At the turn of the 20th century, the region now known as the Central African Republic experienced drastic geopolitical changes and foundational shifts within local communities. Specifically, the introduction of French imperial rule to the region dubbed “Oubangui-Chari”Making Sense of the Central African Republic, eds. Tatiana Carayannis and Louisa Lombard (Zed Books, 15 July 2015), http://www.zedbooks.co.uk/paperback/making-sense-of-the-central-african-republic, pg. 32 led to unforeseen consequences and complications which still impact the Central African Republic today.
French Oubangui-Chari
Background By the end of the nineteenth century; the majority of major European powers sought to expand their dominion into Africa. France in particular saw this as an opportunity to “[link] France’s territorial conquests in Africa along a west-east axis”,Making Sense of the Central African Republic, eds. Tatiana Carayannis and Louisa Lombard (Zed Books, 15 July 2015), http://www.zedbooks.co.uk/paperback/making-sense-of-the-central-african-republic, pg. 33 thereby limiting Britain's influence in the region. However, a French expedition across the continent in 1896 was met with significant British resistance and pushed back to the French settlement Bangui;Making Sense of the Central African Republic, eds. Tatiana Carayannis and Louisa Lombard (Zed Books, 15 July 2015), http://www.zedbooks.co.uk/paperback/making-sense-of-the-central-african-republic, 33 accordingly, the French government ultimately resigned itself to controlling the territories around the Chad Basin. In the eyes of French officials at the time, the region of Oubangui-Chari maintained little economic significance. According to historian Thomas O’Toole, the Oubangui-Chari simply acted as “a back door to Lake Chad and the Nile”O'Toole, Thomas. The Central African Republic: the Continent's Hidden Heart. Westview Press, 1986. pp. 29 for trade.
Goals of France Although France displayed limited interest in the Oubangui-Chari region, the colony was seen as a capital producing region. However, the primary goal of France within Africa was to compete effectively with other regional economies. Even the then-capital, Bangui, was initially founded as a trading outpost “to counterbalance the post the Belgians had established across the river at Zongo”.O'Toole, Thomas. The Central African Republic: the Continent's Hidden Heart. Westview Press, 1986. p. 29
In Making Sense of Africa, historians Tatiana Crayannis and Louisa Lombard explain how France utilized Oubangui-Chari within their economic system. Having centralized political power and economic enterprises around the novel French Equatorial administration within Brazzaville,O'Toole, Thomas. The Central African Republic: the Continent's Hidden Heart. Westview Press, 1986. p. 30 France relegated the Oubangui-Chari region into an extremely inefficient economy. Unlike other African colonies, companies operating within the region “represented barely 1 [percent] of the overall capital invested in the French empire, and only 0.1 per cent of the total French foreign investment in 1905”.Making Sense of the Central African Republic, eds. Tatiana Carayannis and Louisa Lombard (Zed Books, 15 July 2015), http://www.zedbooks.co.uk/paperback/making-sense-of-the-central-african-republic, pg. 35 Furthermore, the government treated the region as a “cul-de-sac”Making Sense of the Central African Republic, eds. Tatiana Carayannis and Louisa Lombard (Zed Books, 15 July 2015), p. 34 meaning that money would flow into the equatorial region, circle around to the coast in the forms of natural resources and goods, and head back to France.
Altogether, the actions of the French government within the Oubangui-Chari throughout the early 20th century exemplify the lack of local and practical knowledge held by the French at the time. This essence of applicable knowledge, also known as metis, is central to James C. Scott’s Seeing like a State. In it, Scott explains how the ability for a state to successfully interact with a colony must be through the benevolent transfer and dissemination of information between parties. Utilizing Scott’s “seamanship”Scott, James C. Seeing like a state: how certain schemes to improve the human condition have failed. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998, p. 316 model as a template, the French government should have realized that their political and economic composition did not relate to the rural and agricultural communities of the Oubangui-Chari. Instead of collaborative work, however, the French government focused on scientific colonialism, eugenics, and capitalist economics to justify viewing African communities as inferior Europeans; her 2016 work, Africa as a Living Laboratory: Empire, Development and the Problem of Scientific Knowledge, 1870-1950, scholar Helen Tilley scrutinizes how the French state, overall, applied archaic and racially biased studies in their African colonies.Tilley, Helen. Africa as a Living Laboratory: Empire, Development and the Problem of Scientific Knowledge, 1870-1950. The University of Chicago Press, 2016, p. 3
Systemic issues
Newly independent CAR Following the end of the first World War, the old order of imperial Europe came crashing down. Over the next several decades, former colonies gained independence, established novel governments, and commenced international foreign relations. However, the post-WW2 French administration did not wish to lose their holdings so easily. In 1958, France proposed a novel constitution for her African colonies; proposed as a “free association of autonomous republics within the French Community”.O'Toole, Thomas. The Central African Republic: the Continent's Hidden Heart. Westview Press, 1986, p. 39 Ostensibly, France wanted to ensure that her former colonies would successfully develop into stable independent nations. However, the specific clauses within this treaty showcase how France wished to extend and modernize her dominance over former colonies. The aims of this novel relationship are comprehensively listed by Soviet academic L. Goncharov below:
“(a) maintaining the domination of foreign capital in the economy of the new states, and preventing the break-up of the colonial structure of their economy;
(b) maintaining strong political ties with the countries which have succeeded in liquidating their colonial status, either by involving them in political communities headed by former metropolitan countries, or by preserving such communities created earlier;
(c) imposing co-operation agreements upon the young states to undermine their national sovereignty and independence;
(d) maintaining strategic positions by means of troops and military bases in these countries;
(e) using the administrative machinery inherited from the colonial regime as an instrument for implementing their policy;
(f) maintaining ideological influences in the former colonies; and
(g) using outdated legislation which hinders the development of political democracy in the struggle against progressive forces in African States.”Goncharov, L. "New Forms of Colonialism in Africa." The Journal of Modern African Studies 1, no. 4 (1963): 467-74. Accessed March 31, 2020. www.jstor.org/stable/158880, p. 468
This new political system created further unrest and persisted throughout different regimes. Political leaders Barthélemy Bogonda and David Dacko realized the necessity to work with France, as their fledging countries remained dependent on external aid.O'Toole, Thomas. The Central African Republic: the Continent's Hidden Heart. Westview Press, 1986. Specifically, the main aim of inaugural term for the Dacko administration was “to give some legitimacy to [the] neocolonial state of affairs”.O'Toole, Thomas. The Central African Republic: the Continent's Hidden Heart. Westview Press, 198, p. 46 As the Central African Republic's government became increasingly reliant on French assistance, these two administrations began focusing solely on economic performance. By 1978, the Central African Republic exported 63 per cent of its goods to France, and imported 58 per cent of its goods from France.O'Toole, Thomas. The Central African Republic: the Continent's Hidden Heart. Westview Press, 1986, p. 50 In stark contrast to the close relationship between the French and Central African government, the local populations remain separated from modern economic and political practices.
Local Customs Far removed from the modern economic strategies of natural resource extraction, local communities and rural villages within the Central African Republic rely on traditional hunter-gatherer living in order to thrive. As the difficult terrain and lack of food limited the development of interconnected cities and villages, isolated communities instead developed individual hunting techniques to sustainably harvest food surrounding them. One specific group, known as the BaAka, hunt in groups consisting of both men and women.Noss, A.J. The Economic Importance of Communal Net Hunting Among the BaAka of the Central African Republic. Human Ecology 25, 71–89 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021935903440, p. 74 Once the BaAka has organized a hunting group, they hunt utilizing large hunting nets and hunting tools such as spears and knives.Noss, A.J. The Economic Importance of Communal Net Hunting Among the BaAka of the Central African Republic. Human Ecology 25, 71–89 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021935903440, p. 74 According to cultural environmentalist Andrew J. Noss within his analysis of the BaAka, “the net hunt is as much a gathering event as it is a hunting event”,Noss, A.J. The Economic Importance of Communal Net Hunting Among the BaAka of the Central African Republic. Human Ecology 25, 71–89 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021935903440, p. 75 as participants who didn't hunt animals would return with fruits, vegetables, and other foodstuffs.Noss, A.J. The Economic Importance of Communal Net Hunting Among the BaAka of the Central African Republic. Human Ecology 25, 71–89 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021935903440, p. 75 This unique and necessary hunting strategy, to both safeguarding the identity of the village and providing sufficient food for the community, clashes with the desires of the modern international economic system.