Colonial Rulers and Unruly Masses: Global Measurement Regimes and Local Forms of Resistance

• In Event: Decolonial Knowledge(s)

Abstract

Colonialism was a key factor in the international spread of the decimal metric system of weights and measures. France, Portugal, Spain, Belgium, and the Netherlands imposed the metric system on the populations of several of their colonies, mainly during the 19th century. French colonialism, in particular, played an important role in bringing the metric system outside Europe, predominantly to Africa. Metrication through colonization was a process that lasted more than a century and contributed to increasing the number of metric territories around the world, from Algeria and Senegal in 1840 to Macao and East Timor in 1957. In total, nearly 40 countries introduced the metric system when they were colonies or territories administered by overseas powers. If we focus our attention outside Europe, we find that one in four countries currently existing outside Europe received the metric system as a colonial imposition. Breaking down these figures reveals large variations in this expansion. Africa was the main recipient of metric measurements brought by European armies, with half of today's African countries obtaining the meter in this way. In Asia, this percentage only reached 15%, and in the Americas 8%. The fist part of this paper analyzes the historical patterns of international expansion of the metric system and its link to colonialism and national independence processes; it also discusses the main arguments used to justify the imposition of metrology in the colonies, particularly the discourse of “universality” and the “civilizing mission.” The second part shows different forms of popular resistance against the imposition of metric and imperial systems of measurement, particularly anti-metric peasant revolts in Brazil and Mexico.

Author

• Hector Vera, UNAM