Picturing Algeria (A Columbia / SSRC Book)

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Description

As a soldier in the French army, Pierre Bourdieu took thousands of photographs documenting the abject conditions and suffering (in addition to the resourcefulness, determination, grace, and dignity) of the Algerian people as they fought in the Algerian War (1954–1962). Sympathizing with those he used to be told to regard as “enemies,” Bourdieu became deeply and permanently invested in their struggle to overthrow French rule and the debilitations of poverty.

Upon realizing the inability of his education to make sense of this wartime reality, Bourdieu immediately undertook the creation of a new ethnographic-sociological science based on his experiences―one that became synonymous with his work over the following few decades and used to be capable of explaining the mechanics of French colonial aggression and the impressive, if curious, ability of the Algerians to withstand it.

This volume pairs 130 of Bourdieu’s photographs with key excerpts from his related writings, very few of which were translated into English. Many of these images, luminous aesthetic objects in their own right, comment eloquently on the accompanying words at the same time as they’re commented upon by them. Bourdieu’s work set the usual for all subsequent ethnographic photography and critique. This volume also features a 2001 interview with Bourdieu, in which he speaks to his experiences in Algeria, its significance on his intellectual evolution, his role in transforming photography into a means for social inquiry, and the duty of the committed intellectual to take part in an more and more troubled world.

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