Table of Contents

Introduction
Part I: Assimilation in early-modern French America: from francisation to racialism
1: French colonial justifications
2: Francisation as New France's founding project
3: Defining French distinctiveness in seventeenth-century France
4: Implementing francisation
5: The emergence of race in French political imagination
6: Conclusion
Part II: Assimilation in the nineteenth-century British empire: the rule of law as an engine of civilisation
1: British colonial justifications
2: The colonial career of Saxe Bannister
3: Bannister's colonial philosophy
4: Bannister's civilising scheme for the Aborigines of the British Empire
5: Introducing the rule of law in the colonies
6: Building an empire by treaty
7: The outcomes of the assimilative project in the second half of the nineteenth century
8: Conclusion
Part III: Assimilation against colonialism: the struggle of the Muslim natives in French Algeria
1: French conquest of Algeria
2: Assimilation in French political culture
3: Assimilating Algeria to France
4: Assimilating the Muslim natives through the rule of French law
5: Assimilating the natives through education
6: The rise of racial politics
7: Assimilation in post-First World War Algeria
8: Assimilation in Algeria: the indigenous point of view
9: Conclusion
Conclusion: Assimilation in post-colonial societies
Bibliography

About the Author

Saliha Belmessous is a Senior Research Fellow in history at the University of New South Wales, Australia. She studied in France and Canada and has held research positions in the USA and Australia.

Reviews

This engaging work provides a new way to explore assimilation within Western empires and will refocus scholars on the intellectual traditions and hopes that made assimilation such an important factor within these empires. Summing Up: Highly recommended.
*CHOICE*

an informative, valuable work. The geographical and chronological range of its inquiry is impressive, and each case is investigated in considerable depth, with evidence drawn from a plenitude of primary and secondary sources. Moreover, Belmessous has much to say that is fresh and illuminating about French and British policies toward indigenous peoples.
*American Historical Review*

Belmessous posits original and stimulating new directions for the field ... Belmessous has certainly opened up a fascinating strand of enquiry.
*Australian Historical Studies*

Belmessous has opened up new avenues for future research. Although by no means complete, Belmessous certainly succeeds in her aim to present the history of assimilation as a singular history', underscored especially through the carefully crafted connections and comparisons across the different sections of this wide-ranging work. The multiple perspectives and methodologies employed in this study, as well as its longue durée approach, underscore the originality of this book and its important contribution to our historical knowledge. Furthermore, the insightful discussion of the resilience of assimilation in contemporary Australia, Algeria and France means that the resonance of Belmessouss work goes beyond the study of the past to the present day.
*Joanna Warson, Modern and Contemporary France*

Assimilation and Empire makes a very useful contribution to the literature on uniformity and difference in colonial contexts and will be thought provoking for specialists in any one of the three areas or periods covered. The succinct and accessible contextualization of each case study will also ensure its appeal to general audiences.
*Natalya Vince, History*