Picturing Algeria 9780231148429, 0231148429

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ICTURING

I

.LGER.IA

PIERRE BOURDIEU FOREWORD BY CRAIG CALHOUN

“In this book, we are introduced to Pierre Bourdieu at the beginning of his career, and

through photographs more than words. The photographs come from Bourdieu’s years in Algeria during what became in the end the successful struggle for indepen­ dence from French colonial rule. They are accompanied by passages from his texts

about Algeria, but the images command the book. These images take us to a time of

great social drama amid wrenching social change. Many are memorable simply as W photographs. But they are also valuable as a source of insight into the formation of Bourdieu’s very distinctive and powerful intellectual perspective. They are not mere

illustrations but occasions for further thought.” ----FROM. THE FOREWORD BY CRAIG CALHOUN

ISBN:

17a-0-231-m8Sa-1

9 780231

48429

I SA SOLDI

THE FRENCH ARMY.

/ % Pierre Boi L photograp conditions and su

took thousands of

A

imination, grace, and dig: the Algerian people as they fought in the .Algerian War (1954-1962). Sympathizing ■A-.m. : se he was told to regard as enemies, - : ..rme a became deeply and permanently inernec Ji their struggle to overthrow French rule and the debilitations of poverty. ible to make sense of this wartime rdieu undertook the creation of a : - ethnographic-sociological science based :. .lis experiences—one that became synon modus with his wort and could explain the mem ar. ics of French colonial aggression and

This volume pairs 130 of Bourdieu’s photograplns with key excerpts from his related writings very few of which heretofore have been translated into English. Many of these images, lummous aesthetic objects in their own right, comment eloquendy on the ac­ companying words even as they are com­ mented upon by them. Bourdieu’s work set the standard 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,

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his role in transforming photography into a means for social inquiry, and the duty of the committed intellectual to participate in an in­ creasingly troubled world.

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PICTURING

ALGERIA

A COLUMBIAl SSRC BOOK

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS , NEW YORK

A COLUMBIA I SSRC BOOK

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