Laurent Fourchard, historian and political scientist, is a Research Professor at the National Foundation for Political Science. He holds a Ph.D. in history from the University of Paris 7 and a Habilitation (HDR) in political science from Sciences Po. 

Laurent Fourchard works at the intersection of history, political sociology and comparative urban studies. He focuses on policing, state at work, criminal organizations, trade unions, the political uses of public space. In his last book (Wiley, 2021), he articulates historical and ethnographic methods to retrace the genealogy of exclusion, classification and policing in popular neighborhoods in Nigeria and South Africa. He has explored the uses of autochthony and xenophobia in bureaucratic relations. He is currently working on a book on a transport organization - considered as a "mafia” - the larger trade union in Nigeria, a central player in electoral politics and the main organization in transport regulation. Attentive to history as a cause, he is coordinating a research group with Greg Mann (Columbia University) on subaltern historicities in Africa.

Laurent Fourchard was Director of the French Institute for Research in Africa (IFRA) in Nigeria (2000-2003) and visiting scholar at the University of Cape Town (2008-2009), University of Turin (2021), Columbia (2022) and Oxford (2023). Member of section 40 of the CNRS (2016-2019), he is or has been a member of the editorial boards of the following journals: Africa, Journal of African History, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Politique africaine and Sources.

Laurent Fourchard is currently working on a book on a transport organization - considered as a "mafia” - the larger trade union in Nigeria, a central player in electoral politics and the main organization in transport regulation.

• « Introduction à la science politique : module Afrique ». 1^st year. Lecture. Campus de Reims. Sciences Po.

• « Governing the Large Metropolis in Africa ». 4^th year Master Governing the Large Metropolis. Ecole Urbaine de Sciences Po.

• Laurent Fourchard. They Eat Our Sweat - new book exposes daily struggles of transport workers in Lagos. The Conversation France, 2023. ⟨hal-05250559⟩
• Laurent Fourchard. In the Shadow of the State: the Making of Garage Laws in Lagos. Swiss Journal of Sociocultural Anthropology / Revue Suisse d'Anthropologie Sociale et Culturelle, 2023, 29, pp.85-101. ⟨10.36950/sjsca.2023.29.8905⟩. ⟨hal-04337409⟩
• Laurent Fourchard. Compte rendu "They Eat our Sweat: Transport Labor, Corruption, and Everyday Survival in Urban Nigeria". Politique africaine, 2023, n° 169, pp.170-172. ⟨10.3917/polaf.169.0170⟩. ⟨hal-04402680⟩
• Laurent Fourchard. Comparative Urban Studies and African Studies at the Crossroads: From the Colonial Situation to Twilight Institutions. Patrick Le Galès and Jennifer Robinson (eds). The Routledge Handbook of Comparative Global Urban Studies, Routledge, pp.58-72, 2023, 9780367254667. ⟨10.4324/9780429287961-5⟩. ⟨hal-04267794⟩
• Laurent Fourchard, Azeez Kayode Sikiru. The 2023 Cashless Election in Nigeria: The Politics of Withdrawing Money. African Affairs, 2023, 122 (488), 17 p. ⟨10.1093/afraf/adad019⟩. ⟨hal-04200862⟩
• Laurent Fourchard. Expanding profit and power. The National Union of Road Transport Workers in Nigeria. Revue canadienne d'études du développement / Canadian Journal of Development Studies, 2022, en ligne, 16 p. ⟨10.1080/02255189.2022.2132924⟩. ⟨hal-03882817⟩
• Laurent Fourchard. Domination et action policière au Nigeria et en Afrique du Sud. Jean-Pierre Grossein et Béatrice Hibou (dir.). Travailler avec Max Weber, Éditions de la Maison des sciences de l'homme, pp.195-222, 2022, Collection 54, 9782735128907. ⟨hal-03722193⟩
• Laurent Fourchard, Odile Goerg. Par-delà le colonial : repenser l’urbain depuis l’Afrique. Histoire urbaine, 2022, 2022/2 (N° 63), pp.5-20. ⟨10.3917/rhu.063.0007⟩. ⟨hal-03691069⟩
• Laurent Fourchard, Odile Goerg. Repenser l’urbain depuis l’Afrique. Histoire urbaine, 2022/2 (N° 63), 184 p., 2022. ⟨hal-03691066⟩
• Laurent Fourchard. Undocumented citizens and the making of ID documents in Nigeria: an ethnography of the politics of suspicion in Jos. African Affairs, 2021, 120 (481), pp.511-541. ⟨10.1093/afraf/adab022⟩. ⟨hal-03431358⟩
• Laurent Fourchard. Historicités en dispute. Généalogies et usages au prisme des études africaines. Politique africaine, 2021, 2021/1-2 (161-162), pp.119 - 137. ⟨10.3917/polaf.161.0119⟩. ⟨hal-03380830⟩
• Laurent Fourchard, Nora Bardelli. Bureaucracy and the politics of identification in Nigeria. Issuing certificates of indigene and investigating citizens' ancestral origins. Séverine Awenengo Dalberto; Richard Banegas. Identification and Citizenship in Africa. Biometrics, the Documentary State and Bureaucratic Writings of the Self, Routledge, pp.185 - 202, 2021, 9781003053293. ⟨hal-03283915⟩
• Laurent Fourchard. Classify, Exclude, Police: Urban Lives in South Africa and Nigeria. Wiley, 304 p., 2021, IJURR Studies in Urban and Social Change Book Series, 9781119582656. ⟨hal-03283909⟩
• Laurent Fourchard. Compte rendu de 'Contradictions of Democracy: Vigilantism and Rights in Post-Apartheid South Africa'. Politique africaine, 2020, 2020/3 (159), pp.196 - 198. ⟨hal-03366764⟩
• Laurent Fourchard. Vigilantismus, kollektive Gewalt und urbaner Wandel in sozial benachteiligten Bezirken von Kapstadt (Südafrika) und Ibadan (Nigeria). Fabien Jobard; Daniel Schönpflug. Politische Gewalt im urbanen Raum, De Gruyter Oldenbourg, pp.119 - 142, 2019, 9783110658354. ⟨hal-03381075⟩
• Laurent Fourchard. Crime and Illegal Work. Stephano Bellucci; Andreas Eckert. General Labour History of Africa. Workers, Employers and Governments, 20th-21st Centuries, Boydell & Brewer Publishers, pp.361 - 378, 2019, 9781847012180. ⟨hal-03381110⟩
• Laurent Fourchard. Sur les travers d’une entreprise mémorielle. Politique africaine, 2019, 152 (décembre 2018), pp.165 - 175. ⟨10.3917/polaf.152.0165⟩. ⟨hal-03393712⟩
• Laurent Fourchard. Why Homes Still Matter: Thoughts on Mamphela Ramphele’s A Bed Called Home. James Williams; Felicitas Hentschke. To be at Home. House, Work, and Self in the Modern World, Verlag Walter de Gruyter, pp.242 - 252, 2019, 9783110582765. ⟨hal-03393704⟩
• Laurent Fourchard. Citoyens d’origine contrôlée au Nigeria. Genèses. Sciences sociales et histoire, 2018, 112, pp.58 - 80. ⟨10.3917/gen.112.0058⟩. ⟨hal-03399599⟩
• Laurent Fourchard. État de littérature. Critique Internationale, 2018, 78, pp.169 - 186. ⟨10.3917/crii.078.0169⟩. ⟨hal-03413608⟩
• Laurent Fourchard. Trier, exclure et policer : Vies urbaines en Afrique du Sud et au Nigeria. Presses de Sciences Po, pp.365, 2018, Gouvernances, 9782724623208. ⟨halshs-02169253⟩
• Laurent Fourchard. Engagements sécuritaires et féminisation du vigilantisme en Afrique du Sud. Politix, 2016, 2016/3 (115), pp.57 - 78. ⟨10.3917/pox.115.0057⟩. ⟨hal-03399751⟩
• Béatrice Hibou, Boris Samuel, Laurent Fourchard (Dir.). The Spirits of Neoliberal Reforms and Everyday Politics of the State in Africa. Béatrice Hibou; Boris Samuel; Laurent Fourchard. Amalion Publishing, pp.208, 2016, 9782359260670. ⟨hal-02179893⟩
• Laurent Fourchard, Aurelia Segatti. Xenophobic Violence and the Manufacture of Difference in Africa: Introduction to the Focus Section. International Journal of Conflict and Violence, 2016, 9 (1), pp.4-11. ⟨10.4119/ijcv-3064⟩. ⟨hal-03469956⟩
• Laurent Fourchard, Aurelia Segatti. Of xenophobia and citizenship: the politics of exclusion and inclusion in Africa. Laurent Fourchard; Aurelia Segatti. Africa [Journal of the International African Institute / Journal de l'Institut Africain International], 85 (1), pp.151, 2015. ⟨hal-03399266⟩
• Laurent Fourchard. Discutant de Ibrahima Thioub, Histoire du Sénégal ou histoire des Sénégalais. Conférence du Fasopo Genre et citoyenneté organisée par Jean-François Bayart, 2015, Paris, France. ⟨hal-02636371⟩
• Laurent Fourchard. Participation à la table ronde T11/ Dynamiques internes et impact régional de Boko Haram au Nigeria. 6e Conférence européenne des études africaines (ECAS 2015) Mobilisations collectives en Afrique : contestations, résistances et révoltes, Université Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne, 2015, Paris, France. ⟨hal-02629010⟩
• Laurent Fourchard. Temporalités du vigilantisme et maintien de l’ordre en Afrique du Sud , Section Thématique 53 : Violer la loi pour maintenir l’ordre ? Approches comparées du vigilantisme/ Breaking the Law to Maintain Public Order? Vigilantism in a Comparative Perspective, Axe 2 : “Supplétifs ou rivaux ? Vigilantisme et maintien de l’ordre”. 13e Congrès de l’Association française de science politique, 2015, Aix en Provence, France. ⟨hal-02629008⟩
• Laurent Fourchard. Les politiques d’exclusion xénophobe en Afrique. Colloque ANR Suds, Les enjeux du développement dans les Suds aujourd’hui, Ministère des Affaires étrangères et du Développement international, 2015, Paris, France. ⟨hal-02629007⟩
• Laurent Fourchard. Contester en situation autoritaire. Journée d’étude annuelle de la revue Politique africaine “Marges du politique en situation autoritaire”, CERI, 2015, Paris, France. ⟨hal-02627880⟩
• Laurent Fourchard, Hervé Maupeu. Entre community policing et travail milicien : essai de définition du vigilantisme à partir de terrains africains. Groupe de recherche et d’analyse du vigilantisme (GRAV), CERI, Sciences Po, 2015, Paris, France. ⟨hal-02627879⟩
• Laurent Fourchard. Transformation urbaine et violence sociale au Nigeria et en Afrique du Sud. Colloque Violences politiques en milieu urbain : perspectives européennes et mondiales, Cesdip, Centre Marc Bloch et Institüt für Socialforschung (11-13 février ,2015), 2015, Hambourg, Allemagne. ⟨hal-02627878⟩
• Laurent Fourchard. Producing Certificates of Origins and Implementing Legal Discrimination in Nigeria. Colloquium on the Future of Legal Identity, Civil registration, Centre for Development, La Haye, et Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research (21-24 avril 2015), 2015, Johannesburg, South Africa. ⟨hal-02627876⟩
• Laurent Fourchard, Aurelia Segatti. Introduction of Xenophobia and Citizenship: the Everyday Politics of Exclusion and Inclusion in Africa. Africa [Journal of the International African Institute / Journal de l'Institut Africain International], 2015, Of Xenophobia and Citizenship. The Politics of Exclusion and Inclusion in Africa, 85 (1), pp.2-12. ⟨10.1017/S0001972014000746⟩. ⟨halshs-01251641⟩
• Laurent Fourchard. Une histoire à contretemps. Questions internationales, 2015, L’Afrique du Sud. Une émergence en question, 71, pp.10-23. ⟨halshs-01251691⟩
• Laurent Fourchard. Bureaucrats and Indigenes: Producing and Bypassing Certificates of Origin in Nigeria. Africa [Journal of the International African Institute / Journal de l'Institut Africain International], 2015, Of Xenophobia and Citizenship. The Politics of Exclusion and Inclusion in Africa, 85 (1), pp.36-57. ⟨10.1017/S0001972014000734⟩. ⟨halshs-01251683⟩
• Laurent Fourchard, Aurelia Segatti. Of Xenophobia and Citizenship. The Politics of Exclusion and Inclusion in Africa. Africa [Journal of the International African Institute / Journal de l'Institut Africain International], 85 (1), 2015. ⟨halshs-01250384⟩
• Laurent Fourchard. The Bureaucratization of Autochthony: Producing and Bypassing Certificates of Indigenes in Nigeria. The Politics of Xenophobic Exclusion: Mobilisations, Local Orders and Violence, Dec 2013, Cambridge, Royaume-Uni. ⟨halshs-00938677⟩
• Laurent Fourchard. Conférence inaugurale du programme européen, Capacity Building in Higher Education for an Improved Cooperation between the European Union and South Africa in the Field of Development Studies. Kick off meeting of EUSA_ID, Oct 2013, Bordeaux, France. ⟨halshs-00936837⟩
• Laurent Fourchard. La gestion des migrations de retour, un paramètre négligé de la grille d'analyse de la crise malienne. Politique africaine, 2013, 130, pp.47-68. ⟨10.3917/polaf.130.0047⟩. ⟨halshs-00875352⟩
• Laurent Fourchard. Providing Security for the Urban Poor in Nigeria and South Africa : Informalisation and Institutionalization of the Local Economy of Protection. Reconsidering Policing in Africa Conference, May 2013, Oxford, United Kingdom. ⟨halshs-00910234⟩
• Laurent Fourchard. Mobilisations contre le gangstérisme et production d'une communauté morale coercitive en Afrique du Sud. European Journal of Turkish Studies. Social Sciences on Contemporary Turkey, 2013, 15, en ligne s.p. ⟨halshs-00875345⟩
• Laurent Fourchard. La cour des notables : naissance d'un espace politique (années 1920-1950). Katja Werthmann ; Mamadou Lamine Sanogo. La ville de Bobo-Dioulasso au Burkina Faso. Urbanité et appartenances en Afrique de l'Ouest, Karthala Paris, pp.109-132, 2013, Hommes et sociétés, ISBN : 9782811107987. ⟨halshs-00841461⟩
• Julie Berg, Rufus Akinyele, Laurent Fourchard, Kees van Der Waal, Michellene Williams. Contested social orders: negotiating urban security in Nigeria and South Africa. Simon Bekker ; Laurent Fourchard. Governing Cities in Africa, Politics and Policies, HSRC Press Pretoria, pp.224, 2013, 978-07969-2416-2. ⟨halshs-00841793⟩
• Laurent Fourchard. Prêt sur gage et traite des femmes au Nigeria, fin 19ème - années 1950. Bénédicte Lavaud-Legendre. Prostitution nigériane, entre rêves de migration et réalité de la traite, Éditions Karthala, pp.15 - 32, 2013, Hommes et sociétés, 9782811109455. ⟨hal-03473917⟩
• Claire Bénit-Gbaffou, Alain Dubresson, Laurent Fourchard, Karine Ginisty, Sylvy Jaglin, et al.. Exploring the role of party politics in the governance of African cities. Simon Bekker; Laurent Fourchard. Governing Cities in Africa : Politics and Policies, HSRC Press, pp.14-41, 2013, 978-07969-2416-2. ⟨hal-02779300⟩
• Laurent Fourchard, Simon Bekker (Dir.). Governing Cities in Africa. Laurent Fourchard; Simon Bekker. HSRC Press, pp.224, 2013, 9780796924162. ⟨hal-01499507⟩
• Laurent Fourchard, Claire Bénit-Gbaffou, Alex Wafer. Local politics and the circulation of community security initiatives in Johannesburg. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 2012, 35 (5), pp.936-957. ⟨halshs-00761434⟩
• Laurent Fourchard. Security and party politics in Cape Town. Geoforum, 2012, 43 (1), pp.199-206. ⟨halshs-00704940⟩
• Laurent Fourchard. « Enfants en danger » et « enfants dangereux ». Politix, 2012, 2012/3 (99), pp.177 - 199. ⟨10.3917/pox.099.0177⟩. ⟨hal-03579677⟩
• Laurent Fourchard. Lagos. Göran Therborn; Simon Bekker. Power and powerless. Capital cities in Africa, HSRC Press, pp.66 - 83, 2012, 9780796923509. ⟨hal-03461320⟩