Assimilation and Association in French Colonial Theory, 1890-1914 PDF
Preview Assimilation and Association in French Colonial Theory, 1890-1914
Assimilation and Association in French Colonial Theory 1890-1914 NUMBER 604 COLUMBIA STUDIES IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES EDITED BY THE FACULTY OF POLITICAL SCIENCE OF COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY Assimilation and Association in French Colonial Theory 1890-1914 RAYMOND F. BETTS COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS N>eiv York and London 1961 The Columbia Studies in the Social Sciences (formerly the Studies in History, Economics, and Public Law) is a series edited by the Faculty of Political Science of Columbia University for the purpose of making available scholarly studies produced within the Faculty. Copyright © 1960 Columbia University Press First published in book form 1961 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 61-13033 Manufactured in the United States of America TO MY MOTHER AND FATHER PREFACE THIS book considers an aspect of French colonial theory that was of particular importance in the formative years of the second French colonial empire. While all sorts of problems relating to the administration of the new em- pire perplexed Frenchmen, none was more acute or im- portant than that of the relationship to be established with the native populations submitted to French control. Con- sideration of this problem led to a shift in theory from the idea of assimilation to the idea of association. Rather than attempt to absorb the native societies administratively and culturally into the French nation, France was to pursue a more flexible policy which would emphasize retention of local institutions and which would make the native an associate in the colonial enterprise. This is the essence of the ideas discussed by the theorists and popularizers in metropolitan France during the period under examination. The reasons for the shift comprise most of the chapter headings in this study. Perhaps at no other period in French history was more active interest in colonial problems expressed by French- men than that between 1890 and 1914. And yet the colonial theory discussed in metropolitan France during this time viii Preface has not received the analysis it merits. The attention of students of French colonial history is usually turned away from France to the overseas possessions where the most dramatic action was taking place between the fall of the second ministry of Jules Ferry in 1885 and the holocaust of the First World War. There is, nonetheless, a need to show how Frcnch colonial theory was evolving at home in face of the complexities of modern colonial rule. I hope that this study fills this need in so far as the native problem is concerned. My indebtedness is great and willingly expressed. I am grateful to Professor Robert D. Cross of Columbia Uni- versity, who read the manuscript with the eye of an editor. And I wish to thank most warmly Professor Ambroise Jobert of the University of Grenoble, who gave me the benefits of that intelligent criticism which I like to believe characteristically French. The librarians of the Bibli- othèque nationale and the Ecole nationale de la France d'outre-mer were generous with their assistance. The French Government saw fit to finance a trip to Africa which enabled me to see for myself a part of the colonial empire which had attracted my attention. I also wish to thank the editors of the Cahiers d'histoire for permission to use my article, "L'Influence des méthodes hollandaises et anglaises sur la doctrine coloniale française à la fin du XIXe siècle," in this essay. To Professor Shepard B. Clough of Columbia University who so strongly aroused my interest in French history and Preface ix who so patiently assisted me in studying its ways I happily and deeply express my thanks. My wife Jackie has been a loving critic. Her New Hamp- shire common sense and her gentle patience were given to me when needed, as they always are. RAYMOND F. BETTS Havertown, Pennsylvania April, 1961
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