Algeria's Belle Epoque: Memories of the 1970s

Speaker: Ed McAllister, University of Oxford Chair: John King, 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, McAllister sets 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. Recorded on 21 October 2015. This event is jointly organised by the LSE Middle East Centre and the Society for Algerian Studies. Image credit: texturedutemps.org. Algiers in the 1970s.