Pierre Bourdieu, Algeria and postcolonial sociology

on Pierre Bourdieu has recovered his early work on Algeria, this essay excavates his early thoughts on colonialism. Contrary to received wisdom, Bourdieu did offer a theory of colonialism and a systematic understanding of its effects and logics. Bourdieu portrayed colonialism as a racialized system of domination, backed by force, which restructures social relations and creates hybrid cultures. His theory entailed insights on the limits and promises of colonial reform, anticolonial revolution, and postcolonial liberation. Bourdieu’s early thinking on colonialism drew upon but extended French colonial studies of the time. It also contains the seeds of later concepts like habitus, field, and reflexive sociology while prefiguring more recent disciplinary postcolonial studies. Bourdieusian sociology in this sense is not just a study of Algeria but more specifically a critique of colonialism. It can be seen as contributing to the project of postcolonial sociology.

Keywords

Bourdieu, colonialism, postcolonialism, habitus, field

Received

28.05.2019

Publication date

28.05.2019

Number of characters

39496

Cite

GOST	Go J. Pierre Bourdieu, Algeria and postcolonial sociology // Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya – 2019. – Issue 4 C. 86-98 [Electronic resource]. URL: http://ras.jes.su/socis/s013216250004589-0-1-en (circulation date: 27.04.2024). DOI: 10.31857/S013216250004589-0
MLA	Go, Julian "Pierre Bourdieu, Algeria and postcolonial sociology." Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya 4 (2019):86-98. DOI: 10.31857/S013216250004589-0
APA	Go J. (2019). Pierre Bourdieu, Algeria and postcolonial sociology. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya (4), pp.86-98 DOI: 10.31857/S013216250004589-0

100 rub.

When subscribing to an article or issue, the user can download PDF, evaluate the publication or contact the author. Need to register.

Number of purchasers: 2, views: 2093

Readers community rating: votes 0

1. Alessandrini A.C. (2000) Humanism in Question: Fanon and Said. In: A Companion to Postcolonial Studies. Ed. by H. Schwarz, S. Ray. Malden, MA: Blackwell: 431–450.

2. Balandier G. (1957) L’Afrique ambiguë. Paris: Plon.

3. Balandier G. ([1951] 1966) The Colonial Situation: A Theoretical Approach. In: Social Change: the Colonial Situation, edited by I. Wallerstein. New York: Wiley and Sons: 34–61.

4. Blumer H. (1969) Symbolic Interactionism. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

5. Bourdieu P. (1958) Sociologie de l’Algérie. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.

6. Bourdieu P. (1959) Le choc des civilisations. In : Le Sous-Développement en Algérie. Algiers: Secrétariat social: 52–64.

7. Bourdieu P. ([1958] 1961) The Algerians. Boston: Beacon.

8. Bourdieu P. (1966) Champ intellectuel et projet créateur. Les Temps Modernes. 22: 865–906.

9. Bourdieu P. (1975) Les conditions sociales de la production sociologique: sociologie coloniale et décolonisation de la sociologie. In: Le Mal de Voir. Paris: Union Générale d’Éditions: 416–427.

10. Bourdieu P. (1977) Outline of a Theory of Practice. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Un-ty Press.

11. Bourdieu P. ([1963] 1979). Algeria 1960. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Un-ty Press.

12. Bourdieu P. (1984) Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

13. Bourdieu P. (1988) Homo Academicus. Cambridge, UK: Polity.

14. Bourdieu P. (1990a) The Logic of Practice. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford Un-ty Press.

15. Bourdieu P. (1990b) In Other Words: Essays towards a Reflexive Sociology. Stanford, CA: Stanford Un-ty Press.

16. Bourdieu P. (1998) Pour Abdelmalek Sayad. Annuaire del’Afrique du Nord 37: 9–12.

17. Bourdieu P. (2000) Entre amis. Awal 21: 5–10.

18. Bourdieu P. (2001) Foreword.”In: Uncivil war: Intellectuals and Identity Politics, edited by J. D. Le Sueur. Philadelphia: Un-ty of Pensilvania Press: IX–X.

19. Bourdieu P. (2003) Picturing Algeria. New York: Columbia Un-ty Press.

20. Bourdieu P. (2008a) Esquisses Algériennes. Paris: Seuil.

21. Bourdieu P. (2008b) Sketch for a Self-analysis. Chicago: Un-ty of Chicago Press.

22. Bourdieu P., Derbel A., Rivet J.-P., Seibel C. (1963) Travail et 16 travailleurs en Algérie. Paris: Mouton.

23. Bourdieu P., D. Robbins R. Gomme (2003) Colonialism and Ethnography: Foreword to P. Bourdieu’s. Travail et travailleurs en Algérie.”Anthropology Today 19: 12–8.

24. Bourdieu P., Sayad A. (1964) Le Déracinement. La Crise del’Agriculture Traditionnelle en Algérie. Paris: Minuit.

25. Césaire A. (1955) Discourse on Colonialism. New-York: Monthly Reviews.

26. Conklin A. (2002) The New ‘Ethnology’ and ‘La Situation Coloniale’ In: Interwar France. French Politics, Culture and Society 20: 29–46.

27. Connell R. (2007) Southern Theory. Cambridge: Polity Press.

28. Cooper F. (2002) Decolonizing Situations: The Rise, Fall and Rise of Colonial Studies, 1951–2001. French Politics, Culture and Society 20: 47–76.

29. Fanon F. ([1959] 1965) A Dying Colonialism. New York: Grove Press.

30. Fanon F. ([1952] 1967) Black Skin, White Masks. New York: Grove Press.

31. Fanon F. ([1961] 1968) The Wretched of the Earth. New York: Grove Press.

32. Gandhi L. (1998) Postcolonial Theory. New York: Columbia University Press.

33. Go J. (2016) Postcolonial Thought and Social Theory. New York: Oxford Un-ty Press.

34. Haddour A. (2010) Torture Unveiled: Rereading Fanon and Bourdieu in the Context of May 1958. Theory, Culture and Society. 27: 66–90.

35. Heilbron J. 2011. Practical Foundations of Theorizing in Sociology: The Case of Pierre Bourdieu. In: Social Knowledge in the Making, edited by C. Camic, N. Gross, M. Lamont. Chicago: Un-ty of Chicago Press: 181–205.

36. Lane C. (2002) Psychoanalysis and Colonialism Redux: Why Mannoni’s‘ Prospero Complex’ Still Haunts Us. Journal of Modern Literature 25: 127–50.

37. Leiris M. (1950) L’ethnographe devant le colonialisme. Les Temps Modernes 58: 83–112.

38. Le Sueur J.D. (2001) Uncivil War: Intellectuals and Identity Politics during the Decolonization of Algeria. Philadelphia: Un-ty of Pennsylvania Press.

39. Loyal S. (2009) The French in Algeria, Algerians in France: Bourdieu, Colonialismand Migration. The Sociological Review 57: 406–27.

40. Mannoni O. ([1950] 1964) Prospero and Caliban: The Psychology of Colonization. New York: Praeger.

41. Memmi A. ([1957] 1965) The Colonizer and the Colonized. Boston: Beacon.

42. Mignolo W.D. (2009) Epistemic disobedience, independent thought and decolonial freedom. Theory, Culture & Society. 26(7-8):159.

43. Redfield R., Linton R., Herskovits M.J. (1936) Memorandum for the Study of Acculturation. American Anthropologist. 38: 149–52.

44. Robbins B. (2005) The Origins, Early Development and Status of Bourdieu’s Concept of ‘Cultural Capital’. British Journal of Sociology. 56: 13–30.

45. Saada E. (2002) Regards Croisés: Transatlantic Perspectives on the Colonial Situation. French Politics, Culture and Society. 20: 1–3.

46. Said E. (1989) Representing the Colonized: Anthropology’s Interloctors. Critical Inquiry 15: 205–225.

47. Sallaz J.J., Zavisca J. (2007) “Bourdieu in American Sociology, 1980–2004.” Annual Review of Sociology 33: 21–41.

48. Sayad A. (2002) Histoire et Recherche Identitaire Saint-Denis, France: Bouchene.

49. Seibel C. (2004) Les liens entre Pierre Bourdieu et les statisticiens à partir de son expérience algérienne. In: La Liberté par la Connaissance: Pierre Bourdieu (1930-2002). Ed. by J. Bouveresse, D. Roche. Paris: Odile Jacob: 105–119.

50. Sorum P.C. (1977) Intellectuals and Decolonization in France. Chapel Hill: Un-ty of North Carolina Press.

51. Steinmetz G. (2011) Bourdieu, Historicity, and Historical Sociology. Cultural Sociology 5: 45–66.

52. Swartz D. (1997) Culture and Power: The Sociology of Pierre Bourdieu. Chicago: Un-ty of Chicago Press.

53. Tillion G. (1958) L’Algérie en 1957. Paris: Minuit.

54. Wacquant L. (1993) Bourdieu in America: Notes on the Transatlantic Importation of Social Theory. In: Bourdieu: Critical Perspectives. Ed. by C. Calhoun, E. LiPuma, M. Postone. Chicago: Un-ty of Chicago Press: 235–262.

55. Wacquant L. (2004) Following Pierre Bourdieu into the Field. Ethnography 5: 387–414.

56. Wilder G. (2003) Colonial Ethnology and Political Rationality in French West Africa. History and Anthropology 14: 219–52.

57. Yacine T., ed. (1990) Hommage à Mouloud Mammeri. Paris: Maison des Sciences de l’Homme.

58. Yacine T. (2003a) L’Algérie, matrice d’une oeuvre. In: Travailler avec Bourdieu. Ed. by P. Encrevé, R.M. Lagrave. Paris: Flammarion: 333–345.

59. Yacine T. (2003b) Du proletariat et de la paysannerie en Algérie. Pour une archéologie de la domination symbolique. In: L’Anthropologie du Maghreb selon Berque, Bourdieu, Geertz et Gellner. Ed. by L. Addi. Paris: Ibis Press: 179–193.

60. Yacine T. (2004) Pierre Bourdieu in Algeria At War: Notes on the Birth of an Engaged Ethnosociology. Ethnography. 5: 487–509.

61. Yacine T. (2005) Bourdieu et l’Algérie: La réception internationale de la pensée de P. Bourdieu. In: Le symbolique et le social, ed. by J. Dubois, P. Durand, Y. Winkin. Liège: l’Université de Liège: 33–51.

62. Yacine T. (2008a) Aux origines d’une ethnosociologie singulière. In: P. Bourdieu, Esquisses Algériennes. Ed. by T. Yacine. Paris: Seuil: 23–53

63. Yacine T. (2008b) Le projet éditorial. In Pierre Bourdieu, Esquisses Algériennes: 11–20.