Anthropology, Colonial Policy and the Decline of French Empire in Africa

Douglas W. Leonard

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781786726131
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Colonialism & Post-Colonialism
• Index: Politics & International Relations

Conceived as both a vehicle to national prestige and as a civilizing mission, the second French colonial empire (1830-1962) challenged soldiers, scholars, and administrators to understand societies radically different from their own. The resultant networks of anthropological inquiry, however, did not have this effect. Rather, they opened pathways to political and intellectual independence framed in the language of social science, and in the process upended the colonial political system and reshaped the nature of human inquiry in France. While still unequal, French colonial rule in Africa revealed the durability and strength of non-European modes of thought. In this influential new study, historian Douglas W. Leonard examines the political and intellectual repercussions of French efforts to understand and to dominate colonial Africa through the use of anthropology. From General Louis Faidherbe in the 1840s to politician Jacques Soustelle and sociologist Pierre Bourdieu in the 1950s, these French thinkers sowed the seeds of colonial destruction.

1

Louis Faidherbe and the Construction of Intellectual Networks

L’honneur: tu l’emportas en tous lieux, Général

C’était ton bien sacré, c’était ton ideal,

Il te guidait comme une étoile

Et tu le gardas là, cet honneur pur et cher,

Ainsi qu tu l’avais gardé dans le desert

Sous ta rude tente de toile¹

—Lille, October 25, 1896

With the erection of a new statue to a hero of France, poet Charles Manso stepped forward to honor the legendary figure. General Louis-Léon-César Faidherbe had died seven years before, but now stood resurrected in stone. His legacy, however, did not end with carved granite; rather, he stood as the progenitor of a network of colonial information transfer that began in Algeria and extended through Africa and beyond, as far as Indochina and Madagascar, across the vast majority of the French colonial world. His 1854–1865 governorship of Senegal, France’s first sub-Saharan African colony, gained rather informally in the early nineteenth century, earned him a similar colonial statue in Dakar in the early twentieth century.² An early proponent of an associationist political structure, Faidherbe’s influence also extended into science. In particular, Faidherbe engaged with ethnology and the shortlived discipline of physical-racial anthropology and ushered in an era of intellectually prominent colonial military officers.³ These officers became part of a knowledge-oriented method of colonial governance. In so doing, they fostered an environment of increasing openness featuring opportunities for advancement not only in the military realm but also in academia and politics. By focusing on native contributions to ethnological and civilizational understanding, Faidherbe propagated the associationist emphasis on maintenance and respect of native structures. Implicit in this paradigm was some basic respect for native intellectual capabilities; more than simple savages, Faidherbe saw natives as intelligent interpreters and agents of their own social reality. They were thus worthy of dialogue with the French on this social state of affairs and the way forward in improving their condition. Nonetheless, he rarely credited their contributions as he continued to develop an exploitative colonial state, one that often looked across the French colonial structure and rarely acknowledged events outside its relatively narrow sphere.

Faidherbe did not exist apart from the colonial structure. He was very much a part of French efforts to classify and dominate racialized groups in Africa. From his earliest moments in Algeria, the young officer tried to apply the racial-determinist models of his anthropological peers. He saw his participation in anthropology as a crusade of sorts, an effort to “remedy the bad that compromises the future”⁴ for Africans trapped in an undeveloped past. A former president of the prestigious Société d’anthropologie de Paris, Faidherbe pointed to the importance of this crusade for “courageous truth.”⁵ For his contemporaries, Faidherbe’s work “was not confined to military labors” but found in the realms “of science, of letters, of philosophy … new ways to honor [his] nation.”⁶ From his position as the father of a network of information transfer, of circulation, Faidherbe stood astride the anthropological and military communities, exerting an influence in both “the nation and science.”⁷ He was not only a “military man and administrator who also found the time to interest himself in science” but an academic noted for his contributions to “historical, linguistic, geographical, and anthropological knowledge.”⁸ Anthropology, as practiced at the time, did not offer sufficient data to the colonial project in his mind. He thus devoted himself to ethnology, the comparative study of societies (often referred to as races) that employed ethnography as an important tool. This form of study avoided the physical measurements so important to the zoologists and anatomists, who dominated anthropology in the mid-nineteenth century.

The French colonial empire offered avenues for military and academic advancement that simply did not exist in Europe. France’s previous effort at colonial expansion from the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries had ended in catastrophic failure. Defeated by the British in the Seven Years War, France lost all of its North American colonies, holding on to the islands of Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Saint-Domingue (Haiti) in the Caribbean as the sole talismans of lost preeminence and global rivalry. While the American Revolution offered a brief hope of the end of British overseas domination, in truth France spiraled downward into an inescapable cycle of debt and discontent, culminating in the chaos of the French Revolution after 1789. After losing Saint-Domingue to successive revolts in the early nineteenth century, the glory of French overseas civilization seemed past to many observers. Further expansion, inspired in part by the revolutionary fervor of the Napoleonic period, recommenced outside of Europe only in 1830 in Algeria as the dying Bourbon regime of Charles X tried to hold on to domestic legitimacy through foreign conquest, ultimately failing as it was replaced by Louis-Philippe’s new monarchy. Imbued in many cases with utopian expectations of new societies in Africa, the soldiers involved in these conquests sought both to understand and to govern their new territory in Algeria, a campaign initiated in 1830 and contested especially from 1832 to 1847.

In seeking such ethnological knowledge, Faidherbe tapped into the existing networks of ethnographic knowledge already resident in Africa to develop his view of conditions on that continent. He thus grew these networks of organic intellectual life, linking them with each other and the metropole through a skilled manipulation of publication outlets, military and colonial communication channels, and scholarly societies. In the process, he hardened colonial political structures and enhanced his own academic reputation, sometimes at the expense of others working in the field. In the conduct of such a study, he looked for inspiration to the bureaux arabes, founded in 1844 by General Thomas-Robert Bugeaud in Algeria and the forerunner of French structures that culminated in what Martin Thomas has termed the “intelligence states” of the early twentieth century, an approach inherited by Hubert Lyautey in Morocco.⁹ These military-led offices conducted ethnological investigations of the countryside and aided in communication with native groups at the grassroots level. Accused by some French settlers of Arabophilia, this cadre of native affairs officers, by and large, advocated for a form of “indirect rule” similar to the associationist ideas of Faidherbe. In conquests of West African states, Faidherbe and his subordinates pioneered the use of outposts employing skilled Arabic speakers, immersing in local political norms and communicating in the complex, hybridized exchange between Hausa, Peul, and other languages with Arabic.¹⁰ By 1871, however, these officers had lost the battle in Algeria, overcome by civilian settlers and politicians who argued that the maintenance of preexisting “tribal” structures went against the egalitarian spirit of the French Revolution and disadvantaged settlers as a group. The institution nonetheless served as an example for Faidherbe of politically motivated social reform via military ethnological investigation and management.¹¹ Regardless of source, each contact added to the size of the Faidherbe’s vast network of networks, creating connections across and below the surface of the colonial enterprise.

Education of a reformer

Louis Faidherbe grew up in an industrializing town in the north of France. His father served as a sergeant major in a revolutionary national guard regiment and later settled into life as a haberdasher.¹² Academically gifted, Faidherbe attended prestigious preparatory schools and ultimately earned a place at the center for “diffusing Cartesianism throughout French society,” the école polytechnique.¹³ The future soldier entered the school during a transitional period. In the forty years prior to Faidherbe’s arrival, it had been the primary site for discussion of the utopian ideals of Henri Saint-Simon and his disciples, Prosper Enfantin and Auguste Comte. In 1826, Enfantin had written to a colleague on the importance of the école to the Saint-Simonian movement, referring to the school as the “channel by which these ideas [of positivism and industrial advancement] reproduce in society; it is the milk that we have sucked from our dear school that will nourish the generations to come.”¹⁴ While many of the proponents of these philosophical currents had moved on by Faidherbe’s entrance in the summer of 1838, their influence was still strong in the military at large. In fact, Faidherbe would cross paths with several Saint-Simonians in Algeria in his early career.¹⁵ While not imbued with the revolutionary sentiment of some of these theorists, Faidherbe did place great value in firsthand observation, a core idea in Comtean positivism. Faidherbe also imbibed the principles of liberal republicanism that he would try to spread to non-Frenchmen throughout his career.¹⁶

Faidherbe graduated in 1840 as one of twenty lieutenants to enter military engineering, one of the most demanding and sought-after fields of specialization.¹⁷ In his assignment to colonial service, he followed in the tradition of preceding polytechniciens, who made use of the “versatility” of their academic training to develop and manipulate scholarly networks in the colonies. For example, prominent alumni founded the Société archéologique de Constantine and the Société historique d’Alger.¹⁸ From his time in Algeria forward, Faidherbe participated in many of these organizations founded by fellow école graduates and military officers. Through this involvement, he encountered the long history of North Africa. At first a mystery to the young officer, the area would become central to Faidherbe’s understanding of colonial rule as he gained contacts throughout the region.

Early colonial experience: Construction of an understanding

Following engineering training in France, Faidherbe moved on to his first military assignment in an Algeria still in the throes of violent resistance to French colonial rule, a rebellion led by Abd al-Qadir that would continue until 1847. The years 1844–1846 saw Faidherbe serving as part of a suppression campaign under the command of General Thomas-Robert Bugeaud. While he and his commander likely had very little direct contact, Faidherbe ultimately developed views similar to those of his military superior. Bugeaud was famed for his willingness to consider what would later become known as the “hearts and minds” of the Arabs, attempting to win them over even as he ordered mass executions of rebel bands and the burning of entire villages. He famously raced into the street, undressed and unshaven, to subdue and arrest a Maltese he saw mercilessly beating an Arab.¹⁹ Likewise, Faidherbe, in letters to his mother, contrasted the “majesty,” “gravity,” and “intelligent bearing” of the Arabs he encountered with his understanding that Algeria required a “war of extermination,” as “one dead Arab means two fewer Frenchmen assassinated.”²⁰ Algeria thus presented Faidherbe with the impossible duality of the colonial situation. He could see both the humanist possibilities of a colonialism that considered native methods as useful and valuable in their own right and the terrible brutality required to “pacify” a hostile population.

Faidherbe’s subsequent assignment to Guadeloupe pushed him further down the humanist, associationist path. During this period, Faidherbe may have met Victor Schoelcher, famed abolitionist and senator in the new French government; in any case, the officer developed a strong relationship with the crusading reformer, ultimately dedicating his last work (1889) to “Mister Schoelcher, Senator, ex-member of the Provisional Government of 1848 … beloved teacher and old colleague.”²¹ Whether inspired by this relationship or by the poor conditions on the island, Faidherbe made a rapid transition from unremarkable officer to one with significant insight on native populations. Although listed as having no discernible linguistic skills in 1847, his evaluation of 1848 described his knowledge of languages, which he “studied voluntarily,” indicating that he “knows a little Italian and Spanish.” He also impressed his superior with his learning in “geology and natural history.” This 1848 report also reflected the superior’s perspective on Faidherbe’s political views: “Inclined towards socialism … can be easily impassioned by radical opinions—must be kept on the straight path by good advice.”²² The young captain, far from toeing the party line, had undergone a transformation seemingly overnight. He saw language as the gateway to a deeper understanding of native societies, insight that would enable better, more human colonial rule. His superiors had come to see him as a potential opponent of conservative colonial institutions.

Faidherbe’s expansive mind grew beyond basic improvement and trendy theories of social reform. At some point in his early career, the young officer compiled an extensive notebook with translations of poetry into thirty-one languages and dialects, including Berber, Arabic, and Guadeloupian Créole.²³ These notebooks do not reflect fluency in all of these languages; however, they do show an increased interest in and familiarity with foreign societies. It seems unlikely that Faidherbe acquired this language skill in a single year; rather, his earlier work had probably not attracted the attention of his superiors, who focused more on his shortcomings. Maturing rapidly both professionally and intellectually, he developed a taste for new ideas on social composition and order even as he worked hard to expand his ear for languages, ideas he would combine later in his career, particularly in Senegal.

Upon his return to France, now speaking “a little Arabic,” the young officer spent much of his time “in the study of languages.”²⁴ After his recovery, he returned to the center—for him—of all things ethnological and political, Algeria. While there, he could apply both his newfound language skills and his broader perspective on colonial rule. His subsequent experience in Algeria, followed almost immediately by prominence in Senegal, allowed him to mold a number of individuals ready to follow his leadership. In the process he would reorient the production and sharing of colonial knowledge, encompassing groups both in the metropole and in Africa.

Algeria: Building local understanding

Faidherbe’s return to Algeria in 1849 coincided with the explosion of a new revolt. This time the resistance came not from the traditionally demonized Arab tribes, but instead from the respected Berbers of the Kabylia region in the Aurès Mountains. The revolt would serve as the centerpiece of Faidherbe’s tour in the colony, as he would spend much of his time fighting in the area.²⁵ French Algeria had also become intellectually vibrant, as the Faculté de Lettres in Algiers developed new colonial scholars in following the lead of General Bugeaud, who had founded the first Algerian society for arts and letters in 1847.²⁶ Now more senior and with considerable colonial experience, Faidherbe found himself a valued member of the French effort in an area that offered opportunity for academic study. In fact, he was given command of the construction of an outpost at Bou Saada in late 1849, earning praise from General Jean-Baptiste Philibert Vaillant, formerly Faidherbe’s commandant at the école polytechnique, now inspector general of the army in Algeria, in an 1851 report. Vaillan...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Halftitle Page
• Title Page
• Dedication Page
• Contents 
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1 Louis Faidherbe and the Construction of Intellectual Networks
• 2 Lyautey, Gallieni, and Early Efforts at Political Association Informed by Ethnology
• 3 Engaging Native Sources to Develop an Informed Colonial State
• 4 Escaping Durkheim: Marcel Mauss and the Structural Turn
• 5 Jacques Soustelle and the Ethnological State in Algeria
• 6 Colonial Inheritance: Pierre Bourdieu and the Struggle for the Future of French Social Theory
• Conclusion
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index
• Imprint