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.