Editing Culture of France (section)

== Cultural imperialism ==
[[File:L'exposition Forêts natales (Musée du quai Branly, Paris (37428983470).jpg|thumb|Ethnographic museums such as the [[Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac]] have been criticized for the political role they play in France.<ref name="Dias2008">{{cite journal |last=Dias |first=Nélia |year=2008 |title=Double erasures: rewriting the past at the Musée du quai Branly |journal=Social Anthropology |volume=16 |issue=3 |pages=300–311 |doi=10.1111/j.1469-8676.2008.00048.x |issn=0964-0282}}</ref>]]
French culture, [[French language|language]], and [[Education in France|education]] have been mobilized to further [[French colonial empire|French imperial interests]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Said |first=Edward W. |title=Culture and imperialism |title-link=Culture and Imperialism |date=1994 |isbn=978-0-307-82965-8 |edition=1st |location=New York |oclc=605400120 |author-link=Edward Said}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Chafer |first=Tony |date=2001 |title=TEACHING AFRICANS TO BE FRENCH?: France's 'civilising mission' and the establishment of a public education system in French West Africa, 1903-30 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40761537 |journal=[[Africa: Rivista trimestrale di studi e documentazione|Africa: Rivista trimestrale di studi e documentazione dell'Istituto italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente]] |volume=56 |issue=2 |pages=190–209 |jstor=40761537 |pmid=18254200 |issn=0001-9747}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Burrows |first=Mathew |date=1986 |title='Mission civilisatrice': French Cultural Policy in the Middle East, 1860-1914 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2639258 |journal=The Historical Journal |volume=29 |issue=1 |pages=109–135 |doi=10.1017/S0018246X00018641 |jstor=2639258 |s2cid=154801621 |issn=0018-246X}}</ref> The concept of {{Lang|fr|[[mission civilisatrice]]}} or 'civilizing mission' figured into France's {{Lang|fr|politique indigène}} throughout its colonies, with its goal fluctuating between [[Assimilation (French colonialism)|assimilation]] and {{Ill|Association (French colonialism)|lt=association|fr|Association coloniale}} of colonial subjects with French culture.<ref name=":0" />

Aspects of French [[cultural imperialism]]—as embodied in the {{Lang|fr|[[Organisation internationale de la Francophonie]]}}<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Canut |first=Cécile |date=2010-10-01 |title=" À bas la francophonie ! " De la mission civilisatrice du français en Afrique à sa mise en discours postcoloniale |journal=Langue française |volume=167 |issue=3 |pages=141–158 |doi=10.3917/lf.167.0141 |issn=0023-8368|doi-access=free }}</ref> or {{Lang|fr|[[Françafrique]]}}—have endured beyond the [[decolonization]] period.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Martin |first=Guy |date=1995 |title=Continuity and Change in Franco-African Relations |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/161543 |journal=The Journal of Modern African Studies |volume=33 |issue=1 |pages=1–20 |doi=10.1017/S0022278X00020826 |jstor=161543 |s2cid=144466522 |issn=0022-278X}}</ref>

Transformations in French ethnographic museums since the early 2000s have provoked criticisms of their alleged political role: reconciling increasing ethnic diversity among the nation's population within its republican model of assimilation, and even homogeneity.<ref name="Dias2008" /> The criticisms have also included allegations of an erasure of France's colonial past as well as an erasure of the history of the collections.<ref name="Dias2008" />