Colonialism and knowledge in Algeria: The archives of the Arab bureau

Abstract

Abstract Despite the preeminence and recent scholarly debate on Orientalism, little attention has been paid to the variant of French Orientalism which solidified its base during the early phase of North African colonization. This essay investigates the foundations of French colonial knowledge of Algeria, and by extension North Africa, through an analysis of the archives of the Arab Bureau (1841–1871), a military institution that laid down, formulated, and shaped French views of Algeria through their extensive fieldwork. In turn, it is upon this knowledge that later scholars, such as Emile Durkheim and Robert Montagne fashioned their own work. This essay examines the politics behind the various representations of the natives of Algeria, and it also pays attention to the emergence and the play of conflicting interpretations and ideologies. Thus, this essay explores the dynamics that allowed a particular discourse to become more dominant, at the expense of other, opposing, representations.