Chiefs could not serve simultaneously as ethnic representatives and French agents

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.” And even as the federal authority noted the problem of “an aristocracy that was not evolving quickly enough to retain control of the milieux which these chiefs were supposed to be guiding,” the Government General continued to maintain that traditional notables remained the best instruments of the progress France wished to effect. — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 731

Categorization

• DEFINE: Captures the central structural contradiction of French association doctrine — the impossible double role assigned to indigenous chiefs.