Subverting the Empire's Thought from the Colony: How the South Shaped Social Theory

• In Event: 1250 - Social Science and Social Justice: Engagements Past, Present and Future

Abstract

This paper contributes to rewriting the history of postcolonial studies. It shows the emergence of a critical sociological thought under the fire of colonialism and well before what is known today as Postcolonial studies. It seeks to break with the assumption that establishes a division between social theory and postcolonial thought – as if the former one is based on an imperial unconscious and the other not. By analyzing Pierre Bourdieu’s work during the Algerian Liberation War against the French Empire, I show how a postcolonial critic founded an alternative social theory. I trace an unknown transnational collaboration between Bourdieu and scholars from Algeria (Abdelmalek Sayad and Mouloud Feraoun) and discuss his readings of scholars from other Colonies (Frantz Fanon and Albert Memmi), to show how his reflections went way beyond to think about Algerian colonial domination, and has provided us with tools to understand our postcolonial society.

Author

• Amin Perez, Universite du Quebec à Montreal