The civilizing mission in the metropole : Algerian families and the French welfare state during decolonization / Amelia H. Lyons.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lyons, Amelia H., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Algerians--Government policy--France--History--20th century.

Algerians.

Immigrants--Government policy--France--History--20th century.

Immigrants.

Welfare state--France--History--20th century.

Welfare state.

Colonies.

History.

Immigrants--Government policy.

Government policy.

Algeria--History--Revolution, 1954-1962.

Algeria.

France--History--1945-1958.

France.

France--Colonies--Africa--History--20th century.

Africa.

Physical Description:

pages cm

Place of Publication:

Stanford, California : Stanford University Press, 2013.

Summary:

In the past quarter century, France has grappled with the legacies of colonialism, the Algerian War (1954-1962), and the migration and settlement of Algerians and other Muslims from the former colonial empire. The Civilizing Mission in the Metropole explores the roots of these intertwined histories through an examination of the history of social welfare programs for Algerian migrants from the end of World War II through Algerian independence in 1962. During the final decades of French rule in Algeria, some 350,000 Algerians settled in France amidst the growing violence of the anti-colonial war. This study examines the complex and often-contradictory goals of a French welfare network that sought to provide services to Algerian migrants while also monitoring their activities. Historian Amelia Lyons particularly highlights family settlement and the central place Algerian women held in French efforts to transform the settled community. Lyons explores the nature of colonial racism, analyzes and breaks down colonial categories, and exposes numerous paradoxes surrounding the fraught relationship between France and Algeria-many of which echo in French debates about Muslims today. Book jacket.

Contents:

Civilizing "French Muslims from Algeria"

Instructing the experts : framing the metropolitan "conquest of hearts"

Instructing a "difficult and delicate clientele" : the social services mission

From dormitories to homes : housing workers and families during the Fourth Republic

Services and surveillance : welfare, the police, and the Algerian War

The great "hope" : housing Algerian families at the height of the Algerian War.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780804784214

0804784213

OCLC:

842350821