A chief cannot both represent his people and obey colonial administrators

Evidence

Contrary to what Brevie maintained, chiefs, even with their restored councils, could not be “both the representatives of the ethnic collectivities and the agents of the administration whom they were required to obey.” — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 731

Categorization

• DEFINE: States the defining structural contradiction at the heart of indirect rule/association.
• XREF: Links to the broader reading purpose on how republican France forced its rule onto West Africa - the dual-allegiance contradiction is the core explanatory mechanism.