Includes bibliographical references (pages 327-353) and index.
Contents
1. The Setting: The Idea of the Civilizing Mission in 1895 and the Creation of the Government General -- 2. Public Works and Public Health: Civilization, Technology, and Science (1902-1914) -- 3. Forging the Republican Sujet: Schools, Courts, and the Attack on Slavery (1902-1908) -- 4. "En faire des hommes": William Ponty and the Pursuit of Moral Progress (1908-1914) -- 5. Revolt and Reaction: World War I and Its Consequences (1914-1930) -- 6. "Democracy" Reinvented: Civilization Through Association (1914-1930) -- 7. Civilization Through Coercion: Human Mise en Valeur in the 1920's.
Awards
Berkshire Conference First Book Prize, 1997.
Summary
"This book addresses a central but often ignored question in the history of modern France and modern colonialism: How did the Third Republic, highly regarded for its professed democratic values, allow itself to be seduced by the insidious and persistent appeal of a "civilizing" ideology with distinct racist overtones? By focusing on a particular group of colonial officials in a specific setting - the governors general of French West Africa from 1895 to 1930 - the author argues that the ideal of a special civilizing mission had a decisive impact on colonial policymaking and on the evolution of modern French republicanism generally."--BOOK JACKET.
