The "Civilising Mission" was the most detrimental aspect of French colonial policy in the Middle-East

Résumé du document

After the First World War, France became one of the main colonising powers in the Middle East, along with Britain. In the study of colonial policies, there is general consensus among historians that while Britain had more economic and strategic interests in the region, the French were more radical in their objectives in that they sought to convert colonial subjects into Frenchmen as part of larger France, through a "civilising mission" or mission civilisatrice. The cultural expansion of France generated an extensive corpus of argument and reflexion, and colonial historiography provides a useful framework for the study of conceptions and ideas of colonialism. It has been argued that the French were altruistic in their policies in that they believed any colonized person could become French, and the feeling of a secular mandate to bring civilisation and modernization to the Middle-Eastern colonised territories; however, another point of view exposes that these attitudes were always premised on a belief in European cultural superiority. This, along with the pursuance of rigorous assimilation and francisation (Frenchification), did sow the seeds for discontented among the colonized populations and for concepts for nationalist independence movements.
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Extraits

[...] These ideas paved the way for colonialism and imperialism belong to a tradition of Western thoughts and preconceived ideas, which Edward Said refers to as “Orientalism”. In his book Orientalism, Said examines the development of Western conceptions and representations of the Orient. Thus, Orientalism is seen as style of thought based on an existential difference between the Orient and the Occident, a transcendental difference between the West and the Orient'[5]. Throughout his book, Said stresses the principle of binary opposition and comparison whereby Europe always emerges as superior to the Occident. [...]

[...] Such compromise with colonialism proved the strength of resiliency of colonised people in the face of French and generally European domination. BIBLIOGRAPHY The Wars of French Decolonization, Anthony Clayton, Longman Group A concise History of the Middle East, Arthur Glodschmidt, Westview Press Greater France: A History of French Overseas Expansion, Robert Aldrich, Macmillan Press Orientalism, Edward Said, Penguin Editions. Edward Said: a Critical Introduction, Valerie Kennedy, Polity Press Colonialism: a theoretical overview, Jürgen Osterhammel, Ian Rande publishers Super-power intervention in the Middle East, Peter mangold, Croom held editor Noirs et Blancs en Afrique Francaise, Henri Brunschwig, Flammarion The Wars of French Decolonization, Anthony Clayton, Longman group p.33 A concise history of the Middle East, Arthur Goldshmidt, Westview press p.14 Noirs ert Blancs en Afrique Francaise, Henri Brunschwig, Flammarion p.209 Greater France: a History of French Overseas Expansion, Robert Aldrich, Macmillan Press p.97 Edward Said A Critical Introduction, Valerie Kennedy, Polity Press p.16 Greater France: A History of French overseas expansion. [...]

[...] For this purpose, heath care, new sources of income and arbitration of disputes were intended to show the French as human and kind rulers. Hence a praiseworthy material and practical justification added to the moral one; thus, these factors explain why the ‘mission civilisatrice' evoked the least opposition from Europeans who thought France was indeed carrying out a praiseworthy humanitarian effort in the empire. With the prospect of civilising the colonised people, the French pursued the aim of assimilation, a concept which governed French colonial policy. [...]

[...] This theory can be illustrated by the works of French authors such as Arthur Gobineau's Essay on the inequality of races published in the 1850s, which provided an authoritative statement on racial theories: it appointed that a misreading of Darwin's theory, and the ideas of Western anthropologists and linguists contributed to the conclusions about the innate racial superiority of those whom Europeans conquered. In practice, within the ‘mission civilisatrice' programme, the French pursued different policies, that did prove detrimental to the colonised people in different respects. [...]

[...] In the context of French political and cultural assimilation, he issued a powerful statement Algerian nation was formed and exists just as all nations of the earth. This nation has its history; it has its religious and linguistic unity; it has its own culture, its traditions ( The Algerian nation is not France. It does not want to become France, and even if it so desired, it could not so be ( It wants nothing of assimilation.”[10] This declaration is of particular importance as Algeria formed the most important site of French colonial activity, and again shows that the French ‘mission civilisatrice' gave little attention to the importance of indigenous Arab and Muslim culture, language, religion, and political and administrative structures. [...]