The Métis of Senegal: Urban Life and Politics in French West Africa

7. Urban Politics and the Limits of Republicanism (1890–1920)

156 7 Q Urban Politics and the Limits of Republicanism (1890–1920) And there it is gentlemen, the accusations that help those who would succeed in introducing in a country the prejudice of color! . . . You know that in no other country do elections take place with as much calm and courtesy between candidates and voters; that far from making choices based on origin, each list [in Senegal] includes black, white and mulatto candidates. The reasoning of Mr. Sonolet is, therefore, in all points contradictory to the truth and it is enough to destroy the arguments of he who opposes the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, to remind him that in this country we have always firmly followed the sublime principles of the Revolution summarized by these words inscribed in the frontispiece of all the public monuments, “liberty, equality and above all fraternity.” —Georges Crespin, General Council session, February 1912 M. Louis Sonolet, like many twentieth-century observers, considered the existence of democratic institutions in Senegal to be an anomaly. In his view, republican institutions such as the General Council amounted to a premature and dangerous gesture that placed the weighty responsibility of governanceinAfricanhands.1 OntheeveofWorldWarI,Frenchobjectives in West Africa no longer concerned managing two coastal settlements and a handful of river trade posts. Instead, French rule involved maintaining authority over a territory of approximately 4.7 million miles and a vast population of different linguistic, cultural, and political identities.2 Assimilationnolongerseemedalogicalorrationalsystemforcolonialadmin istration . Officials in Dakar and Saint Louis looked to consolidate their Urban Politics and the Limits of Republicanism 157 power, despite the precarious nature of French rule, and to present the colonial state as a unified, hegemonic force in the region. The notion that colonial subjects could become cultural Frenchmen or that metropolitan political systems could be replicated in the colonies gave way to an insistence that the differences be respected. Association and its emphasis on mise en valeur (rational economic development) replaced assimilation as the dominant ideology of colonial policy in West Africa. The theories and practices of colonial administration in French West Africa are well understood, yet the role that commune politics played in shaping official ideas about colonial rule and how it should operate in the colony are less well known. The establishment of a governor general for French West Africa and the bureaucratic system of this federal administration generated a new cadre of metropolitan civil servants and bureaucratic officials who shaped colonial policy in Dakar rather than in Paris.3 The governor and governor general underestimated the aggressiveness of the Saint Louis community and its ability to interfere in colonial affairs. In the 1890s and early 1900s, the struggle for power intensified between the colonial administration and the métis who demonstrated their willingness to complicate the consolidation of French power. They used the local assemblies to challenge colonial policies that sought to deny Senegal political rights,andtheyusedtherepublicaninstitutionsinthetowntoactaswatchdogs over abuses of power by the colonial regime. The period between 1890 and 1920 witnessed an intensification of the struggle between the métis and the colonial administration. Increased scrutiny by colonial officials, the rise of new settler interests in Dakar and Rufisque ,andpoliticalchallengesfromoriginairesforcedthemétistoadoptnew strategies to maintain their influence in the political arena. In general, the métis opted to bolster their support among the originaire electorate by responding to issues that concerned African town residents and by relying on their kin and client ties with ruling elites in the interior, Muslim clerics, and Lebu and Wolof voters of the communes. In the 1890s and early 1900s, the strategies of negotiation and contestation that the métis elite employed proved a thorn in the side of French officials seeking to consolidate control andachievemetropolitanindustry’sgoalsfortheextractionofrawmaterials. Atthesametime,originairechallengesthreatenedtoendmétiscontrolofthe electoralinstitutions.Thisstruggleforpowerreorderedpoliticsamongurban elitesinSenegal’scolonialtownsandpresentednewchallengesformembers The MÉtis of Senegal 158 of the métis elite who sought to reconcile the practice of republican citizenship with the reality of colonial rule. Building Coalitions: The Second Generation A new generation of métis rose to prominence. These young men attended schools in Saint Louis with the children of Muslim traders, grumets, and African rulers. They obtained degrees from the most prestigious law schoolsandmedicalschoolsinFrance.TheywitnessedtheriseoftheThird Republic and participated in the dominant debates of the era. They were also aware of the transformations taking place in Senegal. They witnessed the impact of conquest and the effect of the colonial economy on Saint Louis traders, market sellers in the...