2025: Mouhamadou El Hady Ba, “Decolonial Coup d’Etat?”
Mouhamadou El Hady Ba, “Decolonial Coup d’Etat?”
Humboldt University Berlin Mosse Lecture
mosselectures.wisc.edu/berlin/
Thursday, 18 December 2025, 19:15 CET
Senatssaal of Humboldt University
Unter den Linden 6
10117 Berlin
GERMANY
Sponsored by:
[mosse] LECTURES an der humboldt-universität zu berlin
The Mosse Foundation
Global Mosse Lecture Series
Institut für deutsche Literatur
Humboldt University
ZeughausKino
Deutsches Historisches Museum
Moderator: Joseph Vogl (Humboldt University)
Lecture Description: One interpretation of what is currently happening in West Africa, and more specifically in the Sahel, is that we are witnessing the completion of the decolonial project that had been interrupted and derailed by the maneuvers of the architects of Françafrique. The coups d’état that gave rise to the Alliance of Sahel States (ASS) would therefore be a »trick of history« to break free from the colonialism that keeps Africa in a world system that is essentially antithetical to the needs of its population. This interpretation is reinforced by the observation that, while Fanon asserts that decolonization is an essentially violent process, the decolonizations of the 1960s took place relatively smoothly. Smoothly, that is, in a way that maintained the privileges of a transnational ruling class.
In this lecture, I will show that the decolonial claims of the supporters of these coups are fallacious. To do so, I will draw on three points. First, the course of historical events in these countries argues more for a diversion of the populations’ legitimate anger than for a genuine anti-colonial revolution. Second, I will engage in a philosophical reflection on the nature of power and authority to argue that the regimes that emerged from these coups are, on balance, more illegitimate than the regimes they replaced. Finally, I will draw on two revolutionary pre-colonial moments: the founding of the Mali Empire and the Fouta Revolution led by Thierno Souleyman Baal to support the illegitimacy, even in light of the endogenous political traditions of the juntas of the ASS countries. Using work I did with Gregory Doukas, I will argue that deeply rooted decolonial work should have the same components that are evident in the Hunter’s Oath and the Fouta Revolution: 1) a collective endeavour to change reality 2) an emphasis on education, and 3) the promotion of responsibility not only at the collective level but also at the personal level.
Lecture Series Theme: Coups d’état: Zwischen Putsch und Verfassungscoup [Between military Coups and Constitutional Captures]
Lecture Series Description: Writing at the beginning of the 20th century, Max Weber observed that, owing to its internally rationalized structure, the modern bureaucratic state apparatus has replaced »revolutions« with »coups d’état.« This observation remains as relevant today as it was at the time. Moreover, we are currently witnessing another significant change. In Europe and the United States, the classic coup d’état is being replaced by the gradual transformation of the constitution, characterized by its erosion from within and the dynamic breakdown of the rule of law and the separation of powers, driven by elected governments. »Democratic backsliding today begins at the ballot box,« write Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt in ›How Democracies Die‹ [2018]. At the same time, there are still military coups, as seen in West Africa. The Mosse Lectures aim to shed light on the forms of coups d’état in historical and systematic terms, examining the accompanying cultural shifts in power. What significance does the coup d’état have in times of a general »return to authoritarianism« and a re-emergence of traditional masculinity? What role does the rise of the tech elite play in the weakening of democratic institutions? What new insights can a postcolonial perspective on coups d’état offer? Can the undermining of democracies be curbed in time by identifying and visualising patterns? The Mosse Lectures address these questions, focusing on Europe, the United States, West Africa, and South America.
The complex interplay of visibility in politics can be part of the performance of coups d’état, which, as acts of seizing power, exhibit a unique form of theatricality. From coups captured on camera to the exploitation of social media to undermine the separation of powers, autocratic takeovers frequently resemble political spectacles. It is therefore unsurprising that they have been recounted and filmed so often. This semester’s Mosse Lectures will be complemented by an accompanying program on coups in film, which will be shown on five evenings in January and February 2026, in collaboration with the Zeughauskino at Deutsches Historisches Museum in Berlin.
Photo Credit: Niels Leiser for the Mosse Lectures
Philosoph und Kognitionswissenschaftler; Außerordentlicher Professor für Philosophie an der Université Cheikh Anta Diop in Dakar. Zu seinen Fachgebieten gehören Logik, Epistemologie und Wissenschaftsphilosophie. Daneben befasst er sich mit politischer Philosophie und Kognitionswissenschaft. Als Gastwissenschaftler arbeitete Ba bereits an der Università di Torino, der École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris sowie zuletzt 2021/22 als Fulbright-Stipendiat an der University of Connecticut und am Institute of African Studies der Columbia University. Er ist außerdem Gründungsmitglied und erster wissenschaftlicher Direktor des progressiven, unabhängigen und panafrikanischen Thinktanks Ipode. In dieser Funktion hat Ba unter anderem zu Terrorismus in der Sahelzone und politischen Problemkonstellationen in Westafrika gearbeitet.
His research and teaching comprises literature from the eighteenth to the twentieth century, media and aesthetics, cultural and political theory. Recent research focuses on the history of financial economy, literature and economics, and the “poetics of knowledge” – the study of the relationships and interactions between forms of knowledge and poetic or aesthetic figures. He is the director or principal investigator of a range of research projects including “The Knowledge of Literature” (PhD-Net), “Small Forms in the History of Literature and Sciences” (Research Training Group), and “Matters of Activity: Image Space Material” (Cluster of Excellence).
Joseph Vogl published more than a hundred articles and book chapters, as well as numerous books and monographs. Among his most important written works are the monographs Ort der Gewalt. Kafkas literarische Ethik (1990); Kalkül und Leidenschaft. Poetik des ökonomischen Menschen (2002); Über das Zaudern (2007; On Tarrying, 2011). Besides his research in literature, cultural and media studies, he is well known for his intensive work on modern and present-day finance and economics, analyzing finance theories from the perspective of cultural history. This work culminated in his books Das Gespenst des Kapitals (2010; The Specter of Capital, 2014), Der Souveränitätseffekt (2015; The Ascendancy of Finance, 2017) and Kapital und Ressentiment. Eine kurze Theorie der Gegenwart (2021; Capital and Ressentiment: A Brief Theory of the Present, 2022), which received wide recognition in the fields of cultural studies as well as economics, and initiated a public debate. Further workings include translations from French to German (Deleuze, Lévi-Strauss, Lyotard) and numerous interviews on TV with Alexander Kluge (see Soll und Haben. Fernsehgespräche, 2009; Senkblei der Geschichten. Gespräche, 2020).
He was awarded the Günther Anders Prize for Critical Thinking (2022). For his book Der Souveränitätseffekt (The Ascendancy of Finance) Vogl was on the shortlist for the Leipzig Book Fair Prize 2015 in the category of non-fiction. In 1988 he received the Translation Prize for the Promotion of Franco-German Relations (DVA Foundation) for his translations of key works of modern French philosophy.
In the Media:
This lecture series was covered by Torsten Flüh on Night Out @ Berlin: “Das Homogenität-Versprechen des Staatsstreichs“
