“Europeanizing” History and History Instruction in the French Union: Tensions Between United Europe and Postwar Empire, 1944-1958

During WWII, Free French policymakers and educators in exile in London began contemplating the “Europeanization” of history instruction with their European counterparts in the Conference of Allied Ministers of Education. Wartime interest in “Europeanizing” history education intesified with the emergence of organized movements for European unity after the war, all of which looked to history to foster European cultural identity. History instruction became a recurring theme and terrain for action in the European cultural institutions that were founded shortly thereafter, from the European Youth Campaign to the College of Europe. French participants in these initiatives enthusiastically embraced the role of history instruction in the European project; however, their position was complicated by a set of strikingly similar initiatives using history education to revitalize France’s African empire and promote a renovated Franco-African community. How could the French use history instruction to more firmly ground French civilization in Africa and locate France in a European civilization at the same time? Using French, African, European and UNESCO archives, my paper examines attempts of French politicians and educators to reconcile their commitments to United Europe and empire as they moved between transnational European forums on history instruction, the French Ministry of Education, and colonial education services in French Africa. I demonstrate that French participation in the transnational effort to “Europeanize” history instruction profoundly shaped colonial education reforms in French Africa, and contributed to the emergence of new boundaries—both real and imagined—between republican France, francophone Africa and the nascent European Community.