The French Empire
Many library resources on the French Empire will be found in the DC1-433 LC call number range. Keep in mind a that well-crafted thorough search is vital as resources may be found in other call number ranges, as well. The list below is far from exhaustive and serves as an introduction to available sources on the French Empire.
Additional items may be found in the JV500-5397 call number range where items related to colonizing nations are found.
An empire divided : religion, republicanism, and the making of French colonialism, 1880-1914 by
Between 1880 and 1914, tens of thousands of men and women left France for distant religious missions, driven by the desire to spread the word of Jesus Christ, combat Satan, and convert the world's pagans to Catholicism. But they were not the only ones with eyes fixed on foreign shores. Justas the Catholic missionary movement reached its apex, the young, staunchly secular Third Republic launched the most aggressive campaign of colonial expansion in French history. Missionaries and republicans abroad knew they had much to gain from working together, but their starkly differentmotivations regularly led them to view one another with resentment, distrust, and even fear.In An Empire Divided, J.P. Daughton tells the story of how troubled relations between Catholic missionaries and a host of republican critics shaped colonial policies, Catholic perspectives, and domestic French politics in the tumultuous decades before the First World War. With case studies onIndochina, Polynesia, and Madagascar, An Empire Divided--the first book to examine the role of religious missionaries in shaping French colonialism--challenges the long-held view that French colonizing and "civilizing" goals were shaped by a distinctly secular republican ideology built onEnlightenment ideals. By exploring the experiences of Catholic missionaries, one of the largest groups of French men and women working abroad, Daughton argues that colonial policies were regularly wrought in the fires of religious discord--discord that indigenous communities exploited in respondingto colonial rule.After decades of conflict, Catholics and republicans in the empire ultimately buried many of their disagreements by embracing a notion of French civilization that awkwardly melded both Catholic and republican ideals. But their entente came at a price, with both sides compromising long-held andmuch-cherished traditions for the benefit of establishing and maintaining authority. Focusing on the much-neglected intersection of politics, religion, and imperialism, Daughton offers a new understanding of both the nature of French culture and politics at the fin de siecle, as well as the power ofthe colonial experience to reshape European's most profound beliefs.
Call Number: BV2210 .D38 2006 REQUEST THROUGH I-SHAREISBN: 9780195305302Publication Date: 2006
A Velvet Empire by
How France's elites used soft power to pursue their imperial ambitions in the nineteenth century After Napoleon's downfall in 1815, France embraced a mostly informal style of empire, one that emphasized economic and cultural influence rather than military conquest. A Velvet Empire is a global history of French imperialism in the nineteenth century, providing new insights into the mechanisms of imperial collaboration that extended France's power from the Middle East to Latin America and ushered in the modern age of globalization. David Todd shows how French elites pursued a cunning strategy of imperial expansion in which conspicuous commodities such as champagne and silk textiles, together with loans to client states, contributed to a global campaign of seduction. French imperialism was no less brutal than that of the British. But while Britain widened its imperial reach through settler colonialism and the acquisition of far-flung territories, France built a "velvet" empire backed by frequent military interventions and a broadening extraterritorial jurisdiction. Todd demonstrates how France drew vast benefits from these asymmetric, imperial-like relations until a succession of setbacks around the world brought about their unravelling in the 1870s. A Velvet Empire sheds light on France's neglected contribution to the conservative reinvention of modernity and offers a new interpretation of the resurgence of French colonialism on a global scale after 1880. This panoramic book also highlights the crucial role of collaboration among European empires during this period--including archrivals Britain and France--and cooperation with indigenous elites in facilitating imperial expansion and the globalization of capitalism.
Call Number: DC252 .T63 2021ISBN: 9780691171838Publication Date: 2021
France in Indochina by
Valorized as 'la perle de l'Extr¿me Orient', Indochina was France's rival to Britain's 'jewel in the crown'. Advanced, worthy, and accorded special status, it was a showcase of success, but also a site of disaster. Given the current scholarly interest in reassessing colonial attitudes and in francophone culture, this book fills an important gap by focusing upon the neglected French colonial discourses at the height of the French imperial encounter with Indochina. The period of French colonial rule in Indochina spanned some ninety years and not only did it witness France's Fourth Republic's first experience (and loss) of colonial war, it also exemplified the often contradictory representations and perceptions of imperial identity, colonialism and the legacy of the 1789 Revolution. Framed by political, ideological and historical developments and debates, each chapter develops an intriguing socio-cultural account of France's own understanding of its role in Indochina and its relationship with the colony. The author brings together striking images from colonial expositions, metropolitan fiction, travel journalism, world exhibitions, popular song, gendered and familial representations as well as film to reveal the confusion over imperial identity that prevailed in France until the eve of the Second World War. This authoritative work provides an important re-evaluation of French Indochina and its legacy. Its interdisciplinary approach will be of interest to a broad readership: students of French history, colonial and postcolonial studies, cultural studies, literature, sociology and race.
Call Number: DS541 .C66 2001 REQUEST THROUGH I-SHAREISBN: 1859734766Publication Date: 2001
A Colony of Citizens by
The idea of universal rights is often understood as the product of Europe, but as Laurent Dubois demonstrates, it was profoundly shaped by the struggle over slavery and citizenship in the French Caribbean. Dubois examines this Caribbean revolution by focusing on Guadeloupe, where, in the early 1790s, insurgents on the island fought for equality and freedom and formed alliances with besieged Republicans. In 1794, slavery was abolished throughout the French Empire, ushering in a new colonial order in which all people, regardless of race, were entitled to the same rights. But French administrators on the island combined emancipation with new forms of coercion and racial exclusion, even as newly freed slaves struggled for a fuller freedom. In 1802, the experiment in emancipation was reversed and slavery was brutally reestablished, though rebels in Saint-Domingue avoided the same fate by defeating the French and creating an independent Haiti. The political culture of republicanism, Dubois argues, was transformed through this transcultural and transatlantic struggle for liberty and citizenship. The slaves-turned-citizens of the French Caribbean expanded the political possibilities of the Enlightenment by giving new and radical content to the idea of universal rights.
Call Number: F2151 .D83 2004ISBN: 0807828742Publication Date: 2004
Louis the Fourteenth and Absolutism. by Call Number: JN2369.L68 REQUEST THROUGH I-SHAREISBN: 0814202551Publication Date: 1976- Greater France by
"Drawing on the most up-to-date research and theories, Greater France provides a comprehensive and lively account of France's imperial adventure, from the sands of the Sahara to the jungles of equatorial Africa, from the lush rice paddies of Indochina to the legendary isles of Polynesia. The book examines the French men and women involved in the enterprise - explorers, sailors, soldiers, priests and nuns, administrators and businessmen. It looks at the ideology of colonialism, assesses the uses and abuses to which the colonies were put, and surveys the place of the overseas empire in French political, economic and cultural life. The effects of French rule on the lives of indigenous populations receive due attention, and the growth of colonial nationalism and decolonisation form another chapter in the saga. The study concludes with an overview of the links which have remained between France and its former colonies."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Call Number: JV1811 .A63 1996 REQUEST THROUGH I-SHAREISBN: 9780312159993Publication Date: 1996
France's Colonial Legacies by
France's Colonial Legacies contributes to the debates taking place in France about the place of empire in the contemporary life of the nation, debates that have been underway since the 1990s and now reach across public life and society, with manifestations in the French parliament, media, and universities. Fiona Barclay brings together distinguished scholars from a wide range of disciplines, including history, sociology, politics, literature, and film, to examine the extent to which the French colonial empire and its collapse have contributed to and shaped contemporary France.
Call Number: JV1811 .F73 2013xISBN: 9780708326671Publication Date: 2013
Promoting the Colonial Idea by
Challenging the notion that there was no 'popular imperialism' in France, this important new book examines the importance of France's colonial role in the development of French society and culture after 1870. It assesses the impact of colonial propaganda on public attitudes in France and the relationship between French imperialism, republicanism and nationalism. It analyses metropolitan representations of empire, traces the development of a colonial 'science' and discusses the enduring importance of images and symbols of empire in contemporary France. It will be of interest to students of imperial, social and cultural history as well as to historians of contemporary France.
Call Number: JV1811 .P76 2002ISBN: 9780333791806Publication Date: 2001-11-14
The French Overseas Empire by
For more than five centuries France has been both a European and a global power. French explorers, traders, settlers, soldiers and missionaries journeyed to the world's farthest reaches establishing colonies, bringing millions of people under French influence and claiming vast expanses of forests, jungles, deserts, and rich mineral and maritime resources. Through continued wars with rival powers, including Spain, Portugal, Great Britain, and Germany, France lost large portions of its empire and gained others. Century-long conflict with some of its most valued possessions, such as Vietnam and Algeria, further hastened the empire's demise after World War II. This is a story of colorful personalities and dramatic events: Cartier's exploration of Canada, Richelieu's and Colbert's global trading companies, Champlain the colonizer, the French presence in Louisiana, the vast but short-lived French empire in India, the nefarious slave trade, and France's defeat in its prosperous Caribbean colony, St. Domingue. Later chapters survey France's important colonial lobby, the administration of colonies, the impact of World War I, the Colonial Expansion of 1931, the rise of labor unions and nationalist movements. Other chapters cover events related to World War II, Free France vs. Vichy, General de Gaulle, Ho Chi Minh, Dien Bien Phu, Algerian independence, the emergence of a generation of African independence leaders like Félix Houphoüet-Boigny and Léopold Sédar Senghor, the short-lived Community (1958_1960), and French relations with its overseas partners in a post-independence era. Drawing on the work of visual artists, creative and popular writers, and discussing the impact of science and technology on colonial life, the author paints a vivid picture of empire, including scenes of everyday life in overseas settings.
Call Number: JV1811 .Q56 2000ISBN: 9780275967994Publication Date: 2000-05-30
Economistes and the Reinvention of Empire by
Exploring the myriad efforts to strengthen colonial empire that unfolded in response to France's imperial crisis in the second half of the eighteenth century, Pernille Røge examines how political economists, colonial administrators, planters, and entrepreneurs shaped the recalibration of empire in the Americas and in Africa alongside the intensification of the French Caribbean plantation complex. Emphasising the intellectual contributions of the Economistes (also known as the Physiocrats) to formulate a new colonial doctrine, the book highlights the advent of an imperial discourse of commercial liberalisation, free labour, agricultural development, and civilisation. With her careful documentation of the reciprocal impacts of economic ideas, colonial policy and practices, Røge also details key connections between Ancien Régime colonial innovation and the French Revolution's republican imperial agenda. The result is a novel perspective on the struggles to reinvent colonial empire in the final decades of the Ancien Régime and its influences on the French Revolution and beyond.
Call Number: JV1811 .R64 2019ISBN: 9781108483131Publication Date: 2019-08-08
Cultured Force by
Bridging gaps between intellectual history, biography, and military/colonial history, Barnett Singer and John Langdon provide a challenging, readable interpretation of French imperialism and some of its leading figures from the early modern era through the Fifth Republic. They ask us to rethink and reevaluate, pulling away from the usual shoal of simplistic condemnation. In a series of finely-etched biographical studies, and with much detail on both imperial culture and wars (including World War I and II), they offer a balanced, deep, strong portrait of key makers and defenders of the French Empire, one that will surely stimulate much historical work in the field.
Call Number: JV1811 .S56 2004ISBN: 9780299199005Publication Date: 2004-10-08
Chasing Empire Across the Sea by
Banks defines and applies the concept of communications in a far broader context than previous historical studies of communication, encompassing a range of human activity from sailing routes, to mapping, to presses, to building roads and bridges. He employs a comparative analysis of early modern French imperialism, integrating three types of overseas possessions usually considered separately - the settlement colony (New France), the tropical monoculture colony (the French Windward Islands), and the early Enlightenment planned colony (Louisiana) - offering a work of synthesis that unites the historiographies and insights from three formerly separate historical literatures. Banks challenges the very notion that a concrete "empire" emerged by the first half of the eighteenth century; in fact, French colonies remained largely isolated arenas of action and development. Only with the contraction and concentration of overseas possessions after 1763 on the Plantation Complex did a more cohesive, if fleeting, French empire first emerge.
Call Number: JV1816 .B36 2002ISBN: 9780773524446Publication Date: 2002-11-21- The French imperial nation-state : negritude & colonial humanism between the two world wars by
France experienced a period of crisis following World War I when the relationship between the nation and its colonies became a subject of public debate. The French Imperial Nation-State focuses on two intersecting movements that redefined imperial politics?colonial humanism led by administrative reformers in West Africa and the Paris-based Negritude project, comprising African and Caribbean elites. Gary Wilder develops a sophisticated account of the contradictory character of colonial government and examines the cultural nationalism of Negritude as a multifaceted movement rooted in an alternative black public sphere. He argues that interwar France must be understood as an imperial nation-state?an integrated sociopolitical system that linked a parliamentary republic to an administrative empire. An interdisciplinary study of colonial modernity combining French history, colonial studies, and social theory, The French Imperial Nation-State will compel readers to revise conventional assumptions about the distinctions between republicanism and racism, metropolitan and colonial societies, and national and transnational processes.
Call Number: JV1818 .W54 2005ISBN: 9780226897721Publication Date: 2005-12-15
Simone Weil on colonialism : an ethic of the other by
In 1931, Simone Weil read an article by Louis Roubaud in the Petit Parisien that exposed the Yen Bay massacre in Indochina. That article opened Weil's eyes, and from then until her death in exile in 1943, she cared most deeply about the French colonial situation. Weil refused to accept the contradiction between the image of France as champion of the rights of man and the reality of France's exploitation and oppression of the peoples in its territories. Weil wrote thirteen articles or letters about the situation, writings originally published in French journals or in French collections of her work. J. P. Little's fluid and clear translations finally introduce to English-speaking scholars and students this important element of Weil's political consciousness.
Call Number: JV1835 .W45 2003ISBN: 9780742522824Publication Date: 2003-06-28
