Highlight five reasons for the slow rate of nationalism in French speaking West Africa

Answer Details

Nationalism developed more slowly in French-speaking West Africa than in the British territories. Five reasons for the slow rate of nationalism in French West Africa were:

1. The policy of assimilation: The French policy of assimilation aimed to turn Africans into Frenchmen. The educated elite were made to feel French and to identify with France rather than to demand independence, which delayed the growth of a nationalist consciousness.
2. Political integration with France: The colonies were regarded as overseas parts of France and were represented in the French Parliament in Paris. This integration made many leaders seek reforms and equality within the French union rather than separate nationhood.
3. Harsh and repressive administration (the assimilated/subject divide and the indigenat): French rule was highly centralised and authoritarian, and the system of forced labour and the indigenat (summary punishment of subjects) suppressed opposition and discouraged open agitation.
4. Limited Western education: The French provided fewer schools, so there were fewer educated Africans to lead nationalist agitation, compared with the larger educated class in British West Africa.
5. Absence of a free press and free political association: There was little freedom of the press, of speech and of association in French West Africa, so nationalist ideas could not spread easily as they did in the British colonies.
6. Privileges of the assimilated elite: Those who became French citizens enjoyed special privileges and status, and were therefore reluctant to fight against a system from which they benefited.
7. Deliberate suppression of nationalist leaders: The French authorities often exiled, imprisoned or transferred radical leaders and chiefs, weakening organised nationalist activity.

(Any five of the above are acceptable.)