Contesting French West Africa: Battles over Schools and the Colonial Order, 1900–1950

377 Pages·2017·6.144 MB·English

by  Harry Gamble

Contesting French West Africa
France Overseas: Studies in Empire and Decolonization
series editors: A. J. B. Johnston, James D. Le Sueur, and Tyler Stovall
C O N T E S T I N G
F R E N C H
W E S T A F R I C A
Battles over Schools and the
Colonial Order, 1900– 1950
harry gamble
University of Nebraska Press lincoln and london
© 2017 by the Board of Regents of
the University of Nebraska
Portions of this book have previously appeared, in
different form, in “La crise de l’enseignement en
Afrique occidentale française (1944– 1950),” Histoire de
l’Éducation 128 (2010): 129– 62, http://histoire-education
.revues.org/2278; doi:10.4000/histoire- education.2278.
© ens Éditions. Used with permission.
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Gamble, Harry, author.
Title: Contesting French West Africa:
battles over schools and the colonial
order, 1900– 1950 / Harry Gamble.
Other titles: France overseas.
Description: Lincoln: University of Nebraska
Press, 2017. | Series: France overseas | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: lccn 2017008064
isbn 9780803295490 (cloth: alk. paper)
isbn 9781496202321 (epub)
isbn 9781496202338 (mobi)
isbn 9781496202345 (pdf)
Subjects: lcsh: Education— Political aspects—
Africa, French- speaking West. | Education— Africa,
French- speaking West— French influences. |
Educational change— Africa, French- speaking
West. | Africa, French- speaking West— History. |
France— Colonies— Africa— Administration.
Classification: lcc la1661 .g36
2017 | ddc 370.966— dc23
lc record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017008064
Set in Sabon Next by Rachel Gould.
Designed by N. Putens.
For April

contents
List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 1
1. Conflicting Visions:
Framing French West Africa 13
2. The Lessons of War:
Rethinking the Originaires 47
3. Toward the Interior: Rural Schools
and Colonial Reform 71
4. Reorienting African Schoolteachers:
Agents of the Future 99
5. Léopold Sédar Senghor and the Popular
Front: New Possibilities for Reform 125
6. The National Revolution in aof:
Debating the Future during the War Years 159
7. Gaullist Hesitations: From the Brazzaville
Conference to the Liberation 185
8. The Education of African “Citizens”:
Struggles over Integration 211
Epilogue 243
Notes 249
Bibliography 311
Index 337
illustrations
photographs
1. Palace of the Government General, nearing
completion, circa 1907 2
2. Blaise Diagne, 1921 63
3. Outdoor classroom in the Casamance
region of Senegal, early 1950s 220
4. Modern classroom in Bamako during the
Fourth Republic 221
5. Léopold Sédar Senghor, 1949 228
maps
1. “The lands between Senegal and Niger,” 1888 4
2. “French North and West Africa,” 1912 5
3. Dakar, 1850 18
4. Dakar, 1888 19
5. French West Africa and Togo, circa 1931 78
6. Dakar, 1925 89