French peace and railroads destroyed the social discipline that held African societies together
Evidence
There had been, Van Vollenhoven began, a deplorable absence of unified doctrine in West Africa over the past thirty years. On account of lack of documentation and the problems posed by organizing these vast territories, actions had been undertaken piecemeal, often with the best of intentions. This approach had, through no one individual’s fault, “necessarily and fatally” disrupted African society. The first elements contributing to this disorganization had been the establishment of French peace and the introduction of the railroad; they had broken down the isolation in which Africans had lived for centuries. Such isolation, Van Vollenhoven intimated, deserved to be ended. It was, in and of itself, the “fruit of barbarism.” This isolation nevertheless had had certain advantages: “Traditions remained alive, custom was rigorously observed, social and family discipline was everywhere respected, and everywhere punishment for deviation was ruthlessly applied.” — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 640
Categorization
Category: Causal Relationships
- DEFINE: Clarifies Van Vollenhoven’s diagnosis: French rule itself, not native backwardness, caused the disorganization he sought to reverse.
Related
- French peace and railroads fatally disrupted longstanding African social order. (similarity 0.96)
- French peace dissolved village cohesion and fostered African individualism. (similarity 0.82)
- French failures in West Africa revived racism and redefined their civilizing mission (similarity 0.81)
- WWI shook but did not end the French republican civilizing mission (similarity 0.80)
- Railroads were the instrument for welding French West Africa into one unit. (similarity 0.80)
- French schooling produced African elites who rejected colonial discipline (similarity 0.79)
- Centuries of colonial recruitment as a human reservoir pushed West Africans to revolt (similarity 0.78)
- French infrastructure-first policy in West Africa reflected ignorance of African conditions. (similarity 0.78)