Gendering the Colonial Enterprise

The turn of the century marked a shift in the visual representation of the French colonial empire. Maurice Agulhon&s;s work traces the evolution of visual portrayals of the character, qualities, preoccupations, and ambitions of the nation through two key emblematic moments: the struggle for the Republic (Marianne at War) and the victory of the Republic. The cultural and moral imperatives of French colonialism were henceforth to take precedence over the underlying need for force. A 1927 publication of the Colonial Army observed that the presence of European wives would play a considerable part in raising moral standards in the colony The attempt, through the means of propaganda, to extend colonial jurisdiction and interdiction to the private realm is revelatory of concerns over the commitment of colonialism&s;s own agents to the nation&s;s colonial enterprise.

Archaeology · Colonialism · Political science · Colonial History and Postcolonial Studies · Colonialism, slavery, and trade · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories · History