Military masculinities and imperial masculinities: The inter-war years in France and recruitment to la Coloniale

Abstract

AbstractThis article examines the congruences and incongruences between imperial and military masculinities in brochures and images that were deployed in a recruitment drive to the Coloniale in inter-war France. It argues that changes in imperial objectives and thence iconography following World War I forced a shift away from traditional militaristic imagery in recruitment, giving place to a sanitized and domesticated portrait both of empire, and of military roles and identities therein.