Modernization describes the transition from traditional to modern societies. These modern societies are associated with urbanisation and industrialization. Westernization refers to the adoption of “Western” values in areas like cultural choices, industry, and economics. By demanding full participation in legislation and more social equality while modernizing, African nations refused to fully Westernize and forgo their cultural background.
The modernizing African was dangerous to the British and French who tried to reconstruct their imperial goals in Africa. For centuries, the West assumed that Africa was savage in that it had no history, and a “backwards” culture. In consequence, Africa was patronized and exploited. However, after World War II, the people of African nations challenged this belief in asserting their distinct cultural heritages and demanding independences.
African political activists recognized European desperation to hold onto their colonies, and they took advantage of this desperation through demanding political and social rights. Frederick Cooper, a history professor at NYU, discusses in Reconstructing Empire in British and French Africa, the dilemma that France and Britain faced as they had to become more inclusive in regards to citizenship and basic rights as they reconstructed their regimes, but still desired to control the people and resources. As colonies acquired more civil and social rights, they moved closer to acquiring independence. In reference to the French Union that allowed for basic benefits for colonial workers, Leopold Senghor, the first president of Senegal, “made it clear that he wanted that Union to be about political and civil equality, not about conformity to a French way of life” (Cooper, 207).
In reference to the Algerian War for independence, France failed to maintain their colony in Algeria because the French soldiers and government failed to recognize a distinct Algerian culture and desire for a different governance. Algerian political activists wanted to incorporate “Muslim nationalism into French politics” (207). However, the 1946 Constitution was very focused on the concept of a secular country, which is an ideology at odds with the Algerian concept of nationality and governance.
In a way, France and Great Britain lived in an ivory tower, not understanding of the culture and practical concerns of their colonial holdings. The image shown above is a literal representation of an ivory tower, complete with images of European and African contact through exploitation. As African people modernized and maintained their cultures, European empires fatally equated this modernization with westernization, as they believed African people could easily adopt their nations’ cultures easily.
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I like that you distinguished between cultural and technological change as driving factors for independence. It always struck me as odd how cultural elitism thrived for so long, and still does to this day, as white people often equate progress with whiteness. That France could not change their policies to allow for a different kind of progress in non-white nations makes sense as Europe has a history of looking after its own and disregarding the rest of the world.
How do you think underlying or overt racism prevented French politicians from finding compromise with Algeria?
Nice comment and question…what factors lead or caused these cultural and technological change in the first place? Who started these technological revolution that had dramatically impacted the continent?
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