believes in self-determination over imperialist control. While this book is largely approving of Sankara's rule, it does not shy away from criticising Sankara's shortcomings, some of which had led to his eventual assassination.
While most of the 23 essays in this volume are of quite a high standard, there are a handful that fail to reach this level. Some of the essays are too superficial and others are jargon-filled to the point of unintelligibility. It is interesting how some authors disagree with one another in their essays, presenting a well-rounded view on Sankara from both sides.
As one of the few English compendiums on Thomas Sankara, A Certain Amount of Madness was quite the comprehensive overview of what Sankara's impact on the world is. I must give credit to Murrey for the well-structured and edited book. Sankara allows us to glimpse a possible socialist future for the world. Let us remember the name of the greatest African revolutionaries: Thomas Sankara.
jacobinreads's review against another edition
4.0
A great collection of essays about an understudied revolutionary, historical figure, and theoretician- whose legacy looms large over social movements, politics, and life throughout Africa. For a long time, Sankara has been living in the shadow of a clichéd comparasion to Ché Guevara, one which masks the specificity of his African 'post-colonial' moment, his deep commitment to the people, and his uniquely womanist-inflected thought. Study of Sankara has perhaps been limited because of his lack of theoretical writings , but his speeches, addresses, and actions have provided ample materials for this important contribution to the scholarship of the Burkinabè leader.
If you're already searching for material on this great revolutionary, you're probably interested enough for this book (or at least some of its essays) to be of interest to you.
The essays within range from contemporary analysis, to the theoretical, to the biographical. A valuable contribution to the library of anyone looking to study decolonial movements, African liberation, or mass movements and their relation to emancipatory or revolutionary politics.
The essays which concerned Sankara himself and his revolutionary government's relation with unions, social movements, and mass political participation all clarified the actual material and historical faults, foibles, and possibilities of Sankara. It is telling that a slightly distorted image of Sankara remains inspirational- attributing to him a mass participation that (mostly) remained only aspirational while he was in power. However, the analysis of the parallels between the mass movement and ideology that underlies historic and contemporary Sankarism is brilliant: the essential role of women in liberatory politics, the questioning of established hegemonies, the fundamental pan-Africanist/decolonial challenge to the international system of debt and finance, food sovereignty, the contradictions of petty bourgeois and trade union consciousness in the revolutionary movement, the (potential) antagonism between a politics of class and a politics of anti-imperialism, the role of the people in constructing a "democratic and popular revolution"... incredible material to work with in this book.
If you're already searching for material on this great revolutionary, you're probably interested enough for this book (or at least some of its essays) to be of interest to you.
The essays within range from contemporary analysis, to the theoretical, to the biographical. A valuable contribution to the library of anyone looking to study decolonial movements, African liberation, or mass movements and their relation to emancipatory or revolutionary politics.
The essays which concerned Sankara himself and his revolutionary government's relation with unions, social movements, and mass political participation all clarified the actual material and historical faults, foibles, and possibilities of Sankara. It is telling that a slightly distorted image of Sankara remains inspirational- attributing to him a mass participation that (mostly) remained only aspirational while he was in power. However, the analysis of the parallels between the mass movement and ideology that underlies historic and contemporary Sankarism is brilliant: the essential role of women in liberatory politics, the questioning of established hegemonies, the fundamental pan-Africanist/decolonial challenge to the international system of debt and finance, food sovereignty, the contradictions of petty bourgeois and trade union consciousness in the revolutionary movement, the (potential) antagonism between a politics of class and a politics of anti-imperialism, the role of the people in constructing a "democratic and popular revolution"... incredible material to work with in this book.
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