Reading Information

Richard Fogarty, Chapter 6: Race, Sex, and Imperial Anxieties, Race and War in France: Colonial Subjects in the French Army, 1914-1918

Overview

This chapter addresses the relationships indigenous soldiers had with Frenchwomen while serving in the French army. In one instance, an Indochinese soldier, Sergeant Hao, described his Sunday strolls with Frenchwomen, comparing it to the strolls they took at home with their own women. Many indigenous soldiers developed friendships, sexual relationships, and even marriages with Frenchwomen. This alarmed the authorities who feared that it would alter the fabric of society. When thousands of photographs of Frenchwomen, some in suggestive poses, began flooding the mail of soldiers who had returned home, the authorities feared that the Frenchwomen would no longer be respected the same. It was initially the state that moved women into colonial territories so that they may come to represent morality, domesticity, and racial purity. However, these new developments caused anxiety due to the threat the relationships posed to the purity and given the typical role reversal (it was no longer white men with indigenous women). The time period for the book is 1914-1918 and this chapter seems to span these years as well. The geographic area is in France, as well as the colonial territories. This chapter describes the sexual aspect of colonialism and the role women had in these relationships, particularly with indigenous soldiers. The attitudes held by French officials shows that they wanted to keep the white, French race pure.

Keywords

1. Troupes indigenes – troops from the colonial territories (natives) fighting for the French army in WWI
2. Metissage – this term refers to the mixing of two races, or cultures. In this case, the mixing of French women and troupes indigenes
3. Color line – the distinction between the French and the indigenous soldiers. They “crossed the color line” when they entered into a relationship with Frenchwomen.

Argument

The main argument is that the relationship between Frenchwomen and indigenous soldiers was detrimental to French culture. French families and fathers who approved of the relationships sometimes facilitated them. One area in which they seemed most prevalent was hospitals, amongst nurses and the combat soldiers.

Evidence

Fogarty uses real quotes, such as Sergeants Hao, taken from journals. He also includes letters from Frenchwomen to indigenous soldiers that were intercepted by French officials. In these letters, they also found the photographs of the women. I think the evidence is reliable because they are firsthand accounts of the people experiencing the relationships. It also supports the idea that these relationships were a threat because the letters were the targets of government interception.

Historiographical Debate

The author explicitly quotes Ann Stoler, whom we had the pleasure of reading this semester. Fogarty seems to agree with Stoler and uses her work on family life to discuss the threat the interracial relationships posed. He uses her term “sexual affronts” to discuss the fear of the degeneration of the race held by French officials.

Contribution to Our Understanding of Colonial Rule

This chapter helps add a new layer to my current understanding of colonial rule. We have discussed political maneuvers and societal attitudes as well as mixed families in Stoler, but we have not really seen the relationships between Frenchwomen and indigenous soldiers. In Stoler, the chapters we read focused on the children born to native women after they had relationships with Frenchmen. In Cohn, we saw the British take on Indian women and customs. This chapter, however, discusses the anxiety the French officials had because they saw this as a direct threat to French culture. If the women had children, they would live in houses with French families. Unlike native women, it was much more difficult to shun the Frenchwomen because their families often facilitated and approved of the relationships with indigenous troops. This chapter exposes the double standard colonial governments had and the threat interracial relationships posed to French culture.

Reading Information

Bernard S. Cohn, “Chapter Three: Laws and the Colonial State in India,” Colonialism and Its Forms of Knowledge

Overview

British colonies in the Caribbean as well as in North America were seen as extensions of Great Britain. They were expected to have the same laws and political institutions as Great Britain. Slavery and the lack of indigenous populations in both places accounted for the reason this idea took hold so easily. Many people knew little else besides what came to be British rule. After the Battle of Plassey in 1757, the East India Company was able to gain territorial power in India (Cohn p. 58). This newly acquired territory was unlike Britain’s other colonies because the society came from an ancient civilization and had a large degree of self-governance. The territory and the number of people that came along with it also informed the decision to keep some aspects of the existing society.

In order to keep some elements of Indian traditions, the British had to fully understand the society. This meant understanding the language and even translating traditional Hindu laws into English. The original attempts at controlling India included incorporating the traditional laws into the new English system. This was unlike what was done in other colonies. By 1864 with the reform of the judicial system, the Hindu and Muslim law officers of various courts were abolished. This ultimately meant that the British were able to transform Hindu law into a form of English case law (Cohn p. 75). This shows that the initial attempts at understanding the ancient Indian constitution did not entirely come to fruition.

Keywords

1. Pandit – Hindu law officer
2. Ain-i-Akbari – a Perisan work by Abu’l Fazl that was translated into English in an attempt to understand Indian ruling. It included details on how Akbar, one of the Mughal emperors governed as well as land surveys, the properties a good ruler should have, and more.
3. Maulavi – Muslim law officer

Argument

Although the British tried to incorporate Hindu law into what became the new legal system, this did not last long. By 1864, the system shifted to a more traditional form of English law (Cohn p. 75).

Evidence

Cohn describes the work of Warren Hastings who was appointed the governor-general of the East India Company in 1772. Hastings wanted to understand past Indian rule in order to create a new system that incorporated indigenous institutions (Cohn p. 61). In 1774, Hastings wrote a letter advocating against the implementation of complete English laws in India, but rather he wanted to use the ancient constitution to inform any future systems. Using sources such as letters, Cohn successfully supports his argument that the British wanted to initially understand and incorporate aspects of the ancient Indian constitution into their new form of governance. Hastings also furthered his goal by gathering pandits to compile a code deriving from Hindu law that could be translated and used by English judges.

Historiographical Debate

Cohn addresses two scholars that disagree on the code that was created by Hastings’ efforts to include traditions from past Indian rule. Derrett believes that Hastings largely informed the topics covered in the code instead of what was deemed important by the pandits. On the other hand, Rosane Rocher, argues that the Sanskrit version was in fact informed by traditional views. She attributes this to the difference in text they analyzed because Derrett used the English translation. I believe Cohn gives us both sides of the debate to show how difficult the task of translating the text was.

Contribution to Our Understanding of Colonial Rule

This chapter helped my understanding in what creating a new legal system looked like at the time the British were taking control of India. They did not completely eradicate the old system because of the size of the state and the extent of existing self-governance. Instead, they had to try and understand where Indian tradition came from. Although Hindu law was incorporated into the system, it was molded into what was already seen as English. It was English ideals that shaped what was to be pulled from the old system. This is the precursor to what became the judicial reform of 1864. If key English values were extracted from Hindu law, what was the point of trying to keep Hindu law going? Instead, they reverted back to a form of traditional English law.

Reading Information

Bernard S. Cohn, “Introduction,” Colonialism and Its Forms of Knowledge

Overview

Before the eighteenth century, power in a state was exercised through grand processions and rituals such as coronations and funerals. These were led by people such as priests, artists, and historians who specialized in the expression power. After the eighteenth century, the way in which European states power expressed their power took on different forms. Besides rituals and processions, the way power was shown took a “boots on the ground” form. They made distinctions between the private and public spheres, classified the different groups in a population, recorded the sale of property, and more. These new procedures tried to record most aspects of a person’s daily life. For the emerging imperial power that was Great Britain, India, its most important colony, became a place in which these new ways to express power were tested. India also became testing grounds for policies that later were implemented in Great Britain.

Cohn goes on to describe the investigative modalities used by the British to collect data. These investigative modalities are comprised of the definition of what information is needed, the procedure in which the information is gathered, and how the information is transformed into useful data (such as into reports, legal codes, encyclopedias, etc.) Some of these investigative modalities are explained below in the keywords section. The “Introduction” chapter tells us how Great Britain implemented their own ways of thinking and record keeping to keep India under their control. They needed to understand the people, language, and area to implement policies that the British were accustomed to and used the investigative modalities to utilize the data and information they obtained.

Keywords

1. Investigative Modality – Different forms of investigation taken on by the British to learn more about India; they could create their own official documents from the knowledge they gained.
2. Survey Modality – This form of investigation came through mapping the land, collecting botanical specimens, recording architectural/archaeological sites, and recording the measurements of plots of lands. The survey modality was used to create things such as the “Survey of India” led by George Lambton.
3. Travel Modality – This form of investigation came through the travel accounts of tourists and of tradespeople. The accounts change over time to reflect the different political climates and show what the British deemed as important enough to record.

Argument

The British used investigative modalities to learn about India’s geography, history, customs, language, and more. With the information they gained, they were able to interpret and publish their own reports as well as create legal codes to exercise their power over India (Cohn p. 5).

Evidence

Cohn gives us many different examples of investigative modalities that he will use throughout the book. For each, he does include real accounts. For the survey modality, he uses the “Survey of India” which was used to map India as a grid to make it easier for the British to locate any site they needed. He gives us examples of surveyors – James Rennall, William Lambton, Alexander Cunningham, etc. For the enumerative modality, Cohn describes the 1881 census which not only included population numbers, but information on the caste system, religions, and economic structure. I do think the sources Cohn discusses are reliable because they are the firsthand accounts of what the British recorded. This can further his argument on how they recorded things they thought were useful to emphasize British customs in India.

Historiographical Debate

I am not sure how the author is situating himself in a wider scholarly debate.

Contribution to Our Understanding of Colonial Rule

Cohn’s introductory chapter is useful in understanding how the British were able to gain their information on India. It gives real examples such as land surveys, which puts the effort by the British into perspective. Rather than just defining colonialism, this chapter gives us a real scenario to examine. As a reader, I begin to learn the different investigative modalities, which will appear throughout the book. He also introduces important documents such as the census and some legal codes. This begins to show the reader that the British used the information they gathered in order to shape new policies as well as laws to reflect the British ideals – not just Indian values. The British had to first understand the society that they wanted complete control over, before actually changing the fabric of the society. This meant learning the language and familiarizing themselves with the different religions, regions, and people through the various investigative modalities.

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