Catholic Missionaries and the Colonial State in French Algeria, 1830-1914
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City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 2-2015 Civilizing Settlers: Catholic Missionaries and the Colonial State in French Algeria, 1830-1914 Kyle Francis Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/558 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] CIVILIZING SETTLERS: CATHOLIC MISSIONARIES AND THE COLONIAL STATE IN FRENCH ALGERIA, 1830-1914 by KYLE FRANCIS A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The City University of New York 2015 © 2015 KYLE FRANCIS All Rights Reserved ii This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in History in satisfaction of the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Professor David Troyansky ______________________ _________________________________________ Date Chair of Examining Committee Professor Helena Rosenblatt ______________________ _________________________________________ Date Executive Officer Professor Dagmar Herzog Professor Clifford Rosenberg Professor Megan Vaughan Professor Judith Surkis Supervisory Committee THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK iii Abstract CIVILIZING SETTLERS: CATHOLIC MISSIONARIES AND THE COLONIAL STATE IN FRENCH ALGERIA, 1830-1914 by Kyle Francis Advisor: Professor David Troyansky This dissertation argues that between 1830 and 1914, with increasing intensity over time, French Catholic missionaries sowed divisions among the European population of French Algeria. The French government initially welcomed missionaries to cater to religiously devout Spanish, Italian, and Maltese settlers in Algeria and to foster their loyalty to the colonial state. Missionaries, however, incited the professional jealousy and personal animosity of the territory’s generally less devout French population, who saw Catholicism and missionaries as little different from Islam and the “fanatical” Muslim population. Throughout this period, missionaries thus occupied a liminal space in the racialized hierarchy of colonial rule. As such, their presence disrupted colonial taxonomies that positioned a “civilized” European population as superior to an “uncivilized” indigenous one. For their part, missionaries saw Algeria as a blank slate in which to create a Catholic society they perceived as increasingly foreclosed in a secularizing Europe. At the same time, in the extralegal space of Algeria, missionaries relied on seemingly “pre- modern” networks of privilege and patronage to win support. The stress caused by navigating these dense patronage networks in an increasingly hostile environment created discord among missionaries. On the most localized level of power, missionaries competed with each other to carve out their own niches of authority. Male missionaries iv competed to administer sacraments to female missionaries, while the latter sought to assert their own autonomy by procuring friendly spiritual advisors or secular authorities who would allow them the most individual latitude. In the end, these political ploys only undermined their efforts to spread the Catholic faith and to portray themselves as useful to government officials. Ultimately, this dissertation reveals that colonial officials of all types framed the need to govern the settler population as a crucial component of the larger goal of ruling over the conquered indigenous population. As such, it re-conceptualizes France’s well- known civilizing mission as directed as much towards this settler population as towards the indigenous one. At the same time, in showing that colonial officials utterly failed in their attempt to mold a unified settler community, this dissertation further reveals the fragility of the bonds that supposedly held the colonial settlers together and the tenuous foundations of imperial rule in nineteenth-century French Algeria. v Acknowledgements This dissertation would not have come together without the generous assistance of many individuals and institutions. I would like to thank the Graduate Center, CUNY, for providing an Enhanced Chancellor’s Fellowship that funded the first four years of my graduate work as well as a Dissertation Writing Fellowship that allowed me to devote my fifth year of graduate school solely to the work of writing the dissertation. I would also like to thank the history department, and especially Executive Officer Helena Rosenblatt, for procuring funds for two research trips to Europe in the summers of 2012 and 2013. This dissertation entailed research in a number of archives that I would have never gained access to without the kindness and generosity of many individuals. I would like to thank Sister Laura Huerta at the archives of the Soeurs Trinitaires in Lyon; Louis Pierre at the Centre Jean Bosco in Lyon; Monseigneur Luis Ramos at the Archivio Storico di Propaganda Fide in Rome; Frère Ricousse at the archives of the Frères des Ecoles Chrétiennes in Rome; Lâm Phan-Thanh and Father Lautissier at the archives of the Congregation of the Mission in Paris; and Sister Fromaget at the archives of the Filles de la Charité in Paris. I would also like to thank Professors Sarah Curtis, Owen White, and J.P. Daughton for sharing their extensive knowledge of missionary archives, without which I would have never discovered many of these resources. Over the past five years, numerous professors have generously read early and later drafts of this dissertation in part or in whole. Most importantly, I thank my advisor, Professor David Troyansky, for taking the time to provide thoughtful and critical feedback on conference papers, grant applications, and dissertation chapters throughout my time in graduate school. Over the past two years especially, he has carefully read the dissertation manuscript on countless occasions and has always come up with new and insightful suggestions for improvement. It has been an invaluable asset to have an advisor who knows his profession so well. Over the last five years, Professor Dagmar Herzog has also overseen my work every step of the way and encouraged me to approach my topic from new and innovative methodological angles and to ask questions of my sources that I had not previously considered. Her rich theoretical insights are, I hope, evident throughout this dissertation. Finally, Professors Judith Surkis, Clifford Rosenberg, and Megan Vaughan have all provided critical feedback that has improved this dissertation immeasurably. Any errors, of course, remain solely my own. Many of the ideas in this dissertation have come from lively discussions with fellow graduate students. The members of the History and Humanities Seminar at the Graduate Center read and provided helpful commentary on Chapter Two of this dissertation. I would also like to thank my fellow members of the French History Group at the Graduate Center, especially Scott Johnson, Megan Brown, and Lauren Saxton, for taking the time to discuss my work on many occasions throughout the last two years. In particular, Chelsea Schields has generously donated so much of her time in person and via email to improving nearly every aspect of this dissertation. Our stimulating discussions over both its content and style have indelibly left their mark on everything from its title to its conclusion. Finally, I would like to thank my wife, Jenny Francis, for serving as an intellectual and professional inspiration in everything she does. Her well- deserved successes and her tireless work ethic push me every day to make the most of myself, both professionally and personally. vi Contents Introduction Missionaries, Settlers, and the Colonial State .................................................................. 1 Chapter 1 Algeria: A Land of Opportunity, 1830-1846 .................................................................. 28 Chapter 2 A “Golden Age” for Catholic Missionaries in Algeria? 1846-1866 .............................. 68 Chapter 3 The Decline of Patronage and the “Long Decade” of 1867-1883 .............................. 117 Chapter 4 Foreign Citizens and Foreign Missionaries in French Algeria, 1883-1914 ................ 179 Conclusion The Paradox of Settler Colonialism ............................................................................. 224 Bibliography ................................................................................................................. 236 vii Introduction: Missionaries, Settlers, and the Colonial State Between 1830 and 1914, with increasing intensity over time, French Catholic missionaries sowed divisions among the European population of French Algeria and preoccupied the French colonial government. Although fully European in birth and nationality – that is, in no way a métis population in the traditional sense of the word – missionaries occupied a liminal space between European rulers and North African subjects that further disrupts the notion that a clear racial divide separated colonizer from colonized.1 Never fully subject to the rule of law, but neither entirely servants to the arbitrary regime of exception that ruled native Algerians, missionaries floated uneasily in a contested and ever-changing colonial space, appearing variously as nodes of communication