From Savage to Citizen: Education, Colonialism and Idiocy

Author(s): Murray K. Simpson

Source: British Journal of Sociology of Education, Vol. 28, No. 5 (Sep., 2007), pp. 561-574
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BritishJournalofSociologyofEducation
Vol. 28, No. 5, September2007, pp. 561-574 RRoutledge
& Francis
Taylor Group

From savage to citizen: education,

colonialism and idiocy
MurrayK. Simpson*
The University
ofDundee, UK

In constructinga frameworkforthe participationand inclusionin politicallife of subjects,the

Enlightenment also produceda seriesofsystematic exclusionsforthosewho did not qualify:includ-
ing'idiots'and 'primitiveraces'. 'Idiocy' emergedas partofwiderstrategiesofgovernancein Europe
and its colonies. This opened up the possibilityforpedagogyto become a keytechnologyforthe
transformation ofthesavage,uncivilisedOtherintothecitizen.This paper exploresthetransforma-
tiverole of pedagogyin relationto colonial discourse,the narrativeof the wild boy ofAveyron-a
feralchild capturedin France in 1800-and the formationof a medico-pedagogicaldiscourseon
idiocyin the nineteenthcentury.In doing so, thepaper showshow learningdisabilitycontinuesto
be influencedby same emphasison competenceforcitizenship,a legacyof the colonial attitude.

Introduction

Learning disabilityis a product of modern westernsocial governance.The tangle of

relations of power and knowledge that constituteit trace back to the emergence of
the normalisingprojects of westerngovernance. The ideas of citizenshipand social
being; the primacyof contractas the dominant formof social relationship;and the
conquest of the natural world, including its 'rude' peoples, have all contributedto
this emergence.
Invariablythishas resultedin social exclusion linkedto the matterof theirputative
social competence (Jenkins,1998) and consequentlyto techniques of pedagogy and
perceptions of capacity forlearning (Trent, 1994; Simpson, 1999). In this respect,
idiots shared with other marginalisedgroups the demand that citizenshiprequired
transformation-citizenshipbeing both a practice and a status. As we shall see, this
theme connected the emergentmodern discourse on idiocy with attemptsto civilise
the uneducated and untamed 'savage' at home in Europe and abroad among the
indigenous peoples of colonised lands.

*SchoolofEducation,
SocialWorkandCommunity The University
Education, ofDundee,Dund-
ee DD1 4HN, UK. Email:m.k.simpson@dundee.ac.uk

ISSN 0142-5692(print)/ISSN
1465-3346(online)/07/050561-14
C 2007 Taylor& Francis
DOI: 10.1080/01425690701505326

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562 M. K. Simpson

The paper exploressome of these interconnectingthreadsin orderto show how the

modern discourse of idiocy emerged in part fromthe same linguisticfield as racial
anthropology.It constructsan analyticframeworkusing eighteenth-century colonial
and racial commentaries,the narrativeof the savage boy of Aveyron-the studyand
attemptededucation of a feralboy at the beginningof the nineteenthcentury--and
the 'physiologicalmethod' in the treatmentof idiocy mid-century.

The savage other

The word 'savage' derivesfromthe Old French sauvage ('from the woods') fromthe
Latin 'silvan' (lyingbeyond the governedrealms of towns and settlements;the largely
uninhabitedwooded lands beyond the shortreach of the law; untamed, uncultivated
and uncivilised). At a time when even the cities and towns were violent places and
crime went largelyunpunished (Rossiaud, 1990), the mediaeval wilderness was a
place inhabited by the 'marginal man', largelyabsent fromthe recorded landscape,
where the banished were treated as wolves and drivenfromthe towns and villages,
and the outlawed roamed (Geremek, 1990). Interestin the 'savage' peoples of other
lands was a consequence of the exploration and colonisation of large parts of the
world by European powers since the fifteenth century.
'Savage' as an aspect of the bucolic and those livingoutside the boundaries of soci-
ety in Europe as well as the 'exotic' peoples of other lands is not accidental. As
Kliewer and Fitzgerald (2001) observe, at the same time as the grasp of colonial
power reaches outwards and associated discourses of subjugation develop, so too
does the internalnexus of governanceof civilsocietyin Europe. Nonetheless, thereis
a pronouncedtendencyin writing,
sincethelastcenturyat least,to projectcontem-
poraryusages of the word; that is, to signify'animal' violence, to refersolely to the
exotic 'other' (forexample, Street, 1975; Jahoda, 1999), or indeed to see it as having
a 'double life' with two 'different'meanings when applied at home and abroad
(Williams, 2003). However, even to distinguishbetween the 'domestic' and 'exotic'
savage involves conceptual retro-projection.The more significantand interesting
question is: how were theyconceived as similar?
Popular interestduring the seventeenthcenturyin the exotic savage was fuelled
froma number of sources. Novels set in newlydiscovered climes,factualor fictional,
and featuringthe culturallyalien were popular: Aphra Behn's Oroonoko (1688),
Daniel Defoe's RobinsonCrusoe (1719), JonathanSwift's Gulliver'sTravels (1726),
Voltaire's Candide (1759), and so forth.Travellers' tales were another rich, if not
always entirelyaccurate, source of information,stemming in particular from the
thirteenth-century travelsof Marco Polo to the Far East.
Of particular interest for this paper were French activities in the eastern
seaboard of what would become Canada and the United States. In the eighteenth
century,French colonial interestslay in two principal directions: first,and most
importantly,they were centres of trade; second, they were outposts of missionary
activity,most significantly by the Jesuits(see, for example, Vaughan, 1978; Greer,
2000; Cooper, 2001). It is this second area that is of greatest interest, both

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 Education,colonialismand idiocy 563

because the Jesuits provided a great deal of information about the peoples
among whom they worked and also because they provide a paradigm for the
conversion and civilisationof the savage that parallels the interestin the wild boy
of Aveyron.
The Society of Jesus placed great emphasis on the importanceof education in all
theiractivities,includingtheirmissionaryactivitieswithuncivilisedpeoples. Indeed,
it was thisverylack of a proper civilisingeducation that definedsavagery.The Jesuit
missionaryPaul le Jeune wrote of his time among the Montagnais in the sixteenth
centurythus:
... thewell-formed
bodiesandwell-regulated andwell-arranged
organsofthesebarbarians
suggest thattheirmindstoo oughtto function well.Educationand instruction
aloneare
lacking... I naturally
compareourIndianswith[European]villagers, becausebothare
usuallywithout education... (leJeune,2000,p. 33)
le Jeune captures a common connectionbetween the savage abroad and the illiterate
peasantryat home. Also significantis the assertionthatit is thewant ofeducation that
makes the differencebetween the civilised and the uncivilised (Dorsey, 1998). This
view was also linkedto hierarchicaland evolutionaryviews of societies:

... theInhabitants
ofthegreatBretannie
havebinin timespastas sauvageas thoseof
Virginia. quotedinAxtell,1992,p. 68)
(ThomasHarriot,
Towards the end of the eighteenthcentury,scientifictheoriesof race had begun to
emerge also based on linearhierarchies,but rooted in the altogethermore staticidea
of the Great Chain of Being-the deisticidea that all livingand inertthingsoccupy a
place in an infinitely
graduatedscaledesignedbytheCreator(Jahoda,1999). Bonnet,
forexample, presentsa seamless scale fromman down throughquadrupeds, to birds,
fish, and other classes of animals, to plants, stones, ending in the three primary
elementsand 'more subtle matter' (White, 1799). Common to such theorieswas the
settingout of hierarchiesof human races withinwider classificationsof simian and
other animal species; in particular,to situate the negro as a species intermediate
between man and ape (Jahoda, 1999). Charles White illustratessuch approaches, as
well as his adherence to the Great Chain principle, in his classificationof species
according to the cranial front-angle(Figure 1) (White, 1799).
Notwithstandingthe physiognomicaspects of race theories,the principalemphasis
was on the civilisingimpulse. Indeed, therewas no question that this was a primary
dutyforthe colonisers,and it depended fundamentallyon viewingthe savage as capa-
ble of being civilised. For some, the primarycauses of physiologicaland physiogno-
mic differenceswere to be found in environmentalfactors. The Revd Samuel
Stanhope Smith of the American Philosophical Society noted:
... personswho havebeen captivated fromthestates,and grownup, frominfancy to
middle age, in the habits of savage life ... universally
contractsuch a strong-
resemblance of thenativesin theircountenance,and evenin theircomplexion,as to
afford a strikingproofthatthe differences
whichexist,in the same latitude,
between
the Anglo-Americanand the Indian, depend principallyon the state of society.(Smith,
2001,p. 93)

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564 M. K. Simpson

Figure 1. Cranial classification(White,1799)

Attitudestowards the innate goodness of the savage were sharplydivided between

those like Rousseau (1973b) who regarded the nobilityof man in his natural state,
and those who saw theirexistence in a more negative light,marked by cannibalism
and depredation,such as was the Jesuitview (forexample, Chauchetiere, 2000). In
either case, however, there was an unambiguous belief that civil life demanded a
liftingout of the state of 'savage solitude' (Godwin, in Rodway, 1952, p. 217) by
means of education. Although, of course, views on how this education should be
accomplished were equally divided. Understandingthe 'natural man' was, however,
the keyto formulatingthe necessarypedagogy (Rousseau, 1973b).
Anothercrucial point about the place of the savage otherwas theirrole in defining
the normal and acceptable. Williams (2003) observesthatthe process of constructing
the unciviliseduneducated people of ruralFrance was also a constructionof'French-
ness' itself.Said (1991), of course, makes the case forthe much wider construction
of the European throughthe process of Orientalism.Similarly,idiocy would, in due
course, come to play a keyrole in definingthe 'normal' child (Rose, 1985).

From savage to Victor

In spite ofthe two centuriesthathave now passed since the firstsightingsofthe young
Sauvage de l'Aveyron,the interestin the eventssurroundinghis entryinto societyhas
remained strong.The sequence of eventsbegan withthe entryof the feralboy into a
workshopin a village in the Department of Aveyronin January1800, and proceeded
throughhis examinationby some of the finestminds of the French academy, to the

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 Education,colonialismand idiocy 565

reportson his education at the InstituteforDeaf-Mutes, Paris by Itard. Most of this

concern has centred on such matters as the progress in educational theory and
method since those foundingevents in the historyof pedagogy; or to resolve long-
standingpsychologicalquestions, forinstance on language acquisition or intellectual
development-was the savage mentallyretarded,or perhaps autistic;what could his
storytellus about special education, and so on (forexample, Gaynor, 1972; Shattuck,
1980; Ernct, 1995). Above all, as Harlan Lane puts it in his detailed psychological
profile,
... thewildboywastohelpanswerthecentral
questionoftheEnlightenment,
Whatis the
natureofman?(Lane, 1976,p. 19)

The theme of transforming the boy froma savage to a civil being strucka chord
withwider developmentsin philosophy,anthropology,medicine, the developmentof
race theories and colonial expansion. Itard's effortswith the boy, whom he named
Victor,thus connect withthe precedingpart of the paper. They also connect withthe
succeeding look at the descent of the discourse on idiocy,which took definiteshape
several decades later.
Apropos the connections between colonialism and the education of the savage of
Aveyron,a look at some of the principalfeaturesofItard's workwill serveto highlight
the parallels. For instance,the boy's naturalselfishinterestsand instinctualbehaviour
are described in termsremarkablysimilarto attitudestowardssavage tribesas well as
to Rousseau's eponymous pupil, Emile. He was amoral and lackingin any notion of
property,and thereforetheft.Despite the pessimisticinitialassessmentof many that
the savage was an idiot, Itard believed thatthe savage's state signified,

... thedegreeofunderstanding, andthenatureoftheideasofa youth, from

who,deprived,
hisinfancy, ofall education,
shouldhavelivedentirelyseparatedfromindividuals
ofhis
species... (Itard,1972a,p. 99)
As such, Itard believed that a programme of instruction,carefullyconceived and
experimentally implemented,might'cure thisapparentidiotism' (Itard, 1972a, p. 99).
It is, perhaps,on thispoint thata fullunderstandingofthe lexical fieldofthe savage
can best be approached since it linksdomestic and exotic savagery.In Smith's essay
we find:

Everyobjectthatimpresses
thesenses,andevery emotionthatrilesinthemind,affectsthe
features
ofthefacetheindexofourfeelings,
andcontributes toformtheinfinitely various
countenance ofman.Paucityofideascreatesa vacantand unmeaning aspect.Agreeable
and cultivated
scenescomposethefeatures,
andrenderthemregular andgay.Wild,and
deformed, andsolitary
forests
tendto impress
on thecountenance, an imageoftheirown
rudeness.(Smith,2001,pp. 80-81)

The importance of sensation and experience had been a key theme in European
philosophysince Locke, runningthrougheven such disparate strandsas the empiri-
cism of Berkeleyand Hume, the idealism of Kant, and the sensationismof Condillac.
Apperception,understandingand the capacity forreason became definitiveof Man
in the Enlightenment.Want of these features,whetherthroughphysiologicaldefi-

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566 M. K. Simpson

ciency or environmentalcircumstance,was, above all else, what characterisedthe

uncivilised. Their development marks progress from 'mere private force' (Kant,
1974, p. 185) dominated by animal instincts,towards the state of social being. The
acquisition, multiplicationand combination of ideas 'distinguishes [civilised] man
from... a "clod of the valley"' (Godwin, 1971, p. 60). The absence of manifoldand
complex ideas arisingfromreflectionon sensorystimulationis a recurrenttheme in
discussions on the savage:
Negroes'seemunableto combineideas,orpursuea chainofreasoning'.
(Long,1774,in
Jahoda,1999,p. 55)
Victorwas 'deprived... ofall thosesimpleand complexideaswhichreceivefromeduca-
tion,andwhicharecombinedin ourmindsin so manydifferent ways,bymeansonlyof
ourknowledge ofsigns'.(Itard,1972a,p. 99)
The ruraldwellers[ofBrittany] in complexthoughts
are moredeficient thanare the
Mohicansand theredskinsof theAmericannorth... (Balzac Les Chouans,quotedin
2003,p. 485; author'stranslation)
Williams,

The savage was closer to nature,whetherbrutishor noble-nature being the antith-

esis of civilisation;thatwhich must be subordinated and harnessed, individuallyand
globally (Gay, 1977). In this putative propinquityto the natural world we find a
furtherreason why'savage' was applied equally to the feralchild, those who laboured
on the soil and animalisticprimitivetribes.
What we have, then, is a constellationof views about whether,and the extentto
which,physiologyand capacity forcivilisationare immutable fordifferent races and
individuals. What the domestic and exotic savage share, however, is the common
characteristicof deficitin refinedand complex ideas, which are the foundationsof
civil being. In the case of the asocial idiot, this is a more or less permanent state of
affairs;forthe pre-social peasant, it is fromthe want of proper education; while for
the exotic savage or the lunatic, opinion on mutabilitywas more divided. Unsurpris-
ingly,perhaps, proponents of scientificpedagogy were more likelyto emphasise a
common and educable human nature (forexample, Poole, 1825). All are solitary;if
not always in the sense of physical isolation, then in the lack or impoverishmentof
theirsocial relations.
Yousef (2001) contrasts Rousseau's natural man-'isolated and autonomous'
(p. 245)-with the savage who is 'sociable' and the animal, lacking the potential for
the qualities of civilisedman. For Yousef, the 'isolation' of the natural man pertains
to development in the absence of other men. However, the 'sociability' ascribed to
savage tribes by Rousseau and others is really no more than the gregariousnessof
animals. Even in the presence of others,the savage is not a regardedas a social being.
Rousseau explicitlyidentifiessolitude as a definingcharacteristicof the savage, and
uses thatword to referto primitivetribesin Africaand the Americas as well as to the
physicallyisolated. The feral child and the primitivetribesmanmay be in different
states,but theyare both states of nature,not states of society.
Itard's pedagogical endeavours are of particularrelevancehere both in termsof the
symbolic as well as the practical role that education is made to play as the bridge

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 Education,colonialismand idiocy 567

between the savage and moral man-embodied in the actual transformationof the
savage into Victor. One of Itard's principalsources of support forhis methods were
the precepts of moraltreatment,as expounded by Francis Willis, Alexander Crichton
and Philippe Pinel in the treatmentof insanity.Indeed, the education of the savage
was itselfhis moralisation:

To attachhim to social life,by renderingit morepleasantto him thanthatwhichhe was

thenleading ... [And to] extendthe sphereofhis ideas, by givinghimnew wants,and by
increasingthe number of his relationsto the objects surroundinghim. (Itard, 1972a,
p. 102)

One ofthemethodsemployedbyItardto harnessthedesiresofVictorwas to repeat

enjoyedactivitiesin orderto 'converta pleasureinto a want' (1972a, p. 113); for
example,on finding thattheboyenjoyedan outingto a tavernfora meal.Beforelong
theactivity ceasedto be a pleasurabletreatand Victorbecamedepressedand agitated
whenitwas withheld.
Each ofItard'sobjectiveswarrants a fullexploration,
pregnantas theyarewithall
ofthethemesofthispaper.However,we shalllimitourselvesto a fewkeyobserva-
tions.First,Itard'sapproachshowsclearconsonancewithRousseau's methodthat
thepupilbe led to see theadvantagesofcitizenship intermsofself-interest. Itarddoes
not oppose thesavageboy's naturalinclinations; instead,thesewillbe harnessedin
theprocessofhis moralisation. In thecase ofVictor,theaffinity withnaturalevents
and phenomenais obviouslymorehighly developedthanwithEmileorwouldbe with
otherchildren.Nonetheless,thetargetremainsto securethepre-socialdesiresand to
channelthemtowardscitizenship. Second,thereis theself-evident superiorityofcivil
lifeoverthesavageexistence,whichis matchedby colonialattitudestowardssavage
tribeswhowouldhaveto civiliseor perish(see, forexample,Kriegleder, 2000). The
Jesuits tookseriously whattheysaw as theirobligations to protectindigenouspeoples
fromthemoreruthlesstreatment at thehandsoffinancially motivatedcolonisers.In
South Americatheydevelopedtheirsystemof reducci6nes; settlements in which
nativeswould gainprotectionat the priceof submission(Greer,2000). Third,the
pedagogicalapproachis heavilyrootedin physiology and theeducationofthewhole
body,a pointthatwouldbecomeespeciallyimportant inthetreatment ofidiocy;Itard
comments'thatsensibility is in exactproportion to thedegreeofcivilization' (1972a,
p. 105). Fourth,Itardaimsat thecreationand harnessing ofdesireas a pedagogical
socialisinginstrument. It is perhapsthe most crucialobjective,and difficulties in
accomplishing it are citedas hindering the progressof the intelligenceand civility.
There are to be twoimportant partsto achievingthisobjective;firstly,constructing
the desiresof the subjectand, secondly,establishingthe positionof the subject
relativeto thenaturaland social world.The subjectis thusconstructed in bothhis
internaland externalrelations.
Itardconcludeshisfirst reporton theeducationofthesavageofAveyron bynoting
thatin the 'purestateofnature',isolatedand withan intellectstilllargelydormant,
manis inferior to manyanimals.It is onlywithinandbymeansofcivilisation thatman
is able to riseabove thismiserablestate,and by 'civilisation' is meanttheperpetual

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568 M. K. Simpson

developmentofmind,primarilythroughimitationand the quest fornew experiences.

The power forsuch developmentwanes with age and, consequently,the importance
of effectivepedagogy in childhood is paramount, multiplyingwants, increasingthe
mental capacitynecessaryto secure them. So, while Rousseau and Itard differin their
assessments of the natural state of man, whethernoble or brutish,civil society is at
least a necessarystate of being formodern man, and his education while stilla child
is the only means of preparingthe body and mind thatwill fithim to live in it.
Civilisation, then, stands in a multiple relationshipto education: it provides the
means, creates the need and constitutes a condition of possibility of education
simultaneously. It is the means of education in so far as the experience of social
mostnotably,it is onlyin the context
beingis itselfone of thegreatestinstructors;
of society that the intellectualfaculties,and particularlythe power of speech, can
fully develop. This was manifested in the savage's state of mental stultification
before his education, '... civilizationawoke the intellectual faculties of our savage
from their lethargy...' (Itard, 1972b, p. 168; emphasis added). In addition, Itard
accounts for the failure of his charge to spontaneously discover behaviours that
would allow him to channel his growingsexual urges. The harmonious connection
between human desires and sexual emotions is only 'the fortunatefruitof man's
education'(Itard,1972b,p. 178). It is onlyin thecontextofsocietythatthehigher
feelingscan develop at all; 'sadness, [forexample, is] an emotion belonging entirely
to a civilized man' (Itard, 1972b, p. 171). Lack of any social stimulus,particularly
duringthe developmental period, resultsin a kind of idiocy by sensorydeprivation,
even in the absence of organic lesion. In this firstsense, the termseducation, civili-
sation and moral treatmentare entirelysynonymous.In the second instance, civili-
sation also creates the need for education, the need for new civil subjects to
maintain and progressit. This aspect is manifestin the preceding discussions. The
savage does not develop the higher intellectual and moral functions in the wild
preciselybecause he has no need of them.Lastly,it is onlyin the contextof civil
societythat it becomes possible to conceive of the man as an unnatural occurrence,
as somethingto be moulded and produced fromnature's clay, the child. From the
modern, disciplined citizen, more is demanded than fear and obedience. Modern
societydemands the active participationof subjects in theirown subjection, practic-
ing civilityas though it were instinctual.

The pedagogical treatment of idiocy

Contemporaneous with Itard's work was a radical conceptual rupturein theoriesof

evolution and racial variation.The linearframeworksof developmentoutlined above
explode into the branchinggenealogical economies of biology and evolution,paving
the way for the evolutionarytheories of Darwin (Foucault, 1970). Indeed, by the
middle of the nineteenth century,theories on the inequalities of the races were
rejecting any notion that all races and societies are or ever could be on the same
developmental trajectory(for example, Galton, 1869; de Gobineau, 1970). In their
place were theoriespredicated on natural selection (Darwin, 1930).

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 Education,colonialismand idiocy 569

Itard's work straddles this divide. As Rose notes, Itard's work crosses-indeed,
creates-the thresholdat which modern psychologycan trulybe said to exist (Rose,
1985). The wild boy of Aveyronwas by no means the firstferalchild to have been
discovered in Europe in the nineteenthcenturyand to have aroused considerable
public interest(Newton, 2002). What made this case different was the way in which
effortsto educate him were based on systematicand rigorousobservation,experimen-
tation and measurement.
Nonetheless, the conceptual frameworkis stillinfluencedby the legacy of classical
notionsoflineardevelopment.Opinionwas dividedas to whetherthefailurein the
experimentwithVictorwas due to lack of progressin scientific
pedagogy,as Itard
believed, or the congenital idiocy of the boy, as others believed (Esquirol, 1965).
However, what was not seriouslycalled into question was thatthe differencebetween
the savage and the civil man was education, unless there be some qualitative
pathological reason forfailureto develop (i.e. idiocy).
His effortswere, however, to undergo a radical reappraisal by a young protege,
Edouard Seguin. Taking the view that Itard's charge had been an idiot fromthe
outset, Seguin began to reassess the success of Itard's methods, which,ifVictorwas
indeed an idiot,was remarkable.Seguin set about perfectinga systemof experimental
pedagogical treatmentfor idiots in the same experimentaltraditionthat Itard had
established (Seguin, 1866).
Seguin's workprovides anothernode in the complex: the introductionofbiological
defect. Kliewer and Fitzgerald (2001) discuss the ideological dilemma for Europe
engaged in colonisationacross the globe; namely,havingto account forthe deformed
and enfeebled at home in the face of a colonial discourse premised on the European
as more perfectand godly.It is withinthisideological lacuna, theyargue,thatmodern
discourses of disabilitydevelop. Increasingly,the conquest ofthe naturalworld meant
that the savage became less of a threatand more of a challenge of governance. The
savage, the pauper, the cripple, the idiot, they argue, all signifiedthe fundamental
problem of sloth. The effortsof Seguin and contemporarypedagogues was both a
response to and a cementingof the connections between learningand liberty,most
especially the 'contract' of humane confinementforthe inabilityto become normal,
self-governing and self-sufficient.
Seguin produced the firstsystematicallyexpounded theoryof education foridiot
children.Althoughthereis neitherthe space nor advantage in outliningthe method
here, thereare a number of featuresthat are important.The method derived empiri-
cal and theoreticalsupport from a number of quarters-most importantlyphysiol-
ogy-in addition to those already mentioned: Itard, Rousseau and the exponents of
moral treatment.Seguin's method ofpedagogicaltreatment both targetedand utilised
the whole body. Idiocy came to be redefinedas pathologyof normalbodily function-
ing and not simplyan organic impairment.The corollaryto thisview was a method
that aimed at invigoratingthe torpidwill,nervous and muscular systemsof the idiot.
There are many points in Seguin's systemof physiologicaleducation that derive
some degree of influencefromItard. Principal among these, forthis paper at least,
are, firstly,the development of a systemof experimentalpedagogy that targetsthe

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570 M. K. Simpson

body in orderto educate the mind. For Seguin thisis relatedto anotherpivotal
move-namely,the conceptualdiffusion of idiocythroughout thebody-regarding it
notsimplyas locatedinthebrainormind(see,forexample,Seguin,1976). Secondly,
we havethemedicalisation ofpedagogy.Thirdly,bothsharetheview,establishedfor
themostpartbyRousseau(forexample,Rousseau,1973a, 1991), thateducationwas
a processof producingcitizens;'a constantascensionon the steps leadingfrom
isolationto sociability'(Seguin,1866,p. 209).
The firsttwo of thesepointsare closelyinterlinked. In additionto the already
mentionedcontextualpoints mentioned,Itard's work also takes place against
backgroundshiftsin westernmedicine(Lesch, 1984) towardsphysiology, infusing
the inertanatomicalbodywithtime,lifeand movement.The physiological turnin
medicinewas profoundly important for the pedagogicalsystems of both Itard and
Seguin. Both emphasisedthe stimulation and harnessingof the functionalsystems
of the body; forSeguin,however,it was to prove even more significant. By the
timeSeguinproducedthe seminaliterationof his systemin 1866, physiology not
only lay at the heartof the treatment of idiocy,but idiocyitselfhad come to be
redefinedas a physiologicaldisorder.The physiologicalmethodwas, therefore,
morethanmerelya systemforthe educationof idiots,it was a directtherapeutic
intervention on idiocyitself(Simpson,1999). Also, in keepingwiththe develop-
ment of a specificallymedicalscience, the physiologicalinstitutionadvances
knowledgeprimarily throughclinicalcase data. Even the institution's teachershad
the dutyplaced upon themby Seguinto recordobservations on the childreneach
day. In thiswaythe scientific pedagogyand treatment of idiocywould advanceby
the dissemination of clinicaldata and the 'repeatedtestsof experience'(Seguin,
1866,p. 278).
These pointsare bestillustrated in Seguin'sconceptofthe 'psycho-physiological
circulus'.The idiotbodyis sluggishandinsensitive. As a resultitprovidesbutill-nour-
ishmentforthemindin termsofthesensorypabulumneededto formthoughtsand
purposiveaction.The physiological method,therefore, aimsto stimulatethebody's
musclesand sensesso as to energisethesenses,floodingthemindwithstimuli,and
bringthe errantbody underthe controlof the mind. This producesa cyclethat
underpins Seguin's method: sensory stimulation-reception-apperception-will-
action-sensory stimulation, and so forth.
The medico-pedagogical constructionofcitizensalso linksthesavageand theidiot
to moraltreatment, whichpermeatesSeguin'ssystemjustat it did forItard's(Kraft,
1961). As withthealienistswhopioneeredit (Pinel,1962; Tuke, 1996), moraltreat-
mentdoes not merely,or evenprincipally, implya 'humane'or 'kindly'approach;
neitherdoes it referto the moralityof the physicianor educator.Moral treatment
emphasisesthe social relations of the subject as the primarytargetof treatment
(Foucault,1965); indeed,itis theprocessoftheirsubjectionand subjectification: 'the
systematic actionofa willupon another, in view of itsimprovement' (Seguin,1866,
p. 214). The rationaleof the moralmethodis quite clearforits proponents;it is
proposed forreasonsof its effectiveness, ratherthan its ethicality(Scull, 1989).
Seguin reiterates
the same objectiveof the 'moralisation' oftheidiot.

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 Education,colonialismand idiocy 571

Anotherfeatureof the discourse on the savage of Aveyronthatis also worthnoting

is the familiarconnection between the savage state, social being and solitude. The
idiot came to be identifiedwiththose unable to be educated by virtueof intellectual
defector deficiency.The idiot was stillthe idiotes,the solitary;socially cut offby the
failingsof his body; unable to followthe developmentalpath to civilisation.The idiot
was not uneducable because idiotic, but idiotic because uneducable. The idiot was
one who proved unable to become disciplined,at least by means ofthe normalinstru-
mentsofsocialisation.
The savage,however,had fadedfromthelexiconofidiocy.The fragmentation of
theoriesofsocial and racialevolution,unencumbered bythelinearsequentialism of
theeighteenth century,reliedlessand lesson explanations ofsocialand environmen-
tal learningto accountforhumandiversity. Social relationsamongthe uncivilised
differ morein kindthanin quantity,and theanthropological studyoftheexoticother
splitsdecisivelyfromthepsychological studyof abnormality. That said, recapitula-
tiontheory-thebeliefthatthedevelopment oftheembryoin thewombfolloweda
similarevolutionaryline as the species of which it is a member (Borthwick,1994)-
leftopen the door forthe continuationof racial theoriesof idiocy. In Seguin's case,
idiocy constitutedan arrestedstate of development'analogous to the ... formsof the
lower animals' (1866, p. 40). This opens the way forothereven more sinisterstrate-
gies and conclusions, such as Gobineau's stark conclusions about the intrinsic
inequalityof races (de Gobineau, 1970).

Conclusion
The connections between the colonial attitude and the formationof the modern
discourse on idiocy were several, although largely indirect. First, as Kliewer and
Fitzgerald (2001) observed, thereis a directlink between the discourse of colonial-
ism abroad and internalregulationof deviants at home (i.e. by standingin apparent
exception to the position that ought to occupy by birthin the racial hierarchy).In
the case of idiocy, theirimpassivityto the normal scholastic techniques of disciplin-
ary control implied two things.Firstly,theyhad to be constructedpathologically-
indeed, it had to become possible to even speak of them.Secondly, they became
subject to a formof social contractthatguaranteed,howevernotionally,a basic level
of public provision in exchangefor the surrenderof liberty:a system of domestic
reducciones.
Second, the impact of popular and scientificinterestin the exotic uncivilised
peoples of the new worlds undoubtedlyshaped the conditionsthatmade Itard's work
of such relevance in EnlightenmentFrance. Observers looked to Itard's experiment
forclues to the developmentof a civilisingpedagogy at home and abroad. The savage
of Aveyron was directly analogous to the new world savage. This connection,
however,began to break down in the earlynineteenthcenturyas the linearmodels on
which theyrested began to give way. The residue of this attitude,however,remains
in the threadof Itard's workthatruns directlyinto thatof Seguin and the pedagogical
treatmentof idiocy. The education of idiots aims directlyat the stimulationof their

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572 M. K. Simpson

relationswiththe physicaland social world-it is a release fromthe putativesolitude

that definestheirverybeing.
This leads to a thirdconnection, which is that,even afterthe two discourses split
into ethnology and psychology and move in differentdirections, the 'civilising
impulse' at home, withchildrenand idiots, and abroad, among 'backward' colonised
nations, continued unabated. Education was firmlyestablished as the process of
transforming its targets-child, idiot, savage-into social subjects. Neither makes the
same assumptions about equality of potential,but each sees the objective of produc-
ing social beings, fittedforlife according to the demands of Eurocentric culture,as
an unquestionably necessary duty forteacher/coloniserand aspiration forthe child/
idiot/native.
Each stationshouldbe likea beaconon theroadtowardsbetter a centerfortrade
things,
ofcourse,butalsoforhumanizing, improving, (Conrad,1990,p. 29)
instructing.
A fourth pointofconnectionis themorecomplicatedone thatwe findin thefigure
of the savage. To begin with, the wild boy of Aveyronwas seen as paralleling the
uncivilisedpeoples of the new world. Subsequently, Seguin would reinterpretItard's
worktakingthe assumptionthatVictorwas afterall an idiot. This connectionis there-
foreone thatproduces a relationshipdefiningdifference,ratherthan similitude.The
constructionof the exotic savage, the domestic savage and the idiot were all linkedto
the project of constructingthe civilised,white,European man.
In this sense the savage and the idiot share much in common withthose placed at
the boundaries by the Enlightenment,such as women, children and criminals; in
being constructedas Other,theirown voices are silenced (cf. Spivak, 2003). They are
spoken foras well as about: 'The Other is silenced becauseshe is Other' (Kitzinger&
Wilkinson, 1996, p. 10). Certainly,these eventsmarkthe beginningof a long silence
forpeople withintellectual
disabilities.However,it seemsequallyclearthatneither
the idiot nor the savage had a voice priorto the point of theirconstructionqua idiot
and savage preciselybecause to take any otherview would lead us into the paradox of
retrospectively incorporatingvoices into the Other anachronistically.
Finally,we should note that there are of course many other aspects to the raciali-
sation of idiocythatwould come later: Carl Vogt's positingof the idiot as the 'missing
link'betweennegro and ape (Jahoda, 1999); JohnLangdon Down's racial typography
of idiocy (Down, 1866; Kevles, 2004; Wright,2004), and perhaps most significantly,
eugenics (for example, Karier, 1976; Trent, 1994). What this paper has demon-
strated are some of the ways in which complex interconnectionsbetween race,
empire,education and idiocy can produce concepts and practicesthatleave a residue
of imperialistthinking,even when the question of empire itselfbecomes silenced.

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