Hunger in French Western Africa : Colonial Investigations and Representations (1920-1960)

Cet article retrace l'histoire de la faim, comme objet des savoirs coloniaux, en Afrique occidentale française des années 1920 aux années 1950. Dans l'entre deux-guerres, il y a un profond décalage entre la prétention coloniale à améliorer l'alimentation indigène et les connaissances effectives que les administrateurs ont de cette alimentation. Celle-ci est essentiellement appréhendée à partir d'indicateurs productifs. Il n'est alors que peu question d'évaluer les niveaux d'alimentation des populations colonisées à l'aune de critères nutritionnels. Au sortir de la Seconde Guerre mondiale, le contexte de crise des légitimités coloniales amène l'administration de l'AOF à produire un savoir nouveau sur les niveaux de vie des populations colonisées, notamment en termes d'alimentation. La faim n'en reste pas moins un phénomène mal connu dans la fédération jusqu'aux indépendances. Mais elle est devenue un objet d'investigations et de mesure. Mots-clés : Faim – Famine – Construction des savoirs – Mesure des niveaux de vie – Colonisation – Afrique occidentale française. Abstract : Hunger in French Western Africa : Colonial Investigations and Representations (1920-1960) This article focuses on the way Hunger was constructed as a specific colonial knowledge in French Western Africa from 1920 to 1960. During the Interwar period, there was a widening gap between the claim to improve the food standards of colonial subjects and the knowledge most administrators had on indigenous eating habits. Food intakes were measured through productive indicators rather than nutritional criteria. After World War Two, in the context of colonial legitimacies crisis, the colonial administration produced new knowledge on indigenous standards of living and more specifically on eating habits. There was no real improvement of the knowledge on Hunger before the independences but at least, this issue became an object of investigation and of measurement.This article focuses on the way Hunger was constructed as a specific colonial knowledge in French Western Africa from 1920 to 1960. During the Interwar period, there was a widening gap between the claim to improve the food standards of colonial subjects and the knowledge most administrators had on indigenous eating habits. Food intakes were measured through productive indicators rather than nutritional criteria. After World War Two, in the context of colonial legitimacies crisis, the colonial administration produced new knowledge on indigenous standards of living and more specifically on eating habits. There was no real improvement of the knowledge on Hunger before the independences but at least, this issue became an object of investigation and of measurement