Bourdieu’s Sociology And Algeria

The works of the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu have emerged as one of the most substantial and innovative bodies of theory and researches in contemporary social science. Pierre Bourdieu (1930–2002) had an enormous influence on social and cultural thought in the second half of the 20th century, leaving a mark on fields as diverse as sociology, anthropology, critical theory, education, literary criticism, art, history, and media studies. From his childhood in a rural French village, to his fieldwork in Algeria, to his ascension to the Chair of Sociology at the Collège de France, Bourdieu’s life followed a trajectory both complex and contradictory. In this article, we will try to offer fresh insights on Bourdieu’s work on Algeria by drawing on the perspectives of sociologgy and ethnography. Based on the ethno-sociological studies conducted by Pierre Bourdieu between the late 1950s and the early sixties on war-driven Algeria, this article reveals that Pierre Bourdieu's writings on the Algerian war were as politically engaged as those of La misère du monde published in 1993.