Young Beninese People’s Views Regarding Colonization: A Preliminary Study

Abstract

The present study explored and mapped young Beninese people’s views regarding colonization. A sample of 63 students aged 18-20 and living in Cotonou, Benin were presented with 24 cards showing a story that depicted a colonization process and asked to assess each process using a response scale that ranged from “very negatively” to “rather positively”. Each story had four critical items of information: (a) the political/ economic situation before colonization (e.g., the area was virtually stateless), (b) the colonial policy of the metropolis (e.g., pure exploitation of the colony’s riches and the building of a minimal infrastructure needed for easing exploitation), (c) the extent to which the average people’s standard of living and life expectancy increased during the colonial period, and (d) the level of brutality with which the colonizer’s rule was applied. Three qualitatively different positions were found: Always very negatively (4%), Undecidable (20%), and Depends on circumstances (74%). This majority position was that, even if colonization deprived African people of their right to self-determination, the colonizer’s action must be assessed taking into account the pros and the cons in each concrete situation. In other words, colonization was, in the case of Africa, not good or bad in itself. This view is in some way not that dissimilar from the one western Europeans may have today regarding past colonization by the Romans.