After World War II, European powers were not only left to deal with rebuilding their infrastructures and economies, they were also being challenged abroad by their colonies, places that they had held power for sometimes hundreds of years. With the end of the war came ideological changes across the globe, including changes of how colonies should be handled. Countries with colonial holdings seemed to feel insecure about their power and the end of the war certainly did not help. In the case of France, its holdings in Africa, especially Algeria, were fought for with both ideological means and violence, but eventually the long-standing French Empire was reduced dramatically by the 1970s due to colonies becoming independent states.
During France’s attempts to maintain control over Algeria, they developed this new ideal of hygiene and cleanliness, as discussed by Kristin Ross, professor at NYU, in her article “Starting Afresh: Cleanliness and Modernization in Postwar France”. A common idea that Westerners held regarding Africa at the time was that it was full of dirty and backwards countries that needed the help from Western powers. The French, being the power holder, could not be dirty, as that was the colony’s role. As they were in the process of losing Algeria as a colony, France realized that being physically clean was not enough: “If Algeria is becoming an independent nation, then France must become a modern nation: some distinction between the two must still prevail” (Ross, 27). This idea of having outstanding hygiene, although seemingly innocent, can be taken a step further. If France was to truly “clean” itself, they had to cleanse Algeria from them. Ross includes a cartoon in her article showing, on the surface, someone washing someone else, but upon closer examination, the man is being drowned (Ross, 47).
Cartoon depicting a man being “cleaned”
In 1962, Algeria gained their independence after decades of being a colony or part of a larger empire. This independence was not gained easily though. For seven years, Algeria fought in a brutal war against French occupying forces. In the film The Battle of Algiers, the National Liberation Front, or the FLN, used terrorist tactics to wage guerilla warfare. The FLN committed mass shootings and set off bombs, while the French tortured suspects to gain information. The film shows neither side of being necessarily good or bad, it presents a moral grey area in terms of what is appropriate warfare. While many are sympathetic of the overall Algerian experience, the tactics shown in the film are questionable.
In hindsight, it is easy to see what worked and didn’t work, both in terms of maintaining colonies and gaining independence. During the heat of conflict, especially dealing with such huge conflicts like colonies and groups of millions of people, it is hard to know what is the right move for potentially maintaining power or helping out others.
Gillo Pontecorvo, dir., Battle of Algiers (1966)
Kristin Ross, “Starting Afresh: Hygiene and Modernization in Postwar France,” October 67 (Winter 1994), 22-57
I think you bring up good points about France having to reimagine itself after losing its colonies because it could no longer itself as an empire. It is interesting to see the idea of washing Algeria off of France in a contemporary context because there was also a very large portion of France that was very against the idea of Algeria ever gaining its independence.
One thing that was mentioned in the readings was the fact that Britain and France were in desperate need of empire. France had to build a new image after losing territory. I think that you did a good job of explaining this in you blog post.