Contesting Views: The Visual Economy of France and Algeria (Contemporary French and Francophone Cultures): 27 - Hardcover

Edward Welch; Joseph McGonagle

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 184631884X ISBN 13: 9781846318849

Publisher: Liverpool University Press, 2013

Synopsis

Fifty years after Algerian independence, the legacy of France's Algerian past, and the ongoing complexities of the Franco-Algerian relationship, remain a key preoccupation in both countries. A central role in shaping understanding of their shared past and present is played by visual culture. This study investigates how relations between France and Algeria have been represented and contested through visual means since the outbreak of the Algerian War in 1954. It probes the contours of colonial and postcolonial visual culture in both countries, highlighting the important roles played by still and moving images when Franco-Algerian relations are imagined. Analysing a wide range of images made on both sides of the Mediterranean - from colonial picture postcards of French Algeria to contemporary representations of postcolonial Algiers - this new book is the first to trace the circulation of, and connections between, a diverse range of images and media within this field of visual culture. It shows how the visual representation of Franco-Algerian links informs our understanding both of the lived experience of postcoloniality within Europe and the Maghreb, and of wider contemporary geopolitics.

About this title

Review:

Contesting Views is an incisive and timely analysis of visual culture and its role in the mediation of Franco-Algerian relations, and makes a convincing case for the importance of visual image and visual forms in considering the postcoloniality of both France and Algeria. --Dr James House

About the Author:

Edward Welch is Senior Lecturer in French, Durham University. Joseph McGonagle is Lecturer in Cultural Studies in the French-speaking World at The University of Manchester.

About this edition

• Publisher: Liverpool University Press
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 184631884X
• ISBN 13: 9781846318849
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 224