Research Catalog

Title

Violent modernity : France in Algeria / Abdelmajid Hannoum.

Author

Hannoum, Abdelmajid, 1960-

Publication

Cambridge, Mass. : Center for Middle Eastern Studies of Harvard University Press, c2010.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xii, 257 p.; 21 cm.

Summary

• In Violent Modernity: France in Algeria, Abdelmajid Hannoum examines the advent of political modernity in Algeria and shows how colonial modernity was not only a project imposed by violence, but also a violent project in and of itself, involving massive destruction and significant transformation of the population of Algeria. The author analyzes the relation between culture and events and demonstrates how the culture of violent modernity was generative of violent events, the most notorious and tragic of which were the spectacular mass killings of the 1990's, usually referred to as "the Algerian civil war." This, the author argues, cannot be explained without an understanding of colonial modernity.
• "It is truly a masterpiece in many ways. It certainly is the first (to my knowledge) to make sense of the colonial archives in such a way as to explain the horrific violence that Algeria has experienced in past decades. It is beautifully written-clear, astute, and narratively engaging."--Deborah Kapchan, New York University --Book Jacket.

Series Statement

Harvard Middle Eastern monographs ; 42

Uniform Title

Harvard Middle Eastern monographs 42.

Subject

• French > Algeria > History
• French > Algeria > Politics and government
• Kolonisierung
• Modernisierung
• Algeria > Colonization
• Algeria > Politics and government
• Algeria > Foreign relations > France
• France > Colonies > Administration. > Africa
• France > Foreign relations > Algeria
• France > Politics and government
• Algerien
• Frankreich

Genre/Form

History

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p. 230-248) and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Introduction -- Conquests and archives -- Translation and the Colonial imaginary -- Colonial violence and its narratives -- The historiographic state -- Coming round: transgression, sacrifice, and the nation.

ISBN

• 9780674053281
• 0674053281

LCCN

^^2009042529

OCLC

• 456169805
• SCSB-11085931

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library