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But as decolonization shook French colonies in Africa, it cast a spotlight on a mascot that was inspired by racist, caricatures of the French Empire’s West African soldiers.

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Producer: Aina J. Khan
#France #FrenchColonialism #WestAfrica

🧵1/2 Source: @ajplus.net
For decades, Banania was a popular chocolate and banana-flavored drink powder for children whose mascot was inspired by a Black West African soldier who fought for the French empire.

#France #FrenchColonialism #WestAfrica

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France has returned the skulls of 3 Indigenous people 🇫🇷 killed, to Madagascar. One of the skulls is believed to have belonged to a king – from when French colonial forces colonized the island in the Indian Ocean.
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#Madagascar #Colonialism #Africa #Indigenous #FrenchColonialism

add another one #FrenchColonialism

Moss on the ruins of a forgotten French colonial building in a former ancient Lao capital known as Muang Khoun today. It was bombed in the first Indo-China War. The colours pop because it rained all day that day. #mossmonday #photography #architecture #forgottenplaces #frenchcolonialism #bokehphoto

Vingt ans après sa légalisation, l'absinthe continue de fasciner | Avis d’expert-e-s

While I was in Môtiers for the vernissage of my book "The Hour of Absinthe", I was interviewed by the Swiss national television RTS about absinthe's colonial history. It's in French, but do have a look: www.avisdexperts.ch/fr/intervent...

#DrinkingStudies #Absinthe #FrenchColonialism 🗃️🍸

▪️Alongside #Mali and Burkina Faso, Niger formed the Alliance of Sahel States (#AES) to restore #indigenous leadership and reclaim control over #resources long managed in service of French interests.

#Vpol #SahelStates #France #FrenchColonialism #Africa

But various French illustrators also depicted "Oxygénée Cusenier" as being indispensable in hot climates.

#DrinkingStudies #Colonialism #FrenchColonialism #Racism 🗃️🍸

bsky.app/profile/drni...

In 1927, the same journal also published this advert for "Imperial Mandarine", showing just the bottle, but with the same intricate border! Amazing to compare this to the ones by Charles Brouty for the same brand from 1928! bsky.app/profile/drni... #ColonialAdverts #Orientalism #FrenchColonialism 🗃️🍸

Looking online, many different drinks seem to have been named "liqueurs indiennes" in French! I wish I knew more about this one here! #DrinkingStudies #FrenchColonialism #Algeria #histmed #ColonialMedicine 🗃️🍸

Caricature contre Charles X et le Dey d'Alger : [estampe] : Les décampés Caricature contre Charles X et le Dey d'Alger : [estampe] : Les décampés -- -- images

They are clearly lamenting their loss of power together & I'd love to know what alcohol they consume in Ratier's imagination! This caricature is freely accessible via @gallicabnf.bsky.social! gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/b... #DrinkingStudies #FrenchColonialism #Orientalism #NorthAfrica #Algeria 🗃️🍸

This is a colour drawing. It shows a greenish umbrella, with two men sitting cross-legged below it on pillows. They both seem to wear some sort of turban. The one on the left is the French King Charles II. He wears a yellow turban, a white and blue uniform and black boots. He looks towards the figure ont he right and seems to speak. The figure on the right is Hussein Dey, the last Dey of Algeria. He is wearing a red, yellow and white-striped turban, a red jacket over a yellowish shirt, white trowsers and yellow shoes. Charles X holds a pipe in his hand, while Hussein Dey has his in his mouth. In front of them, on a carpet, is the water pipe, two half-filled glasses and a bottle of alcohol. The caricature has the title "The Decamped Ones (You Too)" in French.

This caricature by the lithographer Victor Ratier shows the French King Charles X & Hussein Dey, the last Dey of Algiers, who both lost their power in 1830. Here, they are depicted as smoking a waterpipe & drinking a bottle of alcohol that I cannot identify! #DrinkingStudies #FrenchColonialism 🗃️🍸

I've also always wondered about the claim that it was "drunk all over the world"! #HistoryOfWine #DrinkingStudies #FrenchColonialism #HistoryOfAlgeria #ColonialAdverts 🗃️🍷

Drawn advert for "Royal Kebir", black on white. It shows, in a black frame, a bottle of wine, standing next to a full glass of red wine and a smoking cigarette on an ashtray. Next to it, it says "Royal Kebir". Below it, there is text in French in a larger black frame. It says: "the dean of Algerian fine wines" "is drunk all over the world", and "Frédéric Lung, Alger". This advert was published in "La Famille française (Alger)", on the 01.03.1934, p. 44.

I love that this 1934 #ColonialAdvert for the Algerian wine "Royal Kebir" was printed in the journal "La Famille française (Alger)", which was in turn published by the "League of Large French Families of Algeria". Large families, wine & cigarettes... #DrinkingStudies #FrenchColonialism 🗃️🍷

Quote from: Bouquet, Henry. Les aliénés en Tunisie. Med. Thesis, University of Lyon, 1909, p. 32. #DrinkingStudies #ColonialPsychiatry #ColonialMedicine #histmed #HistoryOfSexuality #Aphrodisiacs #Orientalism #FrenchColonialism

Ref.: Taïeb, Suzanne. Les idées d’influence dans la pathologie mentale de l’indigène nord-africain. Med. Thesis, University of Algiers, 1939, p. 87f. #ColonialPsychiatry #histmed #FrenchColonialism #MuslimWomen #Magic 🗃️

Ref: Milliot, Louis. Étude sur la condition de la femme musulmane au Maghreb. Leg. Diss., University of Paris 1910, p. 31; Lacascade, Renée. Puériculture et colonisation. Étude sur la puériculture au Maroc. Med. Diss., University of Paris 1922, p. 11.
#FrenchColonialism #Orientalism #Magic 🗃️

She added that, armed with that understanding, people "will no longer be surprised at the naivety of popular beliefs, the way of life of Arab women, feminine superstitions & the practices of magic or witchcraft that accompany the various acts of family life in Morocco." #FrenchColonialism 🗃️

but, in reality, witchcraft & magic have always found adepts there & at each stage of the history of Muslims we meet soothsayers, sorcerers or magicians." He added that from the point of view of sorcery "the Maghreb occupies a truly privileged place in all of Islam". #FrenchColonialism 🗃️

This image shows a cartoon in black on yellowish paper. It shows four images, plus the logo of the company, on the very right. The four images show scenes between "the hare and the tortoise" - the title of the cartoon. Below it are quotes from the fables of La Fontaine. The first shows the tortoise and the hare agreeing to race each other; the second and third images show the hare sleeping and resting, while the fourth shows the hare trying to catch up with the tortoise, who wins the race. The logo of "La Cigogne" on the very right shows a stork, with its wings up, next to a large glass of beer, in front of a Moroccan city. There is Arabic text below the glass of beer - "Stork Beer" in Arabic - while the rest of the text is in French. This cartoon can be found in "Le Petit Marocain", published on the 31.05.1951, p. 3.

While the #ColonialAdvert for "La Cigogne" in my first post showed a scene from "Kalila wa Dimna" with the improvised ending of the tortoise enjoying a glass of beer after its flight, most portrayed the fables of La Fontaine - without any connection to beer! #DrinkingStudies #FrenchColonialism 🗃️🍺

"strengthens delicate stomachs"! This was often portrayed as one of alcohol's main advantages in the hot climates of France's colonial empire. #DrinkingStudies #FrenchColonialism #histmed 🗃️🍸

Such statements show a deep lack of knowledge about Islam, as well as a misunderstanding of local jokes & explanations & of the #HistoryOfCoffee. Quote from: Pagès, Calixte. L’hygiène pour tous. Paris: C. Naud, 1903, p. 267. #Orientalism #FrenchColonialism #DrinkingStudies 🗃️☕

This is a drawn image in black and white. It shows a man in traditional North African clothes, playing a flute. In front of him is a snake (a cobra?), whose head, however, seems to be made up of a money bag. Above and below him, it says, in French: "To charm fortune, buy a National Lottery ticket". This image can be found in "Le Progrès, journal de l'arrondissement de Guelma", published on the 22.12.1941, p. 2.

This is a drawn image, in black on yellowish newspaper paper. It shows an older North African man with a white beard and in traditional clothes and a turban, smiling towards the reader. He holds up, in his right hand, a bag filled with money, some some banknotes sticking out. Above him, it says, in French: "Algerian lottery" and, in Arabic, "Algerian papers of fun" [???] - maybe I am reading it wrong. Next to him, it says, in French: "A ticket can sweeten your future!!" This image can be found in "L'Écho syndical du personnel de la Banque de l'Algérie", published on the 01.07.1939, p. 2.

This image shows part of a text from a newspaper, black on white. In a cross, it says, in French, "Lottery", from up to down, and "Algerian", from left to right. It also says: "200,000 tickets, 1 in 5 chance", and, importantly, "By purchasing Algerian Lottery tickets, you are contributing to the recovery of Algeria". This advert can be found in "Mostaganem, Journal de l'économie politique régionale", published on the 22.11.1941, p. 1.

Now, I do not work on the "Loterie Algérienne" - or the French "Loterie Nationale"! - but some of their #ColonialAdverts (from the late 1930s/early 1940s) are amazing. All of these were published in Francophone newspapers in Algeria between 1939 and 1941! #Orientalism #FrenchColonialism 🗃️📰

Drawn advert in black and white, blurry. It shows a map of Morocco with roads between big cities. Below it is a car in front of a North African city. On the forefront, on the right, are three Moroccans, in traditional clothes. One of them seems to be looking at the car. Above it, it says: "Tout le Maroc par la CTM (Compagnie de Transports au Maroc)". Below the image, it says: Société Générale de Transports & Tourisme au Maroc" and "Route de Rabat à Casablanca". The advert can be found in "L'Algérie illustrée", on the 01.10.1928, p. 26.

This #ColonialAdvert from 1928 is for the CTM, the "Compagnie de Transports au Maroc", published in "L'Algérie Illustrée". Such adverts also repeated the harmful colonial binaries of progress (the car) vs. tradition (the North Africans), agency vs. passivity, etc. #FrenchColonialism #Orientalism 🗃️🚗

And another amazing #ColonialAdvert for a car manufacturer! This one - for the French company "Latil" - was published in the newspaper "L'Afrique du Nord illustrée" in 1928. A fascinating - and illogical! - mix of "exotic" colonial imagery! #FrenchColonialism #Orientalism 🗃️🚗

This advert for "Bénédictine" here is from 1914 & particularly interesting because it was published in the "Bulletin Médical de l'Algérie" & thus seemingly recommended by one of France's strongest mechanisms of #ColonialMedicine! #DrinkingStudies #FrenchColonialism #histmed 🗃️🍸

I just came across a different version of this #ColonialAdvert for "Imperial Mandarine", from 1925. The intricate border adds another layer of Orientalisation to this image! Also intrigued by the fact that this version is no longer set outside! #Orientalism #FrenchColonialism #DrinkingStudies 🗃️🍸

Once he had tasted it, however, he acknowledged that "this brew was completely delicious", adding that "only Moors know how to make coffee". Source: Leclercq, Jules. De Mogador à Biskra: Maroc & Algérie. Paris: Challamel Ainé, 1881, p. 22f. #Orientalism #DrinkingStudies #FrenchColonialism #Coffee 🗃️☕

Showing his general prejudice towards North Africans, Leclercq admitted that "it was not without repugnance that I accepted the poorly cleaned cup", adding that this "black brew, thick, steaming [...] inspired little confidence in me". #Orientalism #FrenchColonialism #HistoryOfCoffee🗃️☕

Jules Leclercq described them in an 1881 account about his journey through Morocco & Algeria as nothing but "dirty huts", adding that the "cafés of Tangier have nothing that corresponds with the brilliant [preconceived] ideas that we have of Oriental cafés". #Orientalism #FrenchColonialism 🗃️☕