Final Placement Report
Sara Mariani
S3346358
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Xavier Guillaume
Rijksuniversiteit Groningen
1
stof June 2020 until 17
thJuly 2020
Research Project
“Imperial Infrastructure and Political Imagination”
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Introduction……….. 3
2. Tasks and Responsibilities: Collecting Data and Conducting preliminary
analyses……… 4
3. Personal Reflections………. 7
4. Conclusion………11
5. Bibliography……….12
1) INTRODUCTION
During the coronavirus pandemic the University offered me the chance to do a research placement within the International Relations department; more specifically, I have been given the opportunity to work as a Research Assistant for a professor of International Relations on an ongoing research project. Among several projects I chose the “Empirical Infrastructure and Political Imaginations” one because I found it extremely interesting from an analytical point of view and as regards the topic it was engaging with. As a matter of fact, the purpose of my placement was to assist the researcher, Prof. Dr. Xavier Guillaume, in the analysis of how imperial infrastructures, such as railways, waterways and airline companies like Air France, were creating a geopolitical imagination of ‘Eurafrica’ from 1933 to 1960. After completing the first semester of my Master programme, I developed a particular interest for the debate on European identity and integration; therefore, I saw the Euro-Africa relationship investigated in the research as a challenge to delve deeper into the already approached issues of European security, migration and the construction of a European ‘self’ in opposition to a non-European ‘other’. Furthermore, this concept of ‘self’ and ‘other’ - which came up from the analysis of how Africa was portraited by European airlines companies - recalled the work done in the first semester on specific topics such as racism, integration, political violence and the ‘Black lives matter’ campaign.
In more specific terms, the project “Imperial Infrastructures and Political Imagination” aims at investigating if and how Europe and Africa could be perceived as interconnected during the above-mentioned time range. According to the preliminary theoretical analyses, ‘Eurafrica’ can be a geopolitical imagined space led by “a common European endeavour to establish a geopolitically integrated Euro-African continent” (van Laak 2010; p. 29). This idea of merging Europe with Africa was very popular at the beginning of 1933 and after WWII among policy circles and it was based on the belief that European colonies in Africa would have created a cooperating space for post-war
European economic expansion. It was also at the heart of some key negotiations leading to the Treaty of Rome (Hansen and Jonsson, 2014). Therefore, the objective of the research is to see if this ‘Eurafrica’ idea was present, and how, in what is called “popular geopolitics”, that is “vernacular understandings of geopolitics that emerge and circulate within the media, cultural artefacts, and everyday practices” (Ó Tuathail and Dalby, 1998: pp. 4-5).
Although most of the literature on popular geopolitical imaginations have focused on specific sources likes novels, maps, films, and the general popular culture, this research engages with non-state scribes such as European airline companies and Air France in particular. Through the analysis of textual and visual material originating from Air France's magazines and posters, this research seeks to empirically evaluate the presence of ‘Eurafrica’ as a geopolitical imagined space. In the assistance role, my main task was to collect textual and visual material from the online repository of the Air France digital museum in order to help the project's empirical side. Furthermore, I also provided a preliminary analysis of the data collected to help circumscribe the key potential empirical findings.
2)
TASKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES: COLLECTING DATA AND
CONDUCTING PRELIMINARY ANALYSES
• Data Collection: Sources and Methodology
The main sources for the data gathering process started on June 1st until July 17th were considered
to be the website of the Bibliothèque Nationale de France and Musèe Air France collections available on the platform Gallica. Other websites such as Artcultural and Airline Timetable Images, Big Blue (1840 – 1940) and Musée du quai Branly-Jacques Chirac have also been used. In particular, data have been gathered from Air France constitutive companies whose materials fall into the 1933-1960 time range, such as: Air France Reveu (1934 -1968), Echos de l’Air (1938-1951), Bulletin mensuel Air
France (1933-1936), Terre et Ciel (1946-1948), France Aviation (1954-1997), U. A. T: Relations (1956-1961) and from Air France journals whose publications fall into the time range 1933-1960, such as: Air Union (1932-1933), L’Aérophile (1893-1949), L’Aéronautique (1919-1940), L’Air (1919-1960), Les Ailes (1921-1963), Revue du Ministère de l’air (1935-1936), Plein Ciel Journal (1935-1938), Décollage (1946-1948), Ailes Françaises (1944-1945), Par Avion (1937-1939).
In terms of methodology, the data gathering process has been conducted by looking for both textual and visual information on the platform Gallica and on other websites that were providing answers to questions such as “how did European infrastructures colonize Africa?”; “how did airline companies such as Air France exploit colonial routes?”; “how did European infrastructures affect the African environment?”; “what social imaginary Europeans had of Africa?”; “how did European infrastructures change the African landscape?”. In more specific terms, the research has been conducted by looking at information that were relatable to the questions and the topics introduced in the project “Imperial infrastructures and political imagination”. The information were then selected on the basis of their publication date, which needed to fall into the 1933-1960 time range; all the other information outside the set period were not taken into further consideration for this report. Moreover, all the relevant data have been organized in several Excel Sheets related to the research project and divided in two main categories of “Images” (visual data) and “Journals” (textual data).
• Preliminary Analysis
On the basis of the data collected so far, Air France portraits Africa as an exotic, rural, sometimes even wild place, very appealing for tourism, but far away from a European perspective of life. Differences are made depending on the region; for instance, North Africa is depicted as a place where the Islamic religion represents a central aspect of life. In fact, North African people are often portraited as wearing burqa (for women) or traditional Islamic clothes; the architecture of the cities
is also representative of a strong religious component as it is characterized by the presence of Mosques. Indeed, the Muslim/non-European character is emphasized. In Central and Equatorial Africa instead, the difference from Europe is constructed by highlighting the rural character of the villages (rural architecture with houses portrayed as tents), the simplicity of life and the wildness of the surrounding nature. Furthermore, even though people are depicted as being black as North Africans are, they cannot be associated with the Islamic religion – and its elements such as clothes - since they are portrayed as being almost naked; therefore, the images portraying Central and Equatorial scenarios are emphasizing on the “exotic” element. A crucial aspect especially regarding West Africa is the relationship between nature and technology (airplane) that seem to be opposed to each other, with technology being able to “fly over” – which suggests the idea of control – uncontaminated vegetation and wild animals. Although, the different regions have been represented according to the peculiar characteristics of their landscapes, a general picture of Africa in its being “non-European” can be found.
Firstly, the colors that have been used the most are green, brown, blue, white, black and yellow. Green has been used to portrait nature and the different shades have highlighted the wildness and density of the vegetation. Sometimes it has been mixed with blue to represent the sky. Brown and black have often been used to portrait people, animals and trees; more specifically, brown and black have represented the skin color, which turned to be blacker in the Equatorial region and browner in the North. Yellow and white have been used to represent buildings and houses. In particular, white has been associated to the representations of European infrastructures such as architectures in North African cities and airplanes. Even clothes of European tourists have been portraited as white in contrast to the colorful ones of the African people. Nevertheless, all colors, as mentioned in the previous reports, have been portraited as bright and unrealistic.
Secondly, the subjects depicted in images are often local people, nature, houses and land. Even though cities and people in North Africa are not the same as the ones of the Equatorial and Central regions, the general chosen subjects have been used to emphasize the difference from the European life. Indeed, even North African architectures that reflect the European ones have been portraited as being “too religious/Islamic” to be Europeans, while in Central and Equatorial Africa cities are nothing more than rural villages.
Thirdly, the aspect of infrastructural development, which has been described in journals and newspapers as a link between Europe and the African cultures, has instead underlined the distance between the two worlds. In particular, in recalling the last report, under the modalities of “duration of flights”, “expansion of the airline routes” and “architectural development”, infrastructural progress has exercised control over the African landscape by making it much more similar to European cities. Furthermore, this is clear in the element of the airplane, which is present in every image: in some of them it occupies the front space and it is depicted as a big plane, in others it appears in the background. This element somehow distorts the connection between Africa and Europe, as it is represented as more favorable and profitable for the Europeans who “fly over” the African landscape.
3) PERSONAL REFLECTIONS
As a Master student in International Security, I found the topic to be extremely relevant in the discourse of racism and inclusion that I analysed in the first semester. More precisely, I explored racial issues connected to the ‘black skin’ element in relation to police violence in the United States. Although, the time range of this research goes back to 1930s until 1960s, I believe that the narrative that comes up with the findings in the preliminary analysis is a ‘timeless’ one. In fact, it reflects the idea of black-skin people being perceived as ‘inferior’, which is also being contested nowadays in
the United States with the slogan: “Black lives matter” (Harris, 2018). Hence, as shown in the above analysis, the perception of the African people from a European perspective was of simple and rural individuals, who were living in strict connection with nature across wild landscapes. In the north of Africa, people were seen as “too Islamic” to be Europeans, despite the fact that the level of infrastructures of North African cities were not so distant from a European one. Indeed, African people were often ‘stereotyped’ as ‘being different’ from a European conception, when being different in the end acquires the exclusive connotation of being inferior.
This approach recalls the ‘self’ and ‘other’ discursive construction that I analysed in the first semester when focusing on European identity and security, migration and disinformation. In particular, I investigated how our conception of ‘being European’, thus belonging to a European community, is created through the ‘othering’ process of North African migrants coming to Europe. In other words, migrants are often depicted as ‘risky subjects’, representing a threat and a danger in their being ‘non-European’. Hence, according to Noah Bassil, this form of “racism against Africans” (Bassil, 2005: p. 27) was "invented" over centuries of “European contact” (2005: p. 27) for the purposes of processes of social control, and by investigating the history of European contacts with Africa. Indeed, decades of civil conflicts and impoverishment have allowed the discourse of “African inferiority” to persist (Bassil, 2005; p. 40). Moreover, the already mentioned conception of Africa as a “wild and impenetrable jungle” (Bassil, 2005; p. 30) remains an incredibly powerful image, as the image of the jungle illustrates “the isolation of the continent from the outside world” (2005; p. 30).
Furthermore, I had the chance to delve into this ‘colonialist mentality’ and the role of airline companies by providing additional literature on topics such as, “colonial infrastructures” (Denning, 2019), “aviation and the European integration” (Dobson, 2010) and “geopolitics of airline companies” (Amankwah-Amoah, 2011). In particular, airline companies like Air France, were central in delivering “mail, people and goods across European empires” (Kranakis 2010; p. 296), while at
the same time carrying the idea of colonizers’ ‘technological power’. In other words, aviation was taken as ‘reflective’ of the power and the technological progress of Europe, which was opposed to the simplicity of the African continent and thus it turned into a symbolic way of exercising control over it. However, as the connections between airline companies and the geopolitical representations of colonial powers are relatively absent from the literature, drawing these connections has been an interesting challenge.
I believe that this theoretical aspect for students of International Relations and International Security in particular, it is crucial to be able to understand the difference between a “depicted or constructed reality” and the reality itself. In more specific terms, considering that political narratives often affect our perspective of reality, understanding how Africa is represented in a specific period of time and through the eyes of Europeans, gives us the ability to uncover political and social dynamics taking place at that time. Hence, capturing the European perspective of Africa between 1933 and 1960 allows us to get insights of the old European and international relations system.
With regards to the acquired skills, I believe that the process of data collection has improved my analytical skills and the ability to think critically, as I had to search for reliable sources and then carefully select the information, analyse them and translate them into summarized weekly reports. It also provided me with great attention to details and improved my organizational and time management skills, as I organized the data on an Excel sheet on the basis of the “title”, “source”, “type (image or text)”, “year”, “description”, “coding” and “link”, which also improved my MS Excel skills as well as the ability to manage large and complex databases. Moreover, the data gathering process together with the searching for additional literature has improved my ability to handle several responsibilities and to work without a direct supervision, since I had scheduled meetings with my supervisor every two weeks.
In particular, the preliminary analysis part has given me the chance to learn how to understand the relations between Africa and Europe from the analysis of visual and textual data. Therefore, I have been able to extrapolate knowledge from visual representations such as pictures, posters, travel brochures and paintings, as well as from documents, journals and newspaper articles. When it comes to images, the colors, the location of objects and subjects (whether in the background or in the front) and the landscape are all elements to take into consideration, as they tell the way something is perceived; in this case, the way African regions were perceived by Europeans. When it comes to texts, instead, it is important to pay attention to the words used in descriptions and the images they evoke.
I am confident that the above mentioned skills will be of great importance for future jobs applications and the beginning of a professional career in security. As a matter of fact, gaining an analytical understanding and the ability to critically approach real-life issues leads to a problem-solving and result-oriented mindset that is often highly required in the field of security and disaster response. Attention to details is another relevant skill to conduct investigative activities and risk assessments. In addition, organizational and time management skills are crucial to be successful at work by delivering good results, meeting deadlines and taking initiative. Therefore, I believe the skills I gained during this placement will be extremely relevant for my professional growth and will open up opportunities for a successful future career.
4) CONCLUSION
Although the visual and textual analyses have been challenging at the beginning, as they require strict concentration and a great attention to details, I am really satisfied with the work done so far. It met my expectations in terms of both analytical perspective and the professional skills acquired. Indeed, I focused on the construction of Euro-Africa identity through the lenses of a geoplolitical approach. Conducting research is compelling, but it is my hope that what has been achieved in terms of data collected will be of help for the completion of the research project. Furthermore, the work experience has given me understanding of the international relations system between 1933-1960, which represents a crucial time range for the study of international security and a fundamental starting point to further investigate security and policy measures adopted by European countries in relations to Africa until today.
Most importantly, I believe the placement experience has been of great importance for my personal and professional growth. Indeed, I improved my knowledge of French and I gained skills of data-gathering and data collection, large and complex databases analysis as well as a keen attention to
details that I am confident will represent an important step forward for my professional career in the
5) BIBLIOGRAPHY
Amankwah-Amoah, Joseph, and Yaw A Debrah. 2011. “The Evolution of Alliances in the Global Airline Industry: A Review of the African Experience.” Thunderbird International Business
Review 53 (1): 37–50.
Bassil, N. Noah. 2005. “The Legacy of Colonial Racism in Africa.” Aq: Australian Quarterly 77 (4): 27–40.
Dalby, Simon, and Gerard Toal. 1998. Rethinking Geopolitics. New York: Routledge.
Denning A. 2019. “Infrastructural Propaganda: The Visual Culture of Colonial Roads and the Domestication of Nature in Italian East Africa.” Environmental History 24 (2): 352–69.
DOBSON, A. 2010. “Civil Aviation and European Integration: Creating the Seemingly Impossible Seam.” Journal of Common Market Studies 48 (4): 1127–47.
Hansen, Peo, and Stefan Jonsson. 2014. Eurafrica : The Untold History of European Integration
and Colonialism. Theory for a Global Age. London, England: Bloomsbury Academic.
Harris, Duchess. 2018. Black Lives Matter. Protest Movements. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Core Library, an imprint of Abdo Publishing.
van Laak, Dirk, and Badenoch, Alexander, Lecturer in Media and Culture Studies, Utrecht University, The Netherlands. 2010. “Materializing Europe : Transnational Infrastructures and the Project of Europe.” Essay. In Detours Around Africa: The Connection between Developing Colonies
