Dr Rabah Aissaoui

I am an Associate Professor in the School of Arts. I was Head of the School of Modern Languages (2013-15). I am currently Deputy Head of School and have acted as Director of Research for the School of Arts. My research and teaching focus on immigration and racism in colonial and postcolonial France and more specifically in expressions of ethnic national and cultural belonging. I also specialise in the political social and cultural history of Algeria from the nineteenth century to the contemporary period. I am particularly interested in the study of discourses on identity nation exile and in the diasporic construction of nationalism.

I was a member of the Scientific Committee for a national exhibition led by Génériques (Paris): ‘Générations: un siècle d’histoire culturelle des Maghrébins en France’ (2009-2013).

I conducted a joint BA-funded project on constructions of difference and the representation of Turkey in the European Press with Prof R. Negrine (Sheffield) Dr B. Kejanlioglu (Ankara) and Prof S. Papathanassopoulos (Athens).

I co-organised with Dr Claire Eldridge (Leeds) an international conference: ‘Algeria Revisited: Contested Identities ’ ( April 2012 Leicester).

My research interests focus on immigration and racism in colonial and postcolonial France. I am particularly interested in the study of discourses on identity and exile in the diasporic construction of nationalism and more specifically in expressions of ethnic national and cultural belonging amongst migrants in France. I also research French colonial history and the relationship between history memory and ethnic identity in colonial and diasporic contexts.

Grants

‘Algeria Revisited: Contested Identities in the Colonial and Postcolonial Periods’ (conference funding multi-funded 2012)

British Academy Small Research Grant Award (2010)

British Academy Overseas Conference Grant Award (2010)

AHRC Research Leave Award - Research project title: ‘The Politics of Identity and Migration’ (2006-7)

British Academy Small Research Grant Award (January 2007)

British Academy Small Grant Award (joint project led by Prof. Ralph Negrine January 2005)

British Academy Overseas Conference Grant Award (January 2007)

Enrichment Funds Award (Association of American Geographers April 2007) 

Book

Immigration and National identity: North African political Movements in Colonial and Postcolonial France (Tauris Academic Studies 2009)

Edited book

With Claire Eldridge, Algeria Revisited: History Culture and Identity (Bloomsbury Academic 2017)

Journal articles

‘For Progress and Civilization’: History Memory and Alterity in Nineteenth-Century Colonial Algeria’ French History 31.4 (2017): 470-494

‘Politics identity and temporality in colonial Algeria in the early twentieth century’ Journal of North African Studies 22.2 (2017): 182-204

‘Fraticidal war: the conflict between the Mouvement national algérien (MNA) and the Front de libération nationale (FLN) in France during the Algerian War (1954-1962)’ British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 39.2 (August 2012): 227-40

'Exile and the politics of return and liberation: Algerian colonial workers and anticolonialism in the interwar period in France' French History 25.2 (June 2011): 214-31

‘Algerian nationalists in the French political arena and beyond: the Etoile nord-africaine and the Parti du peuple algérien in France in the interwar period’ Journal of North African Studies 16.1 (March 2010)

‘Les manifestations culturelles dans les meetings politiques de l’ENA-PPA dans l’entre-deux guerres’ Générations: un siècle d’histoire culturelle des Maghrébins en France (Gallimard 2009): 86-93

With R. Negrine B. Kejanlioglu and S. Papathanassopoulos ‘Turkey and the European Union: An analysis of how the press in four countries covered Turkey’s bid for accession in 2004’ European Journal of Communication 23.1 (March 2008): 47-68

‘History cultural identity and difference: the issue of Turkey’s accession to the European Union in the French national press’ Journal of Southern Europe and the Balkans 9.1 (April 2007): 1-14

‘Le discours du Mouvement des travailleurs arabes (MTA) dans les années 1970 en France: Mobilisation et mémoire du combat anticolonial Hommes et Migrations 1263 (Sept-Oct 2006): 105-122

‘The political mobilisation of North African migrants in 1970s France: the case of the Mouvement des Travailleurs Arabes (MTA) The Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 26.2 (August 2006): 171-186

‘Discours identitaire et nationalisme au sein de l’immigration nord-africaine en France (1918-1939): le cas de l’Etoile nord-africaine et du Parti du peuple algérien’ Migrance 25 (troisième trimestre 2005): 5-11

'Combattons pour rester «Algériens ... algériens»': national identity and difference in the nationalist discourse of the Etoile nord-africaine (ENA) and the Parti du peuple algérien (PPA) in inter-war France' Modern & Contemporary France 13.2 (May 2005): 207-222

'Nous voulons déchirer le baillon et briser nos chaînes': racism colonialism and universalism in the discourse of Algerian nationalists in France between the Wars' French History 17.2 (July 2003): 1-24

Book chapters

"Between Two Worlds": Emir Khaled and the Young Algerians at the beginning of the twentieth century in Algeria’ in Aissaoui R. and Eldridge C. (eds.) Algeria Revisited: History Culture and Identity (Bloomsbury Academic 2017): 56-78

‘D’une guerre à l’autre (1940-1956)’ in Bancel Nicolas et al. (eds) La France arabo-orientale : treize siècles de présence en France (Editions La Découverte 2013): 97-109 (co-authored)

'Le Mouvement des travailleurs arabes: ethnicity anti-racism and political mobilisation amongst Maghrebi immigrants during the 1970s in France' in Y. Rocheron (ed.) Shifting Frontiers (Peter Lang 2004): 115-133

I would welcome enquiries from prospective postgraduate students particularly in the following areas:

Immigration

Ethnicity

Nationalism

Colonial

History

Postcolonialism

French and Francophone Politics

Culture and Identity

Immigration and Ethnicity of Colonial and Postcolonial France

Introduction to Francophonie

Media and Cultural Practices in France

Modern French Language

Migration in France

Ethnicity in France

Colonial History - Algeria/ Maghreb

Postcolonial and Contemporary Algeria

French and Francophone Politics

Culture and Identity

I am a member of the editorial board of the Bloomsbury series entitled Global French History.

I conducted a joint research funded by the British Academy on the discursive constructions of difference and the representation of Turkey in the European Press with Prof. R. Negrine (Sheffield) Dr B. Kejanlioglu (Ankara) and Prof S. Papathanassopoulos ( Athens).

I was a member of the Advisory Committee of a national exhibition project led by Génériques (Paris) - ‘Générations: un siècle d’histoire culturelle des Maghrébins en France’ was presented in Lyon Paris Caen and Toulon from 2009 to 2013.

I co-organised with Dr Claire Eldridge (Leeds University) an international conference to mark the 50th anniversary of Algerian independence: ‘Algeria Revisited: Contested Identities in the Colonial and Postcolonial Periods’ (11-13 April 2012 University of Leicester).

I contributed to the volume edited by Blanchard et al. entitled La France arabo-orientale. Treize siècles de présences du Maghreb de la Turquie d’Égypte du Moyen-Orient & du Proche-Orient (La Découverte 2013) which accompanied a national exhibition in France co-organised by ACHAC between 2013 and 2015.

‘The Politics of Education in late 19th and early 20th century Algeria’, Society for the Study of French History, Annual Meeting, University of Westminster, 28 June – 2 July 2021, online. ‘Education, Control and Emancipation in Colonial Algeria’, Annual Meeting of the French Colonial History Society, University of Sherbrooke, 13-15 June 2019. ‘Exile, migration and the rise of nationalism in colonial Algeria in the interwar period', International conference: Middle Eastern and Balkan Mobilities in the Interwar Period (1918-1939), Newnham College, 13-15 September 2018. ‘Education, politics and the Jeunes Algériens movement in Algeria at the turn of the twentieth century’, Association for the Study of Contemporary France, annual meeting, Aston University, 6-7 September 2016. ‘Memory, History and National Belonging: the Discourse and Actions of the Jeunes Algériens movement in the early twentieth century in Algeria’, Society for the Study of French History, Annual Meeting, University of Chichester, 3-5 July 2016 ‘Anticolonial discourse and political mobilisation: the case of the Etoile Nord-Africaine Parti du Peuple Algérien’, BRISMES Annual Conference, University of Sussex, 16-18 June 2014. ‘Constructing the Algerian nation: the nationalist discourse of the ENA and the PPA in interwar France’, Congress on World and Global History, Paris, September 2014. Colonial surveillance and intelligence gathering: the role of the security services in Algeria during the interwar period’, Society for Algerian Studies, London School of Economics, 28 January 2013 ‘Fraticidal war: the conflict between the Mouvement national algérien (MNA) and the Front de libération nationale (FLN) in France during the Algerian War (1954-1962)’, Celebrating Algeria, Sheffield, 17 November 2012 ‘From migration to political mobilisation: ethnicity and national identity in the Algerian nationalist discourse in interwar France’, ‘Minorités en vue’ Worshop, 6th May 2011. Invited speaker. ‘Migration and political mobilisation: Algerian nationalism and anti-colonial resistance during the interwar ‘, ‘Demobilizing Empires: The Transition from War to ‘Peace’ after the Great War period’, International Symposium, 10 -11 September 2010, Centre for War Studies, University College, Dublin. From anti-colonial struggle to post-colonial mobilisation: the political action of Algerians in France in the early 1960s, French Colonial History Annual Meeting, Université Paris 8 St Denis, 17-19 June 2010,. ‘The Political Uses of Religion by North African Immigrants in Colonial and Post-colonial France’, Postcolonialism and Islam Conference, Northern Association of Postcolonial Studies, Sunderland, 16th - 17th April 2010. ‘Emir Khaled and the Jeunes Algériens: charisma and political mobilisation in colonial Algeria in the early twentieth century’, ASEN annual conference, London School of Economics, 13-15 April 2010 ‘Mobilisation politique et manifestations culturelles maghrébines en métropole dans l'entre-deux-guerres’, ‘Le Maghrébin dans les représentations entre imaginaire et stéréotypes’, Journée d’Étude, Archives Municipales de Lyon, 25th June 2009. ‘Algerian colonial workers in the interwar period in France: exile, anticolonialism, and the politics of return and liberation, Coming Home? Conflict and Return Migration in Twentieth-Century Europe, International Conference, University of Southampton, 1-3 April 2009. ‘History, cultural identity and difference: The issue of Turkey’s accession to the European Union in the French national press’, Political Studies Association Conference, ‘The changing constellation of the enlarging EU’, University of Durham, 23 January 2009. ‘Identité nationale et nationalisme dans le discours de l’Etoile Nord-africaine et du Parti du peuple algérien dans l’entre deux-guerres en France’, Altérité, Identité, Interculturalité, International Colloquium, Université de Pau, France, 4-6 December 2008. ‘Migration, ethnicity and national identity: Algerian nationalism in the interwar period in France’, invited contribution to the Transnational Studies Seminar Series, University of Southampton, 7 May 2008. ‘Kinship, ethnicity and universalism in the discourse of North African nationalists in interwar France’, invited paper, Westminster University, 12 March 2008. ‘Class, Ethnicity and the Political Mobilization of North African Migrants in 1970s France: The Case of the Mouvement des Travailleurs Arabes (MTA)’, Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers (AAG), San Francisco, 17-21 April 2007. ‘Universalisme et différence dans le discours nationaliste de l’Etoile nord-africaine et du Parti du peuple algérien dans l’entre-deux-guerres en France’ ; Colloque international "Histoire et immigration: la question coloniale", Cité nationale de l’histoire de l’immigration (CNHI), Bibliothèque nationale de France François Mitterrand, 28-30 September 2006. ‘Constructing the Algerian nation: evocations of the past in the nationalist discourse of the Etoile nord-africaine (ENA) and the Parti du peuple algérien (PPA) in interwar France’, 16th Annual ASEN (Association for the Study of Ethnicity and Nationalism) Conference, London School of Economics, London, 28-30 March 2006. ‘Nation and ‘race’ in the anticolonialist discourse of North African migrants during the interwar period in France: the case of the Etoile nord-africaine/Parti du peuple algérien’, International Conference, Republic and Empire, Society for Francophone Postcolonial Studies (SFPS), London, 26-27 November 2004. ‘La lutte des immigrés maghrébins contre le racisme et pour les droits en 1970 : le cas du MTA’ (invited paper) Colloque ‘Mémoire en mouvement’/Les Luttes des travailleurs immigrés dans les années 1970, CIDIM (Centre d'information sur l'immigration et le Maghreb), Marseille, France, 5 December 2003 ‘Sacrifice, violence and national identity in the discourse of the Algerian nationalist movement during the inter-war period in France’, ‘Violence, Culture and Identity’, International conference, University of St Andrews, 27-29 June 2003. ‘The bond of kinship in the Algerian nationalist discourse in the inter-war period in France’, invited paper, Society for Algerian Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, 22 January 2003. ‘Le seul bien qu’il nous reste au monde, c’est la lutte’: the anti-colonial and nationalist discourse of the Etoile nord-africaine and the Parti du peuple algérien in the inter-war period in France’, ‘The Hexagone and Beyond’, International Conference, Society for the Study of French History (SSFH), Newcastle University, 4-6 April 2002. ‘Maghrebi immigrants’ struggle against racism and for rights in 1970s France: the case of the Mouvement des travailleurs arabes’, invited paper, ‘New Voices? Alternative Politics in France Today’, International Conference, University of Leeds, 25-26 March 2002. ‘Ça travaille, ça travaille et ça ferme sa gueule’: Culture as politics in the discourse and actions of the Mouvement des travailleurs arabes in 1970s France’, ‘Performing/Reforming: Culture and Politics in Contemporary Europe’, International Conference, Heriot-Watt University (Edinburgh), 7-8 December 2001. ‘La Croix est trop fragile pour briser le Croissant’: the North African anti-colonial and nationalist Discourse in the inter-war period in France’, ‘Remembering Empire’, ASCALF International Conference, French Institute, London, 30 November-1 December 2001. ‘The Mouvement des travailleurs arabes: ethnicity, class and nationalism0 amongst Maghrebi Immigrants in the 1970s in France’, ASMCF International Conference, University of Leicester, 31 August-2 September 2000. ‘Political and ethnic mobilisation amongst Maghrebis in France in the 1970s’, invited paper, Social and Cultural Study Day, Department of French, University of Leeds, 17 November 1999. ‘The MTA: class, ethnicity and nationalism amongst Maghrebi workers in France in the 1970s’, Research Seminar, University of Wolverhampton, 3 November 1999. ‘The MTA: class, ethnicity and nationalism amongst Maghrebi workers in France in the 1970s’, invited paper, Research Seminar Series, University of the West of England, 20 October 1999. ‘The Etoile nord-africaine: exile, political hybridity and Algerian nationalism during the inter-war period in France’, ‘Algeria in Transition: Dynamics and Dilemmas’, International Colloquium, University of Birmingham, 18-19 March 1998. ‘Islam as news: changing representations of Muslims in the French press’, & Helcké, J.J. ‘Gender, Diaspora and Changing Societies’, International Workshop, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford, 30 November 1996. ‘Islam as news: changing representations of Muslims in the French press’, & Helcké, J.J. Northern Media Research Group Day Conference, Newcastle upon Tyne, 18 October 1996.

Interview for the Canadian national newspaper Le Devoir 5 June 2021

Interview for radio Programme: The World PRI Public Radio USA 1st December 2020

Interview for radio programme: Rear Vision Australian Broadcasting Corporation 27 March 2019.

L.ès.L University of Tours

MA University of Leicester

PhD University of Leeds

Senior Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy