This event is jointly organised by the LSE Middle East centre and the Society for Algerian Studies.
From the perspective of a working-class Algiers neighbourhood, this talk looks at social memories of post-independence nation-building during the 1970s as reflections of the disappointments of the 1980s, the dislocation caused by civil war during the 1990s, and the reinforced state power and consumerism of the 2000s.
In contrast to the scholarly attention commonly devoted to periods of violence and upheaval in Algerian history, this research set out to explore how Algerians remember a much understudied decade of stability, and to ask what these memories reveal about current relationships to politics and society, by focusing on views of politics, urban space and sociability at neighbourhood level. Within the regional context of the Arab Uprisings of 2011-12, and ongoing social contestation in Algeria calling for greater wealth redistribution and accountability, the talk will focus on the meanings now attached to the emancipatory promises and egalitarian claims made by an authoritarian nation-building project that during its heyday was a model for much of the Global South.
Event Details
Speaker: Dr Ed McAllister, University of Oxford
Chair: John King, Society for Algerian Studies
Date: Wednesday 21 October 2015
Time: 18.00-19.30
Location: Room 9.04, Tower 2, Clement's Inn, LSE
Event Hashtag: #LSEAlgeria
Attendance: This event is free and open to all on a first come first served basis. Our events are very well attended, please make sure you arrive early. We cannot guarantee entry.
Speaker
Ed McAllister holds a DPhil in History from the University of Oxford. His doctoral research focused on memories of the nation-building period in Algeria in an Algiers neighbourhood, and their relationship to dissatisfaction with present politics.