I am not sure that this fifth edition of the Historical Dictionary of Niger is proof, as the series editor Jon Woronoff suggests in his foreword, ‘that Niger is still “hanging in there”’ (xi) – whatever this may mean – but it is certainly proof that this book series is still ‘hanging in there’, despite the massive challenges that such series undoubtedly face today. With Abdourahmane Idrissa as its author, a political scientist and historian based at the African Studies Centre in Leiden and an outstanding expert in the recent political history of the Sahel region, this book has surely found one of the few scholars suited for the enormous task of compiling such a reference book.
The book opens with a 27-page chronology, of which 25 pages focus on events since the French occupation; it offers brief and tabular descriptions of key events in the past of what is now Niger, with a clear focus on political and economic issues. Then, the Introduction presents a two-page overview of Niger's geography and the ethnic groups living there, as well as a 20-page political history since the French occupation, pre-colonial times being restricted to half a page. Although the beginning of the Introduction reads a bit like a tourist guide praising Niger as a ‘remarkable place, blending in its harsh Sahelian environment a great diversity of cultures and lifestyles’ (1) and ‘maintaining vibrant customs of hospitality and goodwill’ (1), readers should not be put off by this. The following pages present a truly accessible and excellent overview of major political events and periods in Niger since the late 19th century – an overview I had wished for as a student.
The core dictionary, 494 pages long, covers mostly persons, both living and dead, associations, organisations and institutions of Niger's political history, again, beginning with the French occupation. The huge challenge for authors of such a reference book is, of course, to decide what to include and what to leave out. As a scholar of policing and security in Niger, while there are entries for the Forces Armées Nigériennes and the Garde Nationale du Niger, I was surprised to find none for the police, the gendarmerie, the gardes de cercle and commandants ce cercle, or the Coordination, Koutnché's powerful secret police. A brief explanation of the selection criteria for entries would have been helpful, as would a list of key references for each entry to strengthen the book's character as a stepping-stone for further in-depth literature research.
The bibliography of 72 pages serves as a ‘bibliographic guide of sorts rather than as a comprehensive or exhaustive bibliography of Niger’ (512) and comprises: general works; archaeology and prehistory; early accounts and monographs; people, society, religion (including ethnic groups); history; politics and economics; sciences; literature, cinema and the arts; tourism and travel; sources, reference works and bibliographies.
Despite Idrissa's remarks in the introduction to the bibliography, the book purports – qua title so to say – to be somewhat comprehensive and thus much more than a mere ‘guide of sorts’. This implied promise is, of course, hard to fulfil. Yet considering the format of the Historical Dictionary series, which takes the discrete modern nation state as its unit of analysis, this unfulfilled promise is perhaps a welcome counterpoint to the potential reification of its very unit of analysis.
There is no doubt that the Historical Dictionary of Niger serves as an ideal entry point and stepping stone for further research into issues related to Niger. Although some areas are covered more intensely than others (there is more on party politics than on Nigérien music, poetry and film-making, for example), I strongly recommend it to students and scholars interested in Niger.
