The author engages in a dialogue with the authors of “The Politics of Historical Memory and Commemoration in Africa” about what it means for young African societies to develop their own historical memory outside the context of colonial determinism. The dialogue is structured through a review of this work, emphasizing its key structural elements. Key issues include the decolonization of the culture and history of African societies, the search for integrated, synthetic forms of national identity, challenging colonial determinism in history and culture, the conflict between official approaches to interpreting history and its public perception, the potential for societal division based on contradictions in historical memory, and the question of nostalgia for the colonial past.