ABSTRACT

After the Second World War, the French colonial administration undertook about 15 experiments in fundamental education in several villages of West and Equatorial Africa. Carried out by small teams of experts, including Africans, their aims were to raise the living standards of rural and often isolated communities, to improve hygiene and nutrition conditions, and to promote new agricultural and farming techniques. From a political viewpoint, the objective was to re-legitimise the civilising mission of colonialism by showing the commitment of French authorities towards the “well-being” of native African populations. By the mid-1950s, however, all projects were interrupted, due to technical, financial, and political constraints. Drawing on national, colonial, and African archives, this article sheds light on this still little-known history. It first highlights the international context in which these projects took place, particularly the role of Unesco in forging the concept of fundamental education. Second, the article analyses the daily work provided by colonial experts in the field. Special attention is given to the wide range of activities that were carried out (literacy and medical campaigns, technical training sessions, farming experiments, etc.), the roles of African staff, and local populations’ reception. The article also examines the institutional machinery set up by colonial authorities, both in the metropole and overseas, in an attempt to define a “French paradigm” in fundamental education and to showcase their efforts within international fora. Third, problems that led the French administration to abandon those kinds of experiments in the mid-1950s are investigated in detail. Against the background of decolonisation, direct interventionism in overseas territories was indeed replaced by bilateral “development aid” programmes, which became part of a comprehensive strategy aimed at strengthening the geopolitical position of France in post-independence Africa. By highlighting post-war French attempts at reforming the empire through fundamental education, the article thus provides new and original insights into the history of development in Africa as well as into the interconnections between internationalism and empire in the late colonial period.

摘要

二战后，法国殖民政府在西非和赤道非洲的几个村庄进行了大约15次基础教育实验。由包括非洲人在内的小型专家团队开展，其目标是提高农村和往往与世隔绝的社区的生活水平，改善卫生和营养条件，并推广新的农业和耕作技术。从政治角度来看，其目的是通过展示法国当局对非洲土著人民“福祉”的承诺，使殖民主义的文明使命重新合法化。然而，到 1950 年代中期，由于技术、财务和政治限制，所有项目都中断了。本文利用国家、殖民地和非洲档案，揭示了这段鲜为人知的历史。它首先强调了这些项目发生的国际背景，特别是联合国教科文组织在塑造基础教育概念方面的作用。其次，文章分析了该领域殖民专家提供的日常工作。特别关注开展的范围广泛的活动（扫盲和医疗运动、技术培训课程、农业试验等）、非洲工作人员的作用以及当地居民的接待。文章还考察了殖民当局在大都市和海外建立的制度机制，试图在基础教育中定义“法国范式”，并在国际论坛上展示他们的努力。第三，详细调查了导致法国政府在 50 年代中期放弃此类实验的问题。在非殖民化的背景下，海外领土的直接干预主义确实被双边“发展援助”计划所取代，这成为旨在加强法国在独立后非洲地缘政治地位的综合战略的一部分。通过强调战后法国通过基础教育改革帝国的尝试，文章因此提供了对非洲发展历史以及殖民时期晚期国际主义与帝国之间相互联系的新颖独到的见解。海外领土的直接干预主义确实被双边“发展援助”计划所取代，这成为旨在加强法国在独立后非洲地缘政治地位的综合战略的一部分。通过强调战后法国通过基础教育改革帝国的尝试，本文为非洲的发展历史以及殖民时期晚期国际主义与帝国之间的相互联系提供了新的原创见解。海外领土的直接干预主义确实被双边“发展援助”计划所取代，这成为旨在加强法国在独立后非洲地缘政治地位的综合战略的一部分。通过强调战后法国通过基础教育改革帝国的尝试，文章因此提供了对非洲发展历史以及殖民时期晚期国际主义与帝国之间相互联系的新颖独到的见解。