Call for paper

Political Science and the Algerian War

Workshop, Friday, December 15, 2023

Working languages: English and French

To read the CFP in English

Organization:

• Sarah Gensburger, CNRS-Centre de Sociologie des Organisations (Sciences Po) : sarah.gensburger@sciencespo.fr

• Paul Max Morin, Cevipof (Sciences Po) - Université Nice Côte - d’Azur : paul.morin@sciencespo.fr

Background

The French colonization of Algeria (1830-1962), the Algerian War of Independence (1954-1962), and the exiles and migrations they engendered, have profoundly influenced the formation of contemporary France. Republican institutions, political families, French capitalism, the country's demographics, culture and even language were partly forged in these historical experiences.

The year 2022 marked the sixtieth anniversary of the end of the Algerian War of Independence and the colonization of Algeria. Parts of French society participated in the commemoration of the end of the conflict. In doing so, these actors produced a certain number of speeches, gestures, or public policies about the past. This time of memory was coupled with a political time that included this anniversary in an election year and ensured a strong presence of colonization and the Algerian War in the media.

The presidential election thus highlighted the way in which the position of the conflict, and more broadly of colonization, was considered by a part of the political class as a partisan marker and an electoral argument. Here, the relationship between the memory of the Algerian War and politics is thought to be a tool of cleavage and clientelism.

Submissions :

Submissions must be sent, in French or English, before June 1er 2023. They should be two pages long and should specify the problematic, the methodology, the data, material or archives used and the main conclusions as well as a presentation of about ten lines of the researcher(s). A response will be given at the beginning of July 2023.