Periodic Reporting for period 1 - The Damned (Algeria, antifascism, and Third Worldism: An anticolonial genealogy of the Western European New Left (Algeria, France, Italy, 1957-1975))
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2020-01-20 al 2022-01-19
THE DAMNED proposes a new study of the genealogy of the New Left in Western Europe from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s. Breaking with current interpretations, the project reframes the European political geography to include the (post)colonial space, and reassesses the historical influence of the Algerian War of Independence (1954–1962) – and Third Worldism more generally – in the genealogy of the new political cultures that flourished during the ‘long 1960s’, associating a renewed antifascism with anticolonial struggles. Bringing together disciplines and methodologies from across a number of humanities and social sciences, THE DAMNED will produce a case study (focusing on Algeria, France and Italy) setting out new approaches to understanding the emerging of the New Left as a complex process encompassing local, national and transnational dynamics; a process shaped by, but also shaping, decolonisation. The goal is to contribute – at least – to complicating the Western narrative of the global 1960s, by shifting the focus from Berkeley and Paris to Algiers.
THE DAMNED is to be carried out mostly in Algeria, with a secondment in France and a return phase in Italy. Working with leading experts in each of these countries, the aim is to develop a truly transnational, interdisciplinary network exploring anew the global 1960s. By means of an extensive oral history project interviewing anticolonial activists, THE DAMNED will create a repository of sources for researchers, with a selection of interviews accessible online. THE DAMNED has been designed to ensure a mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge between the researcher and the third country (Algeria): ‘The challenge is to improve the design of cultural experiences by enhancing participatory and collaborative approaches and by fostering mutual cultural understanding and resilient strategies’, as stated in the H2020 Work Programme 2018–20.
THE DAMNED is to be carried out mostly in Algeria, with a secondment in France and a return phase in Italy. Working with leading experts in each of these countries, the aim is to develop a truly transnational, interdisciplinary network exploring anew the global 1960s. By means of an extensive oral history project interviewing anticolonial activists, THE DAMNED will create a repository of sources for researchers, with a selection of interviews accessible online. THE DAMNED has been designed to ensure a mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge between the researcher and the third country (Algeria): ‘The challenge is to improve the design of cultural experiences by enhancing participatory and collaborative approaches and by fostering mutual cultural understanding and resilient strategies’, as stated in the H2020 Work Programme 2018–20.
Workshops and seminars organization:
• Maison Française d’Oxford, 11 March 2020: Convenor of the seminar: ‘Doing History Differently: “Generation Independence: Algeria, a people’s history”’, with Walid Benkhaled (Potsmouth), Toufik Douib (London), Natalya Vince (Portsmouth), James McDougall (Oxford).
• Maison Française d’Oxford, 11 June 2021: Co-convenor with Prof Judith Rainhorn (CHS, Sorbonne/MFO) of the seminar: Book Presentation ‘Dad, what did you do in Algeria? An investigation into a family silence’. Organization and discussant with Professors Raphaelle Branche (Paris), James McDougall (Oxford), and Robert Gildea (Oxford).
• Centre d’histoire sociale des mondes contemporains, Paris-Sorbonne, 1st April 2022: Co-convenor with Prof Françoise Blum (CHS, Sorbonne) and Dr. Giulia Strippoli (Lisbon) of the workshop ‘A Global Civil War? Theories and practices of liberation between antifascism and decolonisation’.
• Middle East Center, St Antony’s College, Oxford, 29 April 2022: Convenor of the seminar: Book Presentation ‘Algiers’ Lynching, 1956. A social history of colonial racism’, with Professors Sylvie Thénault (CHS, Sorbonne), James McDougall (Oxford), and Michael Willis (Director of the Middle East Center, St Antony’s, Oxford).
Publications
Scientific articles (6, 3 peer-reviewed)
a. ‘Reconsidering the history of Algerian independence: a book review essay’, Journal of North African Studies, 2022, vol. 27, n. 1, pp. 203-210.
b. ‘La Francia e la guerra d’Algeria. Il “Rapporto Stora” tra uso politico del passato e conflitti del presente’, Storica, 2021, n. 78, pp. 7-32.
c. ‘Oltre la trappola del «presentismo»’, a book review essay, Il de Martino, 2021, n. 31, pp. 199-205.
d. ‘Un incontro postcoloniale tra Roma, Parigi e Algeri’ in ‘Gli “anni dell’Africa”. Riflessioni e memorie su una cesura epocale’, a cura di Simonetta Soldani, Passato e presente, 2021, vol. 39, n. 114, pp. 7-40.
e. ‘“Se un giorno tornasse quell’ora”. The new left between anti-fascist legacy and third wordlism’, Italia contemporanea, 2021, n. 297, pp. 255-275.
f. ‘Algeria, Antifascism, and Third Worldism: An anticolonial genealogy of the Western European New Left’, Journal of International and Commonwealth History, 2020, vol. 48, n. 5, pp. 958-978.
Edited volumes (1)
a. Co-edited – with Prof Françoise Blum (CHS, Sorbonne) and Dr Giulia Strippoli (Lisbon) – special issue of the peer-reviewed journal Le Mouvement Social. In progress.
Chapter (1, peer-reviewed)
a. ‘Cold War Warriors or New Left Internationalists? Algerians students and French coopérants in the Global 1960s’, in Educational Internationalism in the Global Cold War, ed. by Damiano Matasci & Raphaëlle Ruppen Coutaz, Routledge, New York and London, 2022, submitted.
Dictionary entries (7)
‘Anciens combattants (statut)’; ‘Appelés du contingent (mémoires)’; ‘Associations d’anciens combattants’; ‘Italie’; ‘Pays-Bas’; ‘Conférence d’Accra’; ‘Non-allignés’. In Dictionnaire de la Guerre d’Algérie, ed. by Tramor Quemeneur, Ouarda Siari Tengour & Sylvie Thénault, Laffont, Paris, 2022, forthcoming.
• Maison Française d’Oxford, 11 March 2020: Convenor of the seminar: ‘Doing History Differently: “Generation Independence: Algeria, a people’s history”’, with Walid Benkhaled (Potsmouth), Toufik Douib (London), Natalya Vince (Portsmouth), James McDougall (Oxford).
• Maison Française d’Oxford, 11 June 2021: Co-convenor with Prof Judith Rainhorn (CHS, Sorbonne/MFO) of the seminar: Book Presentation ‘Dad, what did you do in Algeria? An investigation into a family silence’. Organization and discussant with Professors Raphaelle Branche (Paris), James McDougall (Oxford), and Robert Gildea (Oxford).
• Centre d’histoire sociale des mondes contemporains, Paris-Sorbonne, 1st April 2022: Co-convenor with Prof Françoise Blum (CHS, Sorbonne) and Dr. Giulia Strippoli (Lisbon) of the workshop ‘A Global Civil War? Theories and practices of liberation between antifascism and decolonisation’.
• Middle East Center, St Antony’s College, Oxford, 29 April 2022: Convenor of the seminar: Book Presentation ‘Algiers’ Lynching, 1956. A social history of colonial racism’, with Professors Sylvie Thénault (CHS, Sorbonne), James McDougall (Oxford), and Michael Willis (Director of the Middle East Center, St Antony’s, Oxford).
Publications
Scientific articles (6, 3 peer-reviewed)
a. ‘Reconsidering the history of Algerian independence: a book review essay’, Journal of North African Studies, 2022, vol. 27, n. 1, pp. 203-210.
b. ‘La Francia e la guerra d’Algeria. Il “Rapporto Stora” tra uso politico del passato e conflitti del presente’, Storica, 2021, n. 78, pp. 7-32.
c. ‘Oltre la trappola del «presentismo»’, a book review essay, Il de Martino, 2021, n. 31, pp. 199-205.
d. ‘Un incontro postcoloniale tra Roma, Parigi e Algeri’ in ‘Gli “anni dell’Africa”. Riflessioni e memorie su una cesura epocale’, a cura di Simonetta Soldani, Passato e presente, 2021, vol. 39, n. 114, pp. 7-40.
e. ‘“Se un giorno tornasse quell’ora”. The new left between anti-fascist legacy and third wordlism’, Italia contemporanea, 2021, n. 297, pp. 255-275.
f. ‘Algeria, Antifascism, and Third Worldism: An anticolonial genealogy of the Western European New Left’, Journal of International and Commonwealth History, 2020, vol. 48, n. 5, pp. 958-978.
Edited volumes (1)
a. Co-edited – with Prof Françoise Blum (CHS, Sorbonne) and Dr Giulia Strippoli (Lisbon) – special issue of the peer-reviewed journal Le Mouvement Social. In progress.
Chapter (1, peer-reviewed)
a. ‘Cold War Warriors or New Left Internationalists? Algerians students and French coopérants in the Global 1960s’, in Educational Internationalism in the Global Cold War, ed. by Damiano Matasci & Raphaëlle Ruppen Coutaz, Routledge, New York and London, 2022, submitted.
Dictionary entries (7)
‘Anciens combattants (statut)’; ‘Appelés du contingent (mémoires)’; ‘Associations d’anciens combattants’; ‘Italie’; ‘Pays-Bas’; ‘Conférence d’Accra’; ‘Non-allignés’. In Dictionnaire de la Guerre d’Algérie, ed. by Tramor Quemeneur, Ouarda Siari Tengour & Sylvie Thénault, Laffont, Paris, 2022, forthcoming.
Originality and innovative aspects of the project.
(a) THE DAMNED advances knowledge about the New Left in Western Europe through a new genealogy that reframes it within the global process of decolonization. The project offers the opportunity to apply a concept lying at the crossroads of political history and cultural history, namely political cultures (Sirinelli) to the emergence of the New Left within and beyond the established Left parties. In so doing, THE DAMNED concentrates on the interweaved imaginaries and repertoires of collective actions (Tilly) triggered by the Algerian War within and among Algeria, France and Italy. This is particularly timely given the developments in the historiography of the global 1960s, which have produced path-breaking national case studies. No studies on the New Left have ever conducted a connected study crisscrossing different countries, reframing the European political geography to include the (post)colonial space.
(b) THE DAMNED will apply a new concept drawn from the historiography on the second Thirty Years War (1914–45) – the European civil war (Traverso) – to the New Left for the first time. THE DAMNED will analyse the replay of the fascism/antifascism divide within a new global civil war – triggered by Algeria, decolonization, and Cold War – as a key feature of the political cultures that emerged during the 1960s. It will also test the consequences of this framework for the social legitimization of political violence. This application of Traverso’s concept to the New Left represents an absolutely novel contribution both to the cultural history of politics and social movements studies.
(c) THE DAMNED will expand upon methodological experiments that have been successfully conducted in Early Modern History – global microhistory and connected history (Trivellato, Subrahmanyam) – but have never been tested in such a large empirical study of 20th Century history. THE DAMNED foregrounds the networks of activists who have played a pivotal role in the process of transnational dissemination of anticolonial ideas and mobilization models since the Algerian War. It encompasses a global intellectual history and a bottom-up approach by grounding its focus on cultures and practices of grassroots activists’ networks. This is a key methodological advance in understanding the long 1960s’ transnational activism in a global perspective, encompassing local, national and transnational.
(a) THE DAMNED advances knowledge about the New Left in Western Europe through a new genealogy that reframes it within the global process of decolonization. The project offers the opportunity to apply a concept lying at the crossroads of political history and cultural history, namely political cultures (Sirinelli) to the emergence of the New Left within and beyond the established Left parties. In so doing, THE DAMNED concentrates on the interweaved imaginaries and repertoires of collective actions (Tilly) triggered by the Algerian War within and among Algeria, France and Italy. This is particularly timely given the developments in the historiography of the global 1960s, which have produced path-breaking national case studies. No studies on the New Left have ever conducted a connected study crisscrossing different countries, reframing the European political geography to include the (post)colonial space.
(b) THE DAMNED will apply a new concept drawn from the historiography on the second Thirty Years War (1914–45) – the European civil war (Traverso) – to the New Left for the first time. THE DAMNED will analyse the replay of the fascism/antifascism divide within a new global civil war – triggered by Algeria, decolonization, and Cold War – as a key feature of the political cultures that emerged during the 1960s. It will also test the consequences of this framework for the social legitimization of political violence. This application of Traverso’s concept to the New Left represents an absolutely novel contribution both to the cultural history of politics and social movements studies.
(c) THE DAMNED will expand upon methodological experiments that have been successfully conducted in Early Modern History – global microhistory and connected history (Trivellato, Subrahmanyam) – but have never been tested in such a large empirical study of 20th Century history. THE DAMNED foregrounds the networks of activists who have played a pivotal role in the process of transnational dissemination of anticolonial ideas and mobilization models since the Algerian War. It encompasses a global intellectual history and a bottom-up approach by grounding its focus on cultures and practices of grassroots activists’ networks. This is a key methodological advance in understanding the long 1960s’ transnational activism in a global perspective, encompassing local, national and transnational.