TITLE:
France and the Intersection and Challenges of Science, Technology and Innovation in Africa after the Second World War: The Panacea to Future Armed Conflicts
AUTHORS:
Emmanuel Yenkong Sobseh
KEYWORDS:
Science, Technology, Innovation, Conflicts, Intersection, Challenges, World War II, France, Africa
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Historical Studies,
Vol.12 No.1,
March
16,
2023
ABSTRACT: Africa has often been regarded
as a recipient of science, technology and innovation rather than a maker of
them. Many of the scientific and technological advances introduced by France
after the Second World War have been transported
to former French colonies in Africa. The paper treats the intersection
of science and technology in Africa engineered by France and looks at the
conflicts and challenges posed by these great initiatives. It further argues
that, although many scientific innovations and technologies came to the former
French colonies with the process of French colonization, it was only after the
Second World War that Africans in former French colonies experienced the full
potential of new weapons, engineering innovations, transformation of raw
materials, as well as transportation methods. To encourage the intersection of
science and technology in Africa, the French government has empowered African
institutions and trained scientists, engineers, physicians, architects,
planners, and other technical professionals in Africa and France. In addition
to the challenges faced by France, the most serious challenges to the
development of science and technology aspirations in Africa had been poor and
unsteady funding to scientists, brain drain of engineers, inadequate
infrastructure, insufficient levels of literacy and a shortage of skills and
competencies, and above all post-independence interstate and state wars. Using essentially the qualitative approach and consulting both primary and
secondary sources, the study concludes with evidences from the case
studies that, France has contributed immensely to the development of science
and technology in her former African colonies.