French rule after 1918 shifted from assimilation to associating African elites.

Evidence

Instead, it spoke increasingly of the need to “associate” traditional West African chiefs and the first generation of French-educated Africans in policy making. “Association” meant that the members of the African elite were now supposed to be consulted in all decisions regarding them. In the postwar years French imperial authorities also rejected the formerly held opi!lion that railroads alone would trigger the desired increase in the African standard of living. The key to tapping the economic potential of the West African territories, these authorities now believed, was the mise en valeur of Africa’s human resources. In theory, human mise en valeur meant a more intensive focus upon improving the African producer’s health and farming methods compared to conditions and practices in the prewar era. In reality, the term reflected a renewed conviction that Africans would never progress unless the French made them progress, and that forcibly inculcating a hitherto absent work ethic constituted a crucial part of the Third Republic’s civilizing mission in West Africa. — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 39

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines what ‘association’ and ‘human mise en valeur’ actually meant as postwar colonial doctrine.
• XREF: Connects to the distinction between assimilation and association in imperial doctrine debated across French colonial historiography.