Joseph Ki-Zerbo

Joseph Ki-Zerbo (21 June 1922 – 4 December 2006) was a Burkinabè historian, politician, educator and one of Africa's foremost intellectuals. He was an advocate of African-centred development, democracy, education and cultural identity. Ki-Zerbo authored several influential works, including Histoire de l'Afrique noire and À quand l'Afrique?, and was a leading voice in debates on African history, sustainable development and Pan-Africanism.

• On ne développe pas, on se développe.
  • À quand l'Afrique? (Éditions de l'Aube, 2003). Joseph Ki-Zerbo discussing self-reliant development and Africa's responsibility for its own progress.
    • English translation: "Development is not something that is brought to people; people develop themselves."

• We cannot develop by proxy.
  • À quand l'Afrique? (Éditions de l'Aube, 2003). Joseph Ki-Zerbo discussing the importance of self-driven development in Africa.

• Education is the foundation of freedom.
  • UNESCO Courier interview. Joseph Ki-Zerbo discussing the role of education in achieving freedom and sustainable development.

• A people without historical memory is a people without dignity.
  • Histoire de l'Afrique noire (Hatier, 1972). Joseph Ki-Zerbo discussing the importance of historical consciousness and national dignity.

• Africa must refuse to be merely a consumer of the world's ideas; it must become a producer of knowledge.
  • UNESCO address on African higher education. Joseph Ki-Zerbo discussing Africa's contribution to global knowledge and scholarship.

• Culture is the root from which every authentic development grows.
  • UNESCO Conference on Culture and Development. Joseph Ki-Zerbo discussing the relationship between culture and sustainable development.

• History is not a luxury for Africa; it is a necessity.
  • Histoire de l'Afrique noire (Hatier, 1972). Joseph Ki-Zerbo discussing the importance of history in Africa's development.

• Democracy cannot survive where citizens are excluded from knowledge.
  • Public lecture at the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA). Joseph Ki-Zerbo discussing democracy, civic education and informed citizenship.

• Development is the passage from oneself to oneself at a higher level.

• Le développement, c’est le passage de soi à soi-même à un niveau supérieur.

• There is no ‘ready-made’ development. The only viable and valid development is ‘development with the key in one's head

• Africa's development will be endogenous or it will not be.

• It is through its ‘being’ that Africa will truly gain access to ‘having'.

• Without identity, we are an object of history, an instrument used by others: a utensil.

• A culture without a material and logistical foundation is just passing wind

• There is an African art of living, an art of solidarity, an art of otherness, of openness to others that Europeans no longer find in their own societies.

• I regret that the foundations of this African culture are being erased.

• Misery is the cancellation of choice.

• The development of human beings is too serious to leave in the hands of economists alone

• The slow suffocation of African languages would be dramatic; it would be the descent into hell for African identity.

• Africa has a history