How Long to Read A Mission to Civilize

How Long Does it Take to Read A Mission to Civilize?

It takes the average reader 6 hours and 17 minutes to read A Mission to Civilize by Alice L. Conklin

Assuming a reading speed of 250 words per minute. Learn more

Description

This book addresses a central but often ignored question in the history of modern France and modern colonialism: How did the Third Republic, highly regarded for its professed democratic values, allow itself to be seduced by the insidious and persistent appeal of a “civilizing” ideology with distinct racist overtones? By focusing on a particular group of colonial officials in a specific setting—the governors general of French West Africa from 1895 to 1930—the author argues that the ideal of a special civilizing mission had a decisive impact on colonial policymaking and on the evolution of modern French republicanism generally. French ideas of civilization—simultaneously republican, racist, and modern—encouraged the governors general in the 1890’s to attack such “feudal” African institutions as aristocratic rule and slavery in ways that referred back to France’s own experience of revolutionary change. Ironically, local administrators in the 1920’s also invoked these same ideas to justify such reactionary policies as the reintroduction of forced labor, arguing that coercion, which inculcated a work ethic in the “lazy” African, legitimized his loss of freedom. By constantly invoking the ideas of “civilization,” colonial policy makers in Dakar and Paris managed to obscure the fundamental contradictions between “the rights of man” guaranteed in a republican democracy and the forcible acquisition of an empire that violates those rights. In probing the “republican” dimension of French colonization in West Africa, this book also sheds new light on the evolution of the Third Republic between 1895 and 1930. One of the author’s principal arguments is that the idea of a civilized mission underwent dramatic changes, due to ideological, political, and economic transformations occurring simultaneously in France and its colonies. For example, revolts in West Africa as well as a more conservative climate in the metropole after World War I produced in the governors general a new respect for “feudal” chiefs, whom the French once despised but now reinstated as a means of control. This discovery of an African “tradition” in turn reinforced a reassertion of traditional values in France as the Third Republic struggled to recapture the world it had “lost” at Verdun.

How long is A Mission to Civilize?

A Mission to Civilize by Alice L. Conklin is 367 pages long, and a total of 94,319 words.

This makes it 124% the length of the average book. It also has 115% more words than the average book.

How Long Does it Take to Read A Mission to Civilize Aloud?

The average oral reading speed is 183 words per minute. This means it takes 8 hours and 35 minutes to read A Mission to Civilize aloud.

What Reading Level is A Mission to Civilize?

A Mission to Civilize is suitable for students ages 12 and up.

Note that there may be other factors that effect this rating besides length that are not factored in on this page. This may include things like complex language or sensitive topics not suitable for students of certain ages.

When deciding what to show young students always use your best judgement and consult a professional.

Where Can I Buy A Mission to Civilize?

A Mission to Civilize by Alice L. Conklin is sold by several retailers and bookshops. However, Read Time works with Amazon to provide an easier way to purchase books.

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