Creating French Settlements Overseas: Pronatalism and Colonial Medicine in Madagascar
| Autor: | Margaret Cook Andersen |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2010 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | French Historical Studies. 33:417-444 |
| ISSN: | 1527-5493 0016-1071 |
| DOI: | 10.1215/00161071-2010-004 |
| Popis: | This article explores the reasons that pronatalists in the Third Republic aligned the resolution of the depopulation crisis with the fate of settler colonialism. Convinced that the French population grew more quickly when far away from the metropole, pronatalists presented colonial emigration and settlement as means by which to strengthen the French race. The demographic importance that pronatalists attached to imperialism also led them to study colonial initiatives in population growth, most notably those of Governor- General Joseph-Simon Gallieni in Madagascar. Gallieni's belief that a large indigenous labor force was essential to preparing the colony for more extensive French settlement led him to introduce a series of reforms intended to increase the colony's Merina popu- lation. Though Gallieni's reforms reflected racial and gender assumptions specific to Madagascar, pronatalists in France considered them applicable to their own efforts to address the gendered causes of French racial decline. From this day a new France is born yonder (Africa), a huge empire; and it needs our blood—and some must be given it, in order that it may be populated and be able to draw its incalculable wealth from the soil, and become the greatest, the strongest, and the mightiest in the world! Emile Zola In his 1899 novel Fecondite, Emile Zola highlighted the relationship between depopulation and colonial settlement by painting a picture of an ideal couple ensuring France's future by producing twelve chil- dren. With their large family, Marianne and Mathieu are able to con- tribute to France's population growth, repopulate the countryside, and, finally, establish new settlements in France's African colonies. Zola emphasizes the significance of the latter contribution to France's demographic strength through the character of Nicolas, the couple's eleventh child, who embodies the spirit of adventure pronatalists found lacking in many French men. Feeling stifled among so many older sib - lings, Nicolas leaves home with his young wife to find his fortune else - where, ultimately settling in French Sudan, where he surpasses his par- ents by fathering eighteen children. In this way, Nicolas strengthens Margaret Cook Andersen is assistant professor of history at the University of Tennessee. She is writing a book on pronatalism and empire during the Third Republic. The author thanks Brett Andersen, Cari Campbell, Annie Liss, Jennifer Sessions, and the anonymous reviewers of French Historical Studies for their helpful comments. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
| Externí odkaz: |
|