Empire & Colonial exhibition

Overseas territories under French rule2nd largest empire in size by 1914

What was the French Empire?

“La mission civilisatrice” National prestige/powerTrade/raw materialsSource of soldiersAll powers in

Europe had imperial aims

How was imperialism justified?

Sense of achievement ‘La grandeur’Global presence Sense of dutyExtension of France

‘Greater France’ « A côté de nos vieilles colonies, ces bijoux de famille égrenés dans l’Atlantique et dans l’océan Indien, c’est la France africaine, grande comme l’Europe. »

Besides our old colonies, those family jewels spread across the Atlantic and Indian oceans, we have French Africa, as big as Europe.

(Extract from Paul Reynaud’s speech, from Discours inaugural de l’Exposition coloniale, 6 mai 1931.)

“Un passé qui ne passe pas” (Rousso, 1987)Decolonisation Discours de Dakar 2007 & 2012 Intervention in Mali

Legacy of the French Empire

« La colonisation n’est pas responsable de toutes les difficultés actuelles de l’Afrique. Elle n’est pas responsable des guerres sanglantes que se font les Africains entre eux. Elle n’est pas responsable des génocides. Elle n’est pas responsable des dictateurs. Elle n’est pas responsable du fanatisme. Elle n’est pas responsable de la corruption, de la prévarication. Elle n’est pas responsable des gaspillages et de la pollution. »

(Sarkozy, 2007)

Maintaining links with former empire is a way for France to maintain their global presence. E.g. la francaphonie/francafrique

There is still immigration from former colonies

Unhealed wounds - Algerian War, Pied-Noir and Harkis resentment

Persistence of racism, problems with integration and identity - la fracture coloniale

Continuing legacy of the Empire

France Rest of World

Stable – 3rd year of economic growth (Evans & Godin)

Wall Street Crash hugely affected US and Germany

Dominant power until 1932 Struggle for economic stability

Largest army Germany still under restrictions from Treaty of Versailles 1919

Opening of colonial exhibition in Paris 1931

Britain previously show cased empire exhibition 1924

State of France in 1931

-A six-month exhibition held in Paris, France in 1931 that attempted to display the diverse cultures and immense resources of France's colonial possessions.- 6 May 1931 in the Bois de Vincennes on the eastern outskirts of Paris- "the most spectacular colonial extravaganza ever staged in the West.“(Elisabeth Prophet)-Other nations participated in the event,including the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Japan, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States.-”Human zoo”

What was the Colonial exhibition?

France’s status as a global powerFrench vision of colonial lifeMission civilisatriceUnity/ Power/ PartnershipComparison of their empire to the whole of Europe.Oriental states depicted as static, despotic and unorganized

Paul Reynard(France`s minister of colonies) explained that the aim of the Exhibition was to make imperialism an integral part of French consciousness

“Cultural fantasies which underpinned the determination after ww2 to hang on to colonies long after the concept of empire was discredited.” (Kedward, p.139)

What ideas underpinned the Exhibition?

How was it promoted?

“In the late 1920s and 1930s, the French state devoted Increasing attention to  propagandizing the imperial mission of France.”

“Sought to portray the empire as loyal & valuable”

Colonial subjects = obedient & hard-working

Media coverage meant that most French citizens came to know the French state’s version of events.

Idealised view.

Significance of the exhibition.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54tkAKLy_pg

Communist party oppositionSurrealistsPortrayal of womenThis propaganda did not

discourage people from believing the state’s version of events.

PCF propaganda posters represent colonialism as a force in which France is imprisoning its subjects –opposite representation of the state's view.

How was it opposed?

In your own opinion would you agree that France exploited their colonies?

Would you describe the Paris Exhibition of 1931 a “human zoo” or as a means of sharing different cultures?

How was Marianne used to symbolise France during the colonial empire?

Questions

Evans, M. and Godin, E. (2004). France 1815 to 2003. London: Edward Arnold

Kedward, H.R. (2005). La Vie en Bleu. London: Allen Lane.

Rousso, H. (1987). Le syndrome de Vichy. Paris: Seuil

Vann, M. G. (n.d.). []. The colonial exhibition of may 1931., Retrieved from http://www.port.ac.uk/special/france1815to2003/chapter6/interviews/filetodownload,18533,en.pdf

Evans, M. (2004).Empire and culture: the French experience, 1830-1940. Palgrave: Macmillan

Bibliography