French colonial education ignored African languages until the 1930s

Evidence

Only in the 1930’s would Dakar contemplate, for the first time, some instruction in African languages. See, for example, ANS, Circulaire no. 107, Gouverneur general to lieutenants gouverneurs, Apr. 8, I933, which dis- cussed “enseignement populaire.” Even then, however, the emphasis re- mained upon teaching Africans “spoken French.” — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 1209

Categorization

Category: Factual Claims

• XREF: Relevant to the reader’s goal: French republican assimilationism suppressed indigenous languages well into the 1930s, a key mechanism of cultural imposition.

Related

• French colonial authorities only contemplated African-language instruction in the 1930s. (similarity 0.92)
• Colonial education mixed African-language respect with French patriotic instruction to make loyal productive subjects. (similarity 0.83)
• French colonial rule banned Arabic from native courts and official acts in 1911 (similarity 0.82)
• French colonial adapted education defined African futures only negatively at first (similarity 0.82)
• West African colonial education aimed at loyalty to individual Frenchmen (similarity 0.81)
• French colonial education policy embodied internal contradictions that made it self-defeating (similarity 0.80)
• French officials condemned educated Africans as unruly products of assimilation (similarity 0.80)
• French was imposed in schools under a utilitarian dialect-unification argument. (similarity 0.80)
• Pre-1914 French civilizing doctrine mixed welfare goals with suppression of four African institutions (similarity 0.80)
• Adapted colonial education still rested on French cultural superiority premises. (similarity 0.80)
• French schooling created a rootless, rebellious African educated elite. (similarity 0.80)
• French colonial education prioritized forming an African worker and clerk class over abstract learning. (similarity 0.80)
• Colonial schools trained African teachers as cheap agents of French rural influence. (similarity 0.80)
• Colonial curricula taught the effects of French power rather than French history proper (similarity 0.79)
• West African revolts forced Dakar to reverse its assimilationist policies (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• French adapted education in West Africa pursued inherently contradictory goals #complicates (0.50)
• In 1911 French replaced Arabic in West African native courts #expands (0.50) — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 459
• Ponty’s education policy defined a more positive purpose for French schooling in Africa #responds-to (0.45) — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 455
• Colonial officials used language hierarchy to justify claims of Indigenous mental inferiority #expands (0.45)
• Colonial education programs created the dependency complex they then blamed on blacks #expands (0.45)
• Colonial education aimed to limit subject aspirations by withholding surplus skills #corroborates (0.40)
• Colonial revolts and knowledge of African cultures reshaped French civilizing doctrine. #responds-to (0.40) — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 39