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  • Le Soudan français de 1939 à 1945: Une colonie dans la guerre
  • Ruth Ginio
Le Soudan français de 1939 à 1945: Une colonie dans la guerre. By Vincent Joly . Paris: Éditions Karthala, 2006. ISBN 2-84586-778-6. Maps. Photographs. Figures. Notes. Sources and bibliography. Index. Pp. 653. €42.00.

Vincent Joly's extensive and detailed study examines a crucial period in the history of the French Sudan (contemporary Mali)—the years of World War II. Based mainly on documents kept at the National Archives of Mali as well as on material from French archives, the book is divided chronologically into three parts: the war effort from the eve of the war to the transfer of French West Africa (FWA) to the Vichy regime in June 1940; the Vichy period; and the period between the allied landing in North Africa and the end of the war.

Joly asserts that his aim is to examine the impact of the war on French Sudan, by concentrating on the two periods that were influenced by it directly. While he offers a thorough analysis (perhaps too thorough) of the first and last periods of the war, his examination of the Vichy period (June 1940–July 1943) is rather unsatisfactory. This is compounded by the fact that several important contemporary studies on the Vichy regime in the Empire have not been consulted, notably Martin Thomas's article on the African prisoners of war ("The Vichy Government and French Colonial Prisoners of War, 1940-1944," French Historical Studies 25, no. 4 [2002]: 657–92) and Jacques Cantier and Eric Jennings's edited volume, L'Empire Colonial sous Vichy (Paris: Odile Jacob, 2004). My own work on the Vichy period in FWA could have served as a case for comparison as well. (For example: Ruth Ginio, "'Marshal Pétain Spoke to Schoolchildren'—Vichy Propaganda in French West Africa, 1940–1943," International Journal of African Historical Studies 33, no. 2 [2000]: 291–312.)

Joly does not attribute to the Vichy period much influence on French Sudan. This makes sense in light of the book's emphasis on economic issues, namely on French policy regarding agriculture and forced labor—especially in the area of the Niger delta. Indeed, the impact of the Vichy period in the region on these issues was rather limited because the British blockade prevented the processing and shipping of agricultural products from French West Africa to France. However, if one looks at other areas, such as political transformations among the elite of the so-called évolués or assimulated Africans (which Joly certainly does not ignore in his book), it is very problematic, in my view, to disregard the crucial influence of the Vichy period on the colony and its population.

In several places, Joly refers to other features of the Vichy period such as propaganda, but, for example, does not note a great difference between Vichy propaganda and that of the former colonial regime. The only significant difference, so he maintains, was the Vichy regime's decision to ignore [End Page 946] the évolués. There are, however, other important differences, such as the use of the new "trinity" of Travail-Famille-Patrie as a way to encourage ostensible African traditional values and the emphasis on Marshal Pétain as a father figure. Moreover, I would argue, the Vichy regime did not in fact ignore the évolués although it did prefer to encourage the traditional elite at their expense. The regime knew that the Western-educated Africans were those who were most exposed to France's humiliating situation and to news from the various fronts. Therefore, it invested a great deal in propaganda that was aimed directly at that group. Finally, Joly writes in the last part of his book about the political changes that stemmed from the war yet he does not examine the influence of the Vichy regime on the African political elite.

In spite of these reservations, the book supplies many details regarding the economic evolution of the colony in the first and last stages of World War II and about French colonial policy with regard to economic and agricultural issues during these years. It therefore may be...

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