SAMIA HENNI: The French Counter-Revolutionary Architecture in 1950s Algeria

most interesting discussion with Samia Henni about her phd dissertation on “Architecture of Counterrevolution: The French Army in Algeria, 1954–1962.” so much of the architecture of french colonialism is instantly recognizable in wars/occupations conducted in vietnam, palestine, afghanistan and iraq. same exact MO.

Over the course of the Algerian Revolution (1954–1962), the French colonial civil and military authorities profoundly reorganized the vast territory of Algeria (France’s longest colonial presence in North Africa, which began in 1830), drastically transformed its built environments, and rapidly implanted new infrastructure and settlements across the country. In addition to the destructions of war, the colonial regime decreed a number of laws, orders, and directives for the evacuation of certain areas and the construction of new spaces to allow for the strict control of the Algerian population and the defense of the European population living in Algeria. The forced relocation of civilians and construction of settlements in rural and urban areas was a key factor in isolating the Algerian population from the influence of the liberation fighters, and in impeding the support and spread of the desire for independence (or of “contamination,” to use the French army’s technical term). This dissertation focuses on these resulting constructions and seeks to portray the modus operandi of French colonial planning and architecture during the bloody and protracted armed conflict, as well as that architecture’s roots, developments, scopes, actors, protocols, and design mechanisms. This study calls the involved infrastructures the “architecture of counterrevolution.” Listen here.