Elizabeth Foster, a professor at Bates College, drew on her research and expertise yesterday in telling the Department of History about the impact of religion and French colonialism on Senegal at the turn of the 20th century.
Addressing an audience composed primarily of Tufts history professors, Foster discussed the relationship between French missionaries and the official French administration in the coastal region of Senegal known as Petite Cote.
She began the lecture with a general discussion of Senegal and the French empire at the close of the 19th century. During the period of France's Third Republic in the 19th and 20th centuries, there was an unprecedented rupture between the church and state. In 1905, the government passed legislation calling for the official separation of the
two entities.
Building on this background, Foster delved into specific examples from her research.
In the Petite Cote during this time period, the Wolofs, a predominantly Muslim ethnic group, and the Sereers, a predominantly "animist" ethnic group, coexisted. French officials, who faced increasing competition from French missionaries, oversaw the local populations.
"Pursuing a civilizing mission was the central goal of the French missionaries," Foster said. "[The] French administration valued order and revenue above a civilizing mission."
Missionaries in the region resented the appointment of Muslim officials to office and began systematic attempts to undermine their authority. Spiritual leaders such as Bishop Magloire Barthet dispersed libel and made explosive statements like, "Islam is the antithesis of French civilization" and, "We will never make Frenchmen out of Muslims," according to Foster.
Foster surmised that the distinct divide between the goals of the missionaries and those of the French officials in the Petit Cote region led to an escalating struggle for power. With missionaries vying for greater control in the region, French officials began to view them with circumspection.
After the lecture, some of the handful of students who attended the lecture questioned the extent to which the Petite Cote region can be viewed as a microcosm of Senegal as a whole. They also asked what relevance, if any, the growing divide between church and state had on current French laws that prohibit ostentatious displays of religious symbols in places of public education.
"It's important to understand the reasons behind Senegal's conflicts. It's also interesting to see how the division between missionaries and French officials during the nineteenth century is now reflected in France's separation of church and state," freshman Phuong Hoang said.
The lecture, "Religion and Rivalry: Catholicism, Islam and French Rule in Senegal, 1890-1900" took place in the Tisch Library.
