FR248: Colonial Memory

Dr Georgina Collins10 January 2012

Today’s session

• Practicalities• An overview of the course• A background in French colonialism and imperialism• Racial theories and hierarchies• Advocates of colonialism / anti-colonialists• The difference between Empire and Imperialism• Issues of nationalism

This module

• One hour lecture:–Historical, political and theoretical background

• One hour seminar–Discussion of text in light of lecture

– Interactive • Office hours: Thursday 3-5• Email:

georgina.collins@warwick.ac.uk

Website

AssessmentFormative assessment:•Essay (questions online now)•around 1,500 words in length•by Tuesday (4 pm) of week 9

Summative assessment:1.assessed essay (50%) •Questions online now•2,000-2,500 words•12.00 noon on Tuesday of week 25

2.formal examination (50%)•not allowed to answer exam questions on material you have already covered in an assessed essay

Introduction to Colonial Memory

• Representations of empire:– Literary– Cinematic– Graphic

• 1st half of the course:– Emergence of colonial myths - use in culture

• 2nd half of the course:– Use and reinterpretation of the myths since

the demise of French imperialism– Real or imaginary legacies of imperialism

Imperialism• Rooted in ideology• Developed alongside Western capitalism• It began almost 500 years ago:

• Christopher Columbus• Christian Kingdom of Konko

• Large scale imperialism:• Industrial revolution• Need for raw materials• Cheap labour - crucial

French expansion• The industrial revolution - later than in Britain• The colonial idea took longer to shape• France did have colonies but they were not a priority• It was more concerned about its powerful position in Europe

Comparison with British expansion

• Triggered by lack of space and opportunities • France – powerful position at the centre of Europe• Secured national borders and expanded territories on continent

– note Louis XIV and Napoléan I

Voltaire described Canada as:“Quelques arpents de neige”

Colonial possessions

• France lost many colonies to the British• India, America and Canada• No carefully planned colonial policy until the last third of the 19th century• Anticolonialism was based on economic principles at this time• Idea that colonieswould impoverishFrance

Racially motivated anti-colonialism

• Notion of race developed in the 19th C• Believed that humanity had poly-genetic origins:

– that biological divergences had created different human societies– that some were more advanced than others ie Western civilisations

• NB Gliddon’s Indigenous Races of the Earth

French Racial Theorists

Count Arthur de Gobineau:

• Essai sur l’inégalité des races humaines• 3 main races – black, yellow and white• All have weaknesses and qualities• Races should be kept separate• Avoid miscegenation / interbreeding which would affect the qualities of each race• So colonialism should be avoided

Race separation

• This standpoint reflected Gobineau’s anti-democratic feelings• He also believed that classes should not mix• Mistrust regarding miscegenation:

– did not prevent the creation of empires– it did promote race separation and discrimination– South Africa - apartheid

Racial hierarchies

Gustave Le Bon:• a doctor• applied Darwin’s theories to human societies• concluded: races has evolved at different paces so a racial hierarchy exists• Les lois psychologiques de l’évolution des peuples (1894) • Existence of 4 races

Hierarchy of four races1. ‘races primitives’, races ‘[...] chez lesquelles on ne

trouve aucune trace de culture’ (p.39)2. ‘races inférieures’, ‘[...] représentées surtout par

les nègres’ et seulement ‘[...] capables de rudiments de civilisation’ (ibid.)

3. ‘races moyennes’, à savoir ‘Les Chinois, les Mogols et les peuples sémitiques’, tous à l’origine de ‘[...] civilisations élevées que les peuples européens seuls ont pu dépasser’ (pp.39-40)

4. ‘races supérieures’ dans lesquelles ‘[...] il faut surtout mentionner les peuples indo-européens’ (p.40)

Jean Duval

• Tribunal employee• After the Algerian conquest set up an

agricultural business there• Influenced by Saint-Simon and Fourier• Believed that earth belongs to all men• So every man should attempt to improve it

for the benefit of all humans

Global economic unity

• Duval: colonisation to bring economic unity and social harmony

• An idea developed by 16th Spanish colonisers

• They argued that it is man’s right to exploit all untapped resources that remain unused by local populations

Colonisation as exploitationBientôt où régnait la solitude, une population humaine s’épanouit; où fleurissait la ronce, la récolte mûrit; où les bêtes féroces creusaient leur tanière, s’élève les demeures d’un peuple civilisé. Dans les flancs d’un sol inerte, l’émigration a jeté les germes d’une société vivante qui, au soleil de la liberté ou de la discipline, suivant les temps, en travaillant grandit, qui en grandissant prospère, qui a son tour se multiplie et envoie ses essaims : voilà la colonisation, un des plus nobles spectacles dont il soit donné à l’homme d’être à la fois l’agent et le témoin (quoted by Girardet, p. 20).

Lucien-Anatole Prévost-Paradol

• Establishment of an empire – a matter of national life or death

• La France nouvelle (1868)• France must choose between:

– Decadence– The constitution of a true empire

Quotation

« […] il y a deux façons de concevoir la destinée future de la France : ou bien nous restons ce que nous sommes, nous consumant sur place dans une agitation intermittente et impuissante […] ; ou bien de quatre-vingt à cent million de Français, fortement établis sur les deux rives de la Méditerranée, au cœur de l’ancien continent, maintiendront à travers le temps, le nom, la langue et la légitime considération de la France » (quoted by Girardet, pp. 21-22)

From Empire to Imperialism

• ‘Mise en valeur’: for the ‘benefit’ of France or the colonised (Duval)

• French prestige (Prévost-Paradol)• Moral or religious elevation (missionaries)

Religious ‘elevation’

• Special orders were created to further:– Christanity– Civilisation

• The two were synomymous• Light was a common symbol of Christianity

and Republicanism• Les pères blancs were created• To christianise Algerian populations

Imperial doctrine

• 2 major factors behind this development– The industrial revolution– France’s defeat in the Franco-Prussian war

• The creation of a German Reich – put an end to France’s continental domination

• The loss of Alsace-Lorraine:– A hard blow for French pride– France haunted by the thought of its own decadence

An incentive to build an Empire

• Territorial loss – an incentive to build a French empire

• What the French had lost internally – trying to gain overseas

• 1st large wave of settlers – from Alsace• Eg Camus – of Alsatian descent

Two types of nationalism

1. An ‘anti-colonial’ nationalism– Emphasis on revenge against Germany– France should sort itself out before venturing

abroad

2. Pro-colonial nationalism– Note Jules Ferry– French Prime Minister– Le Tonkinois

Summary: France’s colonial past

• The territories it colonised or lost• Pro-colonial sentiments (Duval / Paradol)• Anti-colonial beliefs – racial theorists (Gobineau)• The transition from Empire to Imperialism• Imperial doctrine – mise en valeur / French prestige / religious elevation• Territorial loss – incentive for building an empire• Two types of nationalism

– Anti-colonial – sort out home before venturing abroad– Pro-colonial – building the French overseas empire

Questions and Comments?

Seminar Part 1: Round the room

What have you learnt from the lecture?

Seminar Part 2: Group work

1.How many former French colonies can you name?2.Formulate definitions for the following:

• Memory• Colonial memory

3.Does colonialism belong to the past? 4.What is ‘French-ness’? 5.In what ways is France’s colonial past is still informing debates on topics such as immigration?

Don’t forget to prepare for next

week!

Seminar questions will be posted online after today’s session