Dakar’s respect for African chiefs served control rather than genuine interest

Evidence

These books popularized the notion that Africans had civi- lizations that differed from those of the West but were in no way inferior. After serving in Dakar during the war, Delafosse resumed his teaching in Paris. Throughout his life, Delafosse sought repeat- edly to educate policy makers in Dakar and public opinion in France on the history of Africa, and to influence policy decisions in direc- tions that he considered compatible with France’s mission to uplift morally and materially its African subjects. These directions had lit- tle to do with Panty’s stereotypes of barbarism; they emphasized in- stead the need to respect African institutions, which Delafosse had studied. — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 614 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Recent revolts, then, coupled with Diagne’s rising influence and the growing conservative climate in Paris, had only confirmed Clozel’s lifelong belief that the French had to respect preexisting Af- rican institutions if they wished to avoid future rebellions, much less accomplish anything constructive in West Africa. — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 623 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

Category: Causal Relationships

Related

• Delafosse persuaded colonial policy toward respecting African institutions (similarity 0.91)
• West African revolts forced Dakar to reverse its assimilationist policies (similarity 0.89)
• Postwar revolts pushed French administrators toward respecting African institutions. (similarity 0.86)
• France’s pro-chief policy change served hegemony, not genuine cultural interest (similarity 0.83)
• World War I drove Dakar from transforming Africans toward respecting precolonial aristocracies. (similarity 0.83)
• French administration destroyed West African institutions without adequate replacement. (similarity 0.82)
• French administrators shifted to power-sharing with chiefs to avert future rebellions. (similarity 0.82)
• Colonial chiefs’ collaboration reinforced rightward drift in France (similarity 0.82)
• French colonial ideology and governance policy shifted together toward association in the interwar period. (similarity 0.82)
• Dakar revised the civilizing mission after admitting its old policies failed (similarity 0.81)
• World War I drove French West Africa toward a more conservative civilizing mission (similarity 0.81)
• French republicanism fused with racial evolutionism to justify suppressing African customs. (similarity 0.81)
• French republicanism deliberately leveled African aristocracies by schooling all social classes together. (similarity 0.81)
• The Government General respected African customs except when they conflicted with civilization (similarity 0.81)
• French non-enforcement of abolition was a political accommodation to slave-owning chiefs (similarity 0.81)

Broader Connections

• Delafosse persuaded colonial policy toward respecting African institutions #complicates (0.65) — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 614
• Rebellions and Paris conservatism pushed France toward respecting African institutions #complicates (0.60) — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 623
• France’s colonial recruiting pushed African populations to revolt #expands (0.25)