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18 Promotion Creating the Colonial (1930–1940) sandrine lemaire logically, the production of the most dramatic forms of propaganda began to wane after the international Colonial exposition of 1931—an event that corresponded with the height of republican financial, material, and human propaganda on the colonies. indeed, this had been a one-time event designed to spark interest, an interest that subsequently facilitated subtler forms of propaganda. This alternative form of propaganda, deep and sustained, indoctrinated the general public over the long term. after the colonial apogee of the 1930s, the republic began to promote imperial ideology through its Bureau of official Propaganda, which drew upon scholarly publications and other agents, notably the press and the movies, to relay the message to the general public. The state made use of an impressive variety of methods, materials, and events to convince the public that the colonies were not extravagances, but rather appendages of the nation. Without them, it was claimed, the nation’s prestige and economic vigor would be unsustainable . The press, periodicals (whether illustrated or not), brochures, books, and other print materials were mobilized en masse. imperial discourse took on a protean form: the movies, the radio, postcards, and posters all argued for France’s colonial “oeuvre.” even more ostentatious were the events created entirely by the agence Générale des Colonies—or in which it participated—which contributed to the success of imperial rhetoric. The early 1930s were marked by a large succession of Colonial Days and Weeks and large-scale public events, notably the Centennial of French algeria (1930) and the international Colonial exposition (1931). The latter sparked off a veritable craze for the empire, a craze that was fed by other major events, and especially by the omnipresence of colonial discourse—every place, everyone, every outlet was affected. The slow process by which an imperial ideology was impressed upon the minds of metropolitan France’s population began in the days following one of the most impressive and surprising propaganda events: Le tour du monde en un jour (around the world in one day), a specifically colonial event for the masses at the Porte de Paris that, though ephemeral, left a lasting impression. The event, an en257 258 | Lemaire chanting catalyst for other forms of colonial propaganda, was a concerted effort on the part of the members of the colonial lobby to manipulate public opinion, to tap into a new audience for the colonial. its aim was to insinuate an idea of the colonial into the daily lives of the general public, to lodge the notion of empire into the collective mentality. The primary objective was to create an inextricable association between empire and the French republic. on their own, major “theatric” imperial events could not anchor the colonial flame into the hearts and minds of the public. less-visible events were needed to construct an imperial culture in mainland France, and these were indeed orchestrated throughout the decade preceding the war. one might then wonder about the specific means by which this imperial culture was disseminated, and how it got anchored into the collective subconscious. How is it, at a time of extreme international turmoil, that French society in the 1930s became an imperial culture? From the spectacular to the ordinary The era was marked by a strategy in which extremely well publicized events, like the exhibition of France overseas in 1935 and 1940,1 were alternated with happenings meant to banalize the colonial territories. Propaganda did not end in the wake of the international Colonial exposition. The 1930s actually saw an increase in the number of annual colonial weeks, of regional fairs and exhibitions with colonial themes, throughout metropolitan France, and even throughout the empire. Propagandists sought to go beyond the “colonial mirage,” to get away from what even they, because of its purely glorifying and provocative character, considered a simplistic form of propaganda, embodied in the miniature reconstitutions of the colonial world. Their aim was to validate their doctrine by associating it with France’s civilizing mission. in order to convince the public of this sentiment, they underscored the essentially altruist nature of colonization. Henceforth, expositions were used as “motors” to generate public interest, and spectacles were staged to draw attention. The public was encouraged to “explore” their empire from the comfort of their “homeland.” other spectacular events during the thirties are worth mentioning: the tercentennial of the French West indies (1935), celebrated with pomp by the whole of society; the international exposition of...

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