1. The French Colonial Project
Dr Charlotte Baker
Lecturer in French

2. Overview of the lecture
Colonialism and Imperialism
Overview of the French colonial project
The mission civilisatrice
North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa
Francophone African literature
Albert Camus’ short story ‘L’Hôte’

3. Colonialism and Imperialism
A note on terminology

4. Terminology Colonisation is the act of establishing colonies
Colonialism is the system or policy by which a nation maintains or extends its control over foreign dependencies
Imperialism is the thinking behind colonialism and the exercise of power over the colony

5. Why colonise another country or territory? - Discuss
Access to resources (human, mineral, land)
Access to/ownership of trade routes
Political power on the world stage
Greater economic stability for coloniser and colony
New markets for trade in manufactured goods
Spread culture, language and therefore influence

6. The French colonial project
La mission civilisatrice

7. The French colonial project
2 French colonial empires
16th-18th century (parts of North America, Caribbean islands, parts of India)
Late 19th and much of the 20th century (Northern Africa, large parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, Indochina, a number of island colonies all over the world)

8. Colonial Africa

9. North Africa / The Maghreb
المغرب, al-Maghrib, Le Maghreb
Refers to north west Africa, west of Egypt
Morocco, Libya, Algeria, Tunisia, and Mauritania
French is the administrative language and commonly used in Mauritania, Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia

10. The capture of Algiers Second French colonial empire1830
La colonisation française de l'Algérie lasted from 1830 to 1962
Gained independence from France in with the Algerian War of Independence
Algeria has remained central to the colonial relationship between France and her former colonies

11. North Africa / The Maghreb
Relationship between France and the Maghreb formed over nearly a century and a half of colonial rule
Left an indelible mark on the social fabric of French and North African societies

12. Sub-Saharan Africa
Politically = all African nations south of the Sahara (excluding Sudan)
North Africa by contrast is considered part of the Arab world

13. Francophone sub-Saharan Africa
Dahomey (now Benin)
Guinea
Côte d’Ivoire
Mauretania
Senegal
Niger
French Sudan (now Mali)
Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso)
Gabon
Middle Congo (now Democratic Republic of Congo)
Oubangui-Schari (now Central African Republic)
Chad
French Somaliland (now Djibouti)
Madagascar
Comoros
After WW1, Cameroon became a French colony, formerly German

14. “La mission civilisatrice”
The mission civilisatrice and rayonnement
Spreading the French culture to the colonies
A concept rooted in the notion of France as bearer of liberty, democracy and progress to the rest of mankind
Assumption that French culture and civilisation were superior to those of the colonised

16. Governance: Assimilation and Association
Mission civilisatrice - aimed to make the citizens of the colonies an integral part of the mother country
The move towards association
Racism: African people are incapable of full assimilation
Basic literacy and training in trades more important
Growing recognition of differences in culture

17. World War 1
Colonies functioned as reserves of manpower and raw materials
Change in attitude of the French towards the colonies
Little change in reality for the people in the colony

18. World War 2
Divide in the colonies between supporters of the Free French and supporters of Vichy
Post WW2 France struggled to hold onto her colonies, losing French Indochina, then the Algerian War of Independence

19. French rule in the colonies
Administratively, politically, and practically, Africa never functioned as a unified object in French colonialism.
France never governed Africa under a single colonial apparatus
Political organization of French colonial Africa did not correspond to clearly defined boundaries

20. Life in the colonies Clear hierarchies of white over black
Traditional structures of power and governance pushed aside by the colonisers
Two separate ways of life for colonised and colonisers
division of the colony into le quartier noir vs. le quartier blanc
Basic education provided, but children taught from French text books
The phrase ‘nos ancêtres, les gaulois’ has since come to symbolise the cultural imperialism of the French
Read slide

21. Francophone African literature
A brief introduction

22. What do we mean by ‘Francophone’?
An adjective to describe a speaker of French
When used alongside the adjective ‘French’, i.e. French and Francophone, it implies that Francophone speakers are non-native French speakers
There are two distinct trends
1. towards a more inclusive use of the term ‘Francophone’ to include French and Francophone
2. towards a more separate use of the two terms

23. Francophone African literature
The term ‘Francophone literature’ is used to describe literature written in French by people outside of France
Stands in opposition to ‘French literature’
Batouala (1921) by René Maran

24. An insight into life under colonialism in Africa through literature
African literature of the 1950s and 60s reveals the disruptive effects of colonialism
Camara Laye’s L’Enfant Noir (1953)
Albert Memmi’s Portrait du colonisé (1957)
Ferdinand Oyono’s Une vie de boy (1962)

25. Albert Camus’, ‘L’Hôte’
The Guest / The Host

26. Albert Camus 1913-1960 French novelist, journalist and philosopher
Son of French 'pied-noir' settlers in Algiers
Interest in the human predicament: L’Envers et l’endroit (1937)
1930s: Politics, Theatre, Journalism
La Mort Heureuse (published posthumously), L’Etranger (1942) and Le Mythe de Sisyphe (1942)

27. The Absurd Explains the paradox of the Absurd in Le Mythe de Sisyphe
We value our lives and existence so greatly, but we know we will eventually die, and ultimately our endeavours are meaningless

28. ‘L'Hôte’ L‘Exil et le royaume ,1957
“Much has been made of the narrative’s post-colonial currents, the status of the Arab, the story’s significance poised as it is on the even of Algeria’s war for independence. Other critics have sought to make sense of the ambiguity Camus offers his readers, the teaser, the twist in the tale. Yet I would suggest that the currents of Camus’s creation run deeper still. To read “L’Hôte” is to be drawn into the rapids of human encounter, to grapple with the notion of our subjectivity, to engage with the Other” (Jill Beer, 2002)

29. Further reading
Beer, Jill. ‘Le Regard: Face to Face in Albert Camus's ‘L'Hôte’ French Studies 56.2 (2002):
Chipman, John. French Power in Africa (Basil Blackwell, Inc: Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1989)
Cooper, Frederick. Colonialism in Africa: Theory, Knowledge, History (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005)
Ginio, Ruth. French Colonialism Unmasked: the Vichy Years in French West Africa (London: University of Nebraska Press, 2006)
Hughes, Edward J., The Cambridge Companion to Camus (Cambridge UP, 2007)
Stora, Benjamin, Algeria (Cornell UP, 2001)
Useful websites:
Albert Camus: