My Country, Africa: Autobiography of the Black Pasionaria

(Paperback)

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Born in French Equatorial Africa, Andre Blouin played a leading role in the struggles for decolonization that shook the continent in the 1950s and 1960s. From the colonial orphanage of her childhood, she escaped an arranged marriage to become an avatar of pan-Africanism, advising heads of state from Algiers to Abidjan. Her autobiography retraces this journey. In Guinea, where Blouin accompanied Skou Tours campaign for independence, she came into contact with leaders of the liberation movement in the Belgian Congo, who recruited her to run their womens organization. Blouin witnessed the Congolese tragedy up-close, as an adviser to Patrice Lumumba, whose arrest and assassination she narrates in unforgettable detail.

Blouins memoir is an essential contribution to the history of anti-colonialism and radical black feminism. Beginning with the formative experience of colonial rule, she offers a sweeping survey of pan-African nationalism, encompassing the intricacies of revolutionary diplomacy, comradeship, and betrayal. Alongside intimate portraits of the movements leaders, Blouin gives insight into the often overlooked contribution of African women.

Reviews

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 Andre 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 Miville, author of A Spectre, Haunting: On the Communist Manifesto

Author Bio

Andre 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.