DESCRIPTION
As its name suggests, L'Autre Afrique aimed to provide a different view of the continent. Founded by acclaimed journalist Jean-Baptiste Placca this Paris based, pan African monthly was started in 1997 in response to the clichéd, reductive and often pathological depiction of Africa in the Western media. In contrast L'Autre Afrique sought to force a different reading that reflected the diversity of opinion, the multiple realities, unique terminology and complexities of daily life across a vast continent of over fifty nations. "Beside the Africa of all the calamities that we know (dictatorships, disease, AIDS, corruption, civil wars and everything else), there is also an Africa that is serious, which makes constructive things."
L'Autre Afrique was thus characterised by rigorous investigation, in-depth analysis, detailed coverage and on-the-ground reportage. Placca also saw the newspaper as as a pedagogical tool and called for African journalists to function as "agents of development".
L'Autre Afrique was based in Paris but it was distributed widely both in both Europe and Africa, taking advantage of the mobility that the French communication and transport infrastructure provided to develop a global network of journalists, analysts and photographers. This proved difficult to sustain and financial pressures forced L'Autre Afrique's closure after only three years. In 2001 Placca resurrected the newspaper as a weekly, but despite a clearer financial structure and better distribution this attempt also ultimately failed.
PEOPLE
Jean-Baptiste Placca, Alem Kangni, Sabine Cessou, Tshitenge Lubabu Muitubile, Serge Latouche, Luc Ngowet, Geraldine Faes
FAMILY TREE
- Jeune Afrique
- The Africa Report
- La Revue pour l'Intelligence du Monde
- Le Temoin
- Nouvelle Horizon
- Le Nouvel Afrique-Asie
RE/SOURCES
- Autre Afrique on Wikipedia
- "Quel Retour Pour L'autre Afrique? Entretien avec Jean-Baptiste Placca," Africultures.
- Jean-Baptiste Placca, "At the crossroads", Editorial, L'Autre Afrique, n. 104, December 23 -12 January 2000.
- "L'autre Afrique ou l'Afrique autrement," Afrik.com.
