Colonialism and Propaganda

BIOGRAPHY 
Dominic Thomas is Madeleine L. Letessier Professor of European Languages and Transcultural Studies at UCLA and CNN European Affairs Commentator. Author, co-author, editor or co-editor of numerous works on memory, identity, colonial history, racism, immigration, and museology focusing on Europe and Africa, including Black France (2007), Museums in Postcolonial Europe (2010), Racial Advocacy in France (2013), Africa and France (2013), Colonial Culture in France since the Revolution (2014), The Invention of Race (2014), The Colonial Legacy in France (2017), Sexe, race et colonies (2018), Séxualités, identités et corps colonisés (2019), Visualizing Empire (2021), and Colonisation et Propagande (2022). He edits the Global African Voices series at Indiana University Press that focuses on translations of African literature into English, and has translated works by Aimé Césaire, Sony Labou Tansi, Alain Mabanckou, Emmanuel Dongala, and Abdourahman Waberi. He was the recipient of a Fulbright Commission Summer Award (Germany and Belgium, 2011) and elected to the Academy of Europe in 2015. 

ABSTRACT
The primary focus will be provided by French colonialism, but also establish links with other experiences. French direct rule was organized around the principle of the “civilizing mission,” and measures were implemented that served to establish a very particular relationship that bolstered French “grandeur,” while encouraging identification with the idea of a French empire. Propagandist mechanisms were key to this expansionist enterprise and no social sphere was immune from these concerted efforts. Schools, for example, were “invited to explore the history of their country, which featured a glorification of colonial battles and heroes, the works of ‘civilization,’ modernization, and examples of which they could be proud” (Sandrine Lemaire). These elements functioned in conjunction with a broader state-sponsored apparatus that culminated in what was effectively a “colonial culture” ecosystem. Images disseminated were of a dynamic empire committed to improving the lives of “natives” while also pursuing economic activity, as confirmed by a recent exhibition at the Deutsches Historisches Museum in Berlin where “The world of colonial images in the German Empire shows that visual relationships are also power relationships. Photographs, consumer goods and advertising all transmitted themes of colonial conquest and racist stereotypes. Through such images of themselves and of others, consumers and viewers learned colonialist patterns of interpretation that have retained their potency to this day.” 

Föreläsningen hålls på engelska.