Depelchin’s thought-provoking essays show that through African histories it is possible to reconnect to all the histories of those who have been disconnected: shackdwellers, the poor, the dispossessed. His analysis of African history demonstrates how peoples have been forced into looking at their own histories through a shattered mirror, deliberately and forcefully crushed so as to render the exercise impossible.
But, Depelchin says, history could be written in a way that would help break the mould and free it from being hostage, consciously and unconsciously, to European and US historical intellectual frameworks.
Reclaiming African history enables a reconnection to humanity – not just for the sake of Africa, but for the sake of those who did everything to bury African history.
These essays have been previously published in the online newsletter Pambazuka News and by the Ota Benga Alliance.