Two Publications Challenge Forgetting in African Art Decolonization Debates

Gabriella Nugent's article in ARTMargins Online, published on October 15, 2024, examines how contemporary efforts to foreground African artists in decolonization often overlook earlier postcolonial engagements with colonial knowledge production. The piece analyzes two recent books: Pierre-Philippe Fraiture's 'Past Imperfect: Time and African Decolonization 1945–1960' and Ferdinand de Jong's 'Decolonizing Heritage: Time to Repair in Senegal.' These works intervene by revisiting historical dialogues between modern African intellectuals and European scholars, challenging persistent assumptions about African art. They propose alternative frameworks for understanding art and history, addressing the complex relationships between political decolonization, postcolonialism, and current decolonial demands. The article appears in ARTMargins Volume 13, Issue 3, pages 97-108, with content available via MIT Press under subscription access. Nugent highlights a critical gap in art historical and curatorial practices, emphasizing the need to remember past reckonings to inform present decolonization initiatives.