Engendering French colonial history: the case of Indochina.

Abstract

Writing about the history of women in the nineteenth century, Alain Corbin makes the following comment: "Women's history is like an echo, perceived with the help of a whole range of male data, despite the efforts of historians (both male and female) to seek out women's words more directly. Almost all the documents in the public archives were written by men in positions of responsibility."1 Such is certainly the case of French colonial history, until recently dominated by an almost exclusively male cast. In the minds of many, colonization is a matter of conquest, pacification, domination and exploitation, deeds carried out mostly, if not solely, by male actors be they soldiers, generals, administrators or settlers. This predominantly masculine ethos prevails not only in the works of colonial historians, but also in more popular forms of narrative such as colonial fiction and films. Indeed, a great many colonial novels, authored mostly by men, feature as their chief protagonists military officers, builders, explorers or adventurers, in short characters that distinguish themselves by "manly" qualities: virility, physical and moral strength, and