Our Civilizing Mission: The Lessons of Colonial Education. By Nicholas Harrison

Abstract

Nicholas Harrison’s excellent book is not only a fascinating study of colonial education in Algeria and an examination of literary texts which trace the impacts and influences of colonial teaching on writers and teachers. It is also an examination of the ‘critical anxieties about the historical and conceptual foundations of “humanities” education’ (p. 7), a topic of increasing urgency today as the humanities as an area of study is repeatedly under threat from governments who pour money into ‘profitable’ STEM subjects to the detriment of the humanities. In this highly relevant and multidisciplinary book, Harrison draws on concepts and debates from history, postcolonial studies, and literary studies. Some of the key questions he raises include: How were Algerian writers influenced by France’s ‘civilizing mission’ — France’s political rationale for empire as evoked in the title of the book — through their own education and the education they offered to their students? What might they have gained from their colonial education, what caused them anxieties, and how did their experiences as student and teacher help them to advance their writing career? The study is bookended in the Introduction and Conclusion by Harrison’s astute reflections on the value of humanities education and the teaching of literature at university level. In Chapter 1 he discusses Edward Said’s approach to the teaching of literature through his works, and he sees Said’s writing as ‘paradigmatic in its equivocal relationship to literary education and humanities education more widely’ (p. 10). The following chapter takes a historical approach to colonial education in Algeria. Chapter 3 explores writings by Mouloud Feraoun which give insight into what it was like to be a teacher during the Algerian War of Independence, while Chapter 4 focuses on texts by Feraoun, Mohammed Dib, Assia Djebar, and others which recount the culture of colonial schools through the lens of gender and laïcité. The final chapter analyses accounts of children’s experiences of learning French and French literature at school in Algeria. This thematic approach to literature about colonial education is one of the many strengths of the book, as Harrison deftly demonstrates the richness of his selected works of fiction and memoir and the complex relationship of the writers towards colonialism as contained in the texts. A further strength is that the book is very well researched; Harrison draws on many historical, biographical, literary, and critical sources, offering detailed close readings of the texts but also providing comprehensive contextualization of the period in which they were written. Furthermore, he nuances our understanding of colonial education in Algeria, arguing that many pro-colonialists were quite suspicious of using education as a colonial tool because they wanted to keep ‘indigenous’ people in an inferior position to the colonial French authorities. Harrison’s book is essential reading for scholars and students of Algerian literature and the history of colonial education; more broadly, it will be of interest to all advocates of literature and the humanities.