Governor Clozel long opposed the assimilationist dismantling of African chieftaincies

Evidence

As an administrator in West Africa, Clozel had a history of opposing, from the outset, Panty’s attempts to win over the African masses through divesting their leaders of power. In his capacity as a commandant and then as governor, he had worked out collaborative relations with chiefs in Ivory Coast from 1901 to 1907. As lieutenant governor of Upper Senegal-Niger, he had sought to mitigate the effects of the politique des races, fully aware of the potential disruption such an assault on the precolonial elite would cause. — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 611

Categorization

• DEFINE: Reveals the politique des races as an earlier assimilationist policy of dividing up and dethroning precolonial elites — the very approach association replaced.