'Circle of Iron': African Colonial Employees and the Interpretation of Colonial Rule in French West Africa

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Periodical article

Title:	'Circle of Iron': African Colonial Employees and the Interpretation of Colonial Rule in French West Africa
Author:	Osborn, Emily Lynn
Year:	2003
Periodical:	The Journal of African History
Volume:	44
Issue:	1
Period:	March
Pages:	29-50
Language:	English
Geographic terms:	French West Africa Great Britain
Subjects:	colonialism civil servants colonial administration Africans History and Exploration Labor and Employment
External link:	https://www.jstor.org/stable/4100381
Abstract:	This article investigates the role of African colonial employees in the functioning of the colonial State in French West Africa. Case studies from the 1890s and early 1900s demonstrate that in the transition from conquest to occupation, low-level African colonial intermediaries continually shaped the localized meanings that colonialism acquired in practice. Well-placed African colonial intermediaries in the colonies of Guinée Française and Soudan Français often controlled the dissemination of information and knowledge in the interactions of French colonial officials with local elites and members of the general population. The contributions of these African employees to the daily operations of the French colonial State show that scholars have long overlooked a cadre of men who played a significant role in shaping colonial rule. Notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]