Christopher Jackson
Imperial Displacement
The topic of imperial displacement basically speaks for its self. An imperial foreign power moves into an alien region and causes interference. This has happened a dozen times in dozens of nations due to over ambitions national superpowers. In the article written by Elizabeth Schmidt, this issue is covered by the events that took place in the French West African territory of Guinea. The French much like their interaction with the Vietnamese is almost equally lackluster in Guinea.
The period the article focuses on is during the second world war. Due to being a French territory, the natives of Guinea were expected to participate in the war effort. If fighting in a foreign war was not bad enough the citizens of Guinea had additional problems. A large number a Guinea men were forcibly drafted to serve in the French military. They found themselves experiencing segregation and less than adequate conditions. Back at their homes there was imposed food rations and the able-bodied still available were placed in forced labor.
Due to this people began resisting as an act of defiance to express dissatisfaction. The aspect of displacement is some forms of this resistance comes by way of an exodus. In the article it says, “Official documents reported the widespread exodus of rural populations, as whole villages absconded across territorial boundaries to avoid taxes, compulsory rubber collection, forced labor, and military recruitment” (Schmidt, p. 452). It is very clear that the French’s foreign governing policies at that time bred discontent if this happened. Guinea does become independent and presumably had to cope with the struggles of a decolonized nation.
Image Source:
http://novaonline.nvcc.edu/eli/evans/photos/Africa/mapAOFlarge.jpg
Do you think that the French grouped all of their colonies in the same social class? By that I mean was their a separate grouping of all foreign subjects or in the minds of the native French could were they all just ‘colonials’ deserving of equal treatment, no matter how poor that treatment was?
Do you think the the other French territories had an identical situation to the in Guinea? How would those situations have differed?
I like your comparison with French involvement in Vietnam. France has a disappointing track record when it comes to colonies. Like in Vietnam, France set up weak government systems and didn’t give the Africans their due. Do you think that, had France given more to the Africans in Guinea, revolution could have been avoided or was it inevitable?