Cracks in the Empire: Reflections of French Journalists and Authors on the Crisis in 1930s Indochina

• Main Authors: COPIN, Henri, RETTIG, Tobias
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2011
• Subjects: Colonialism; Colonial Literature; French Indochina; Asian History; Asian Studies; Military History
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/1085; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soss_research/article/2341/viewcontent/Rettig2011SEAR.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

The events of the early 1930s in Vietnam left an important legacy to France's literature of enquiry and protest. Writers, essayists and journalists enquired on behalf of their audiences, and in the process developed France's littérature coloniale. By showing an interest in the colonial 'other' and identifying discrepancies between imperial ideology and colonial reality, they formed a new body of thought. This new colonial humanism arguably changed metropolitan sensibilities towards the French civilizing mission. Nevertheless, while they are critical of colonial abuses and in favour of reforms, the authors discussed in this paper do not really question the French colonial project.