Chapter 7: From The Civilizing Mission to the Postcolonial Condition?: Representations of Colonialism Through the Prism of Decolonization in French History Textbooks Since the 1960s

This chapter analyzes the representation of colonialism through the discursive—political as well as epistemological—prism of decolonization in French history textbooks for terminale (final classes) since the 1960s. It will focus on the discursive functions fulfilled by (post-)colonial discourse in history textbooks within the self-description and legitimation of France as a protagonist of the so-called civilizing mission and on how the fundamental challenge of decolonization has interacted with and affected this self-description since the 1960s. The central question in this regard will revolve around the extent to which the representation of France’s civilizing mission and colonial project is affected by the discourse on the crisis of (Western) civilization and the related postcolonial condition of (European) representation itself.