Colonial governors disputed whether African peace reflected submission or loyalty

Evidence

Merlin developed these ideas more fully in a letter to the minister of colonies, Albert Sarraut, in 1921. The situation in West Africa had never been “more favorable. Peace reigns everywhere. But of what does [this peace] consist? Is it the atavistic and resigned submission of a ‘cursed race,’ as one of my predecessors put it, after the repression of the peoples of the West Volta in 1917? Is it, on the contrary, the loyal patriotism of our subjects, as another of my predecessors stated, after the recruitment of 1916? I think the truth is much more nuanced, much more complex.” — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 658

Categorization

• QUESTION: Interesting to chase: what event was the repression of the peoples of the West Volta in 1917, and how it shaped Merlin’s more nuanced reading of subjects.