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  • Native Sons: West African Veterans and France in the Twentieth Century
  • Ruth Ginio
Native Sons: West African Veterans and France in the Twentieth Century. By Gregory Mann. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 2006. ISBN 0-8223-3768-1. Photographs. Notes. References. Index. Pp. ix, 333. $23.95.

Before the publication of Marc Michel’s L’Appel à l’Afrique in 1982 and Myron Echenberg’s Colonial Conscripts in 1991, little was known of the service of African soldiers (or as they were called Tirailleurs Sénégalais) in the French army during the colonial period. The past decade, however, has seen a proliferation of studies, which deal with the soldiers from various angles and aspects. This academic attention is related to the renewed public interest in the subject in France, elicited mainly by immigrants from France’s ex-colonies. It is important, however, to distinguish between cultural products such as novels and films (Rachid Bouchareb’s film Indigènes is a notable example) aimed at reminding the French public of the sacrifices made by colonial subjects, and solid academic research that views the soldiers as part of the broader story of French colonialism.

Gregory Mann’s Native Sons is indeed a welcome addition to this growing body of academic research as it is based on solid archival material as well as oral history. While it discusses the current political perspective of this history, it is definitely not dictated by it, and therefore makes a significant contribution to understanding of the fascinating history of the Tirailleurs.

Native Sons deals with a specific region in Africa – French Soudan (contemporary Mali) – without neglecting the areas in which the Tirailleurs served – Europe but also Asia and other parts of Africa. As he did in his article on Fréjus and Kati (Gregory Mann, “Locating Colonial Histories: Between France and West Africa”, American Historical Review, 110, 2 (2005): 409–434.), Mann concentrates in his book on the micro level in order to understand the macro level and thus is able to present a narrative that is well rooted in place and time and still offers important insights regarding wider issues. This perspective creates a complex study that investigates major issues without forfeiting the story. [End Page 982]

At the beginning of the book we are introduced, through the story of two brothers, to the social background of Africans who served in the French army. The chapter examines the relationship between slavery and soldiering and links the history of the soldiers to the pre-colonial history of their region. The next two chapters discuss the relations between the veterans and the colonial administrations and their involvement in the political processes in their regions. Mann’s conclusion regarding the post-World War II period is that the “veterans did not seek independence for a nation so much as they sought independence from an emerging idea of a nation, specifically one in which their claims to privilege might carry little weight”. The veterans, therefore, cannot be easily integrated into the “national” discourse of decolonization. Chapter Four takes us out to the various regions in which the colonial soldiers served, in France, Africa and Asia, and examines the military culture they evolved away from their homes. The last chapter brings us to present-day France and links the story of the Tirailleurs to the complex relations between France and its ex-colony, Mali, as well as to the current political and social circumstances of immigrants from France’s former colonies who struggle to find their place within French society.

The fascinating way in which Mann unfolds the story of the Tirailleurs enables the reader to understand their local social background and at the same time to recognize their place in the transnational history of twentieth century imperialism. He writes clearly and in an engaging style so that Native Sons is not only an important academic study but also a very enjoyable read.

Ruth Ginio
Ben Gurion University of the Negev
Beer-Sheva, Israel
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