Colonial schools drilled a single coherent definition of civilization into African children

Evidence

On one level, what is most striking about these primary-school materials is how they recapitulated every civilizing theme articulated in Dakar since its founding. African children were being taught that under France’s guiding hand, their home was becoming a more productive, egalitarian, and modern place. The hallmarks of civilization were technological achievements in the service of mise en valeur, superior morality, and the ability to speak French. To be civilized was to acquire all these attributes simultaneously. — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 468

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines what ‘civilized’ meant in the French colonial project: technology plus morality plus French language, all at once.