The Case Of France And West Africa Case Study

In Colonialism and Human Rights, A Contradiction in Terms? The Case of France and West Africa by Alice L Conklin published by the American Historical Review in 1998 revisits the cultural, political, and ethical implications of Western colonization and how the French empire justified expansion. The purpose of this study is to reanalyze the French government's actions to colonize uncivilized countries in Africa. The reason for writing the article was to weigh in on this discussion of France’s involvement in colonization. This topic has become popular for historians to discuss because the ramifications are present in today's society. Conklin is a historian that specializes in Modern France in the twentieth century and uses this to create a critical
Her argument is persuasive with her sources and credible due to the publishing company. Conklin addresses how European governments viewed colonization and how colonization in Africa became a race for land that resulted in the malpractice of expansion. Conklin's specialization of France during this time period found the correlation between French policy and the rights of free citizens in France. Conklin finds disparity between the two and notes that republican ideas influenced treatment of people in uncivilized colonies. As France began to colonize Africa they wanted to uplift the inferior races and educate them. But their reasoning began to change when other nations started colonizing Africa. This lead to corruption between
France offered to implement schools in Africa to assimilate the youth French culture. Both parties agreed because each one benefitted from schooling. Conklin states, “French republican principles at work was the somewhat paradoxical decision, given the expressed goal not to assimilate Africans, to make French language instruction an integral part of adapted education.” Conklin views this as a sneaky way that the French bypassed the resistance France had previously seen from the people of Dakar. This attempt had a positive effect on standards of living for those citizens in Dakar and to continue to grow they would need to rely on France to do so. This plan worked as was able to influence the people of Dakar as the French language is predominant in its communities. Due to France’s success they began to continue to influence culture in Dakar by penetrating their government with French ideals. As Dakar began to become a more developed civilization France aided them to set up a justice system similar to theirs. The first adaption was harsh but it intended to bring order to the community. Conklin views this as manipulative, “These extraordinary powers of repression on the part of the French state would seem to suggest that, whatever the rhetoric of the civilizing mission, African subjects stood little chance of ever having their