Fear of extremist propaganda drove colonial surveillance expansion in French West Africa

Evidence

The French term “Islamophobie” first appeared in print in a 1910 book entitled La Politique Musalmane dans l’Afrique Occidentale Francoise. In that book, the author criticized the anti-Muslim views of France’s colonial administrators working in former Muslim-majority colonies such as Benin, The Gambia, and Senegal in western Africa. “Islamophobie” was also used in a biography on the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) that was completed in 1916 by another Frenchman named Alphonse Etienne Dinet. The author dedicated his book to the brave Muslim soldiers in the French army who died in battle during World War I. — Arsalan Iftikhar, Fear of a Muslim Planet_ Global…, 484 (#expands, via linked claim)

In offi- cial missives the terms “Gayo” and “Acehnese” were distinguished in some accounts, but used interchangeably in others. How did Valck and his fellow reporters know how to tell a Gayo thief in the night from an Acehnese dissident? As we shall see, these terms often served to mark not ethnic identity but the degree of threat to this new colonial enterprise, those whose actions were to be classified as “common criminal” or “insurgent rebel.” — Ann Laura Stoler, Along the Archival Grain_ Epistemic…, 1100 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Islamophobia began as colonial administrators’ anti-Muslim views across French west Africa — Arsalan Iftikhar, Fear of a Muslim Planet_ Global…, 484; Colonial ethnic labels measured threat level rather than actual ethnicity — Ann Laura Stoler, Along the Archival Grain_ Epistemic…, 1100; Contemporary anti-Western sentiment and Western Islamophobia both stem from the colonial legacy — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 182 (+5 more)

Related

• Islamophobia began as colonial administrators’ anti-Muslim views across French west Africa (similarity 0.84)
• French colonial justice policy tried to stop Islam’s spread by grouping Africans by ethnicity (similarity 0.81)
• Contemporary anti-Western sentiment and Western Islamophobia both stem from the colonial legacy (similarity 0.81)
• French Muslim presence traces to Algeria’s 1830-1962 colonial conquest (similarity 0.79)
• French Islamophobia is shaped by Islamic conquest history resting at the present’s doorstep. (similarity 0.79)
• British colonial ideology consolidated the essentialized idea of Islam as a homogeneous threat (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Islamophobia began as colonial administrators’ anti-Muslim views across French west Africa #expands (0.65) — Arsalan Iftikhar, Fear of a Muslim Planet_ Global…, 484
• Colonial ethnic labels measured threat level rather than actual ethnicity #expands (0.60) — Ann Laura Stoler, Along the Archival Grain_ Epistemic…, 1100
• Colonial knowing relied on inattention and adverted gazes more than surveillance #complicates (0.60)
• Colonial paranoia about French emissaries produced a decree expelling immigrants #expands (0.55)
• Colonial officials ritualistically framed rumor-derived reports as verified facts #expands (0.55)
• Contemporary anti-Western sentiment and Western Islamophobia both stem from the colonial legacy #expands (0.40) — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 182