Conducted between December 2021 and February 2022, this interview with the historian Frederick Cooper looks back on his intellectual journey spanning more than half a century, from his first student commitments in the late 1960s to his considerations on African studies in the contemporary academic context. The main lines, continuities and ruptures, highlights and commitments of a prolific, inspiring and often counter-current career are discussed. This exchange thus offers both a step back and personal perspectives on past and present ways of thinking about Africa and labour, but also of doing research, in history and in the social sciences more broadly. It provides an opportunity to grasp a number of scholarly discussions, the configurations and possibilities that have ensued, as well as the blind spots and biases they have generated. It thus presents a contextualisation and an original perspective on labour studies in Africa since the 1960s.