HIST 232 - France/North Africa: from Corsairs to post-Colonialism

Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)

From the sixteenth-century Franco-Ottoman alliance to the present day, French and North African women and men have lived in intimate proximity (literal and figurative) to each other. They have been both united and divided by processes such as trade, privateering, slavery, colonialism, treaties, and migrations. Despite this long, shared history, many imagine that France and North Africa are fundamentally split by “culture” or “civilization.” The chasm is so wide, according to some, that even grandchildren of immigrants to France are imagined to possess traits impeding their integration. Focusing on the intertwined histories of France, Morocco, and (the lands that became) Tunisia and Algeria, we consider how difference has been framed and how such understandings have changed over time.

Two 75-minute periods.