The French Colonial Mind Volume 1

In the introduction to the first volume of The French Colonial Mind, Martin Thomas acknowledges that the attempt to precisely map the connections between mental processes and identity formation might ‘raise scholarly eyebrows’. Collectively, the twenty-six contributions brought together in this two-volume set offer a multi-faceted and erudite response to such scepticism. The volumes, which arose out of a conference held in 2007 at Exeter University, are framed by two substantial introductions written by Thomas, which set out in detail the nature of the project. Taking as his starting point the belief that ‘thought precedes action’, in volume 1, Mental Maps of Empire and Colonial Encounters, Thomas makes the case for an exploration of the intellectual and attitudinal bases of empire, arguing that colonial mindsets, whether individual or collective, were the products of both the cultural environments in which they were formed but also, crucially, of specific historical moments and circumstances. Taking both these factors into account allows for the link between cultural assumptions and political outcomes to be traced and for the constituent parts of daily thought and practice within the empire to be deconstructed in a more systematic way than previously.

Aesthetics · Ancient history · Archaeology · Colonialism · Empire · Epistemology · Identity (music) · Political science · Politics · Set (abstract data type) · Skepticism · Sociology · African history and culture studies · Colonialism, slavery, and trade · History · History, Culture, and Diplomacy · Law · Philosophy