French administrators used public health policy to force changes in African village life

Evidence

The governor general’s speeches and the reports of the federal sanitary services indicate that, in thinking about ways to improve the health of Africans, Dakar was envisioning nothing less than a revolution in the way their subjects lived. The AMI doctor was to be a calm and indefatigable adviser to the indigenous populations. He was also to collaborate closely with the local administrator (commandant de cercle) and function as a kind of public hygienist. Only the commandant, Roume recognized, had sufficient authority to modify the appearance of African villages. These commandants were now to determine how streets were to be designed, wells dug, and garbage collected. Doctor and administrator together were to persuade the Africans under their command to change their way of life, by replacing what the administration viewed as unhealthy ancestral habits with modern hygienic ones conducive to the mise en valeur of the federation. — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 171

Categorization

• DEFINE: Explains the AMI (Assistance Médicale Indigène) program and its dual medical-administrative function in French colonial governance.