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Challenging Colonial Forced Labor? Resistance, Resilience, and Power in Senegal (1920s–1940s)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 May 2018

Romain Tiquet
Romain Tiquet*
Affiliation:
Geneva University
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Abstract

Based on the combination of colonial archives and the analysis of several complaints published in Senegalese newspapers, this article sheds light on the daily compulsory reality experienced by local populations with regards to forced labor in colonial Senegal (1920s–1940s). In contrast to analyses approaching forced labor systems through the study of colonial bureaucratic routines, this article studies the reactions of local populations and the consequences for colonial labor policies. I introduce the notion of resilience in order to overcome the pitfalls of the resistance paradigm and bring new insight into attitudes of distance, refusal, and adaptation used by local populations as methods to “absorb the shock” of everyday colonial coercion. More broadly, this analysis leads us to interrogate the limits and fragility of the colonial enterprise, recalling that the colonial state was not an almighty administration and that it was, above all, based on abiding adaptations and empirical decisions.

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Articles
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International Labor and Working-Class History , Volume 93: Workers and Right-Wing Politics , Spring 2018 , pp. 135 - 150
Copyright
Copyright © International Labor and Working-Class History, Inc. 2018 

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Footnotes

Many thanks to Alexander Keese and the anonymous reviewers for their supportive criticism of the first draft. Research for this article was supported by ERC Starting Grant no. 240898, under the Framework Programme 7 (FP7) of the European Commission.

References

NOTES

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3. Art. 2, paragraph 1, ILO Convention no. 29.

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5. Decree of August 12, 1937, Journal officiel de l'AOF, October 23, 1937.

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21. Cooper, Decolonization and African Society, 30.

22. For an in-depth analysis of the general discussions at the conference and the peculiar French position, Maul, Daniel Roger, “The International Labour Organization and the Struggle against Forced Labour from 1919 to the Present,” Labor History 48 (4) (2007): 477–500CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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28. Circulaire générale sur le régime des prestations, Dakar, October 12, 1930, K186(26); ANS GGAOF.

29. Lettre du gouverneur général De Coppet à M. le ministre des colonies Moutet, Dakar, January 25, 1937; K8(1), ANS GGAOF.

30. Conseil Colonial du Sénégal, November 1936, 61.

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36. Awenengo Dalberto, “Les Joola, la Casamance et l’État,” 53.

37. Ibid., 94.

38. Ibid.

39. Thiam, “L’évolution politique et syndicale du Sénégal,” 2526.

40. Colonial archives and interviews conducted in Senegal show clear evidence of the use of children and women for road labor. See, for instance, Enquête sur gestion financière dans le cercle de Sédhiou, 1937, 11 D1/237, ANS GGAOF; Interview with Mamadou Badji, February 26, 2013.

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42. Everyday resistance is often interchanged with hidden resistance as the majority of these reactions were evading the colonial records. Allen Isaacman criticized the use of the word “hidden” as an elitist and colonial category since calling “these actions hidden is to view them from the top down. Peasants who engaged in such protests understood the risk and benefit of their actions.” Isaacman, Allen, “Peasants and Rural Social Protest in Africa,” African Studies Review 33 (1990): 31CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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46. Journal du poste de Ziguinchor, tour of March 8, 1935, 11 D1/352, ANS GGAOF.

47. “Migration as protest proved far less costly to Africans and had much the same effect on the colonial authorities as did the other more militant forms of protest.” Asiwaju, “Migrations,” 593–94.

48. Journal du poste de Ziguinchor, tour of February 27, 1935, 11 D1/352, ANS GGAOF.

49. Journal du poste de Ziguinchor, tour of March 10, 1935, 11 D1/352, ANS GGAOF.

50. Journal du poste de Ziguinchor, tour of September 9, 1935, 11 D1/352, ANS GGAOF.

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56. The term was employed by the administrator. The word flight already gives an interpretation of the event, as in comparison with migration or moving.

57. Rapport de tournée sur exode de population, April 1934, 13 G 22, ANS GGAOF.

58. Ibid.

59. Courrier confidentiel de l'administrateur du cercle de Kolda à l'administrateur supérieur de la Casamance, July 5, 1934, 13 G 22, ANS GGAOF.

60. Ibid.

61. Isaacman, “Peasants,” 33.

62. The use of resilience is inspired by an article of Denis Peschanski, a specialist in the history of France during the Second World War. He used it as an intermediate concept to characterize behaviors which belong neither to French Resistance nor to collaboration under Vichy Regime. Peschanski, Denis, “Résistance, résilience et opinion dans la France des années noires,” Psychiatrie française 36 (2006): 194–210Google Scholar.

63. Journal du poste de Ziguinchor, tour of February 27, 1935, 11 D1/352, ANS GGAOF.

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66. Since the Law on freedom of speech of July 1881, extended in colonial territories.

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68. Barry, Histoire des médias au Sénégal, 151.

69. Henri Bellamy, “Après le vote sur le travail forcé: les colonies sont-elles faites pour les Colons ou pour les indigènes?” Le périscope africain, August 23, 1930.

70. During the discussions regarding forced labor at the ILO convention, Diagne defended with a special fervor the upholding of mandatory forms of labor in the French empire. By ratifying the Convention in 1937, the Popular Front imposed a posthumous repudiation of Blaise Diagne's legacy. For more details, Person, Yves, “Le Front populaire au Sénégal (mai 1936–octobre 1938),” Le mouvement social 107 (1979): 77–101CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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72. Jean Fremigacci analyses quite eloquently the reappropriation of the vocabulary of Ancien Regime by the first generation of colonial officials in Madagascar. Fremigacci, Jean, “L'administration coloniale: les aspects oppressifs,” Omaly Sy Anio 7–8 (1978): 10–12Google Scholar. See also Bâ, Amadou Hampaté, Mémoires; l'enfant peul; oui, mon commandant (Arles, 2000), 519Google Scholar.

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74. According to the “custom,” the chiefs could take a certain percentage of the crop and employ villagers to do involuntary work on their own fields for a certain amount of days. Zuccarelli, “De la chefferie,” 227–28.

75. Boniface, “Travail forcé (suite),” Le périscope africain, September 20, 1930.

76. Ibid.

77. Lettre de l'inspecteur des affaires administratives de la Rocca au gouverneur de la colonie du Sénégal, Inspection de la société de prévoyance du Sine-Saloum, November 13, 1934, ANS GGAOF, 13 G 6.

78. Lettre du directeur des affaires politiques et administratives au gouverneur général, Demande de retrait de distinction honorifique à un chef de canton, May 4, 1938, ANS GGAOF, 13 G 6.

79. L'action sénégalaise, 1931–1934.

80. Anonymous, “Echos,” L'action sénégalaise, October 7, 1931.

81. Ibid., December 6, 1931.

82. Question adressée à l'Assemblée nationale par le député Ramette au ministre des colonies à propos du chef de canton de Dimar, November 18, 1935, box 599, folder 6, ANOM AP.

83. Barry, Histoire des médias au Sénégal, 151.

84. Fremigacci goes even further in his critical analysis of the colonial administration in Madagascar, describing the connivance amongst colonizers and colonized as a “reign of bluff.” Fremigacci, Jean, “Le colonisé, une création du colonisateur,” Omaly Sy Anio 5–6 (1977): 231Google Scholar.

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