Print cultures as political networks: the circulation of anticolonial and antiracist periodicals in Africa and the african diaspora, 1910s-1930s

This dissertation investigates the political communication circuits that produced and disseminated anticolonial and antiracist propaganda across the African continent and its diaspora during the interwar years. With a primary focus on the periodical press, it explores transnational processes involving newsgathering, publishing, and distribution, as well as reading practices and reception. The project also examines imperial systems of control and censorship over ‘seditious literature’ and how editors and subaltern publics negotiated these challenges. To understand the ‘human infrastructure’ supporting these information networks and their pivotal role in advancing political mobilizations against colonialism and racial segregation, it investigates two case studies. The first case study examines the propaganda activities of the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA, 1921-50) in dialogue with the international communist movement. It investigates the reception of CPSA propaganda by nationalist and anticolonial organizations in the Union of South Africa and the British colonies and protectorates of Southern Africa. Additionally, it explores how this propaganda was reinterpreted, reused, and translated by the antiracist African American and Afro-Caribbean press. The second case study focuses on the dialogue between the anticolonial Arabic and French-speaking press and radical movements in the Western Mediterranean. This case study delves into the debates surrounding the colonial and racial dimensions of the Spanish Civil War (1936-39). The goal is to illuminate the relationship between printed propaganda and its role in driving mobilization.