Date of Award

5-1-2024

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College/School/Department

Department of History

Dissertation/Thesis Chair

Richard S Fogarty

Committee Members

Michitake Aso, David Hochfelder

Keywords

Algeria, Colonialism, Environment, Maghreb, Sahara, Tunisia

Subject Categories

History

Abstract

This dissertation examines the relationship between environmental knowledge and empire building in French North Africa during nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Since its 1830 invasion of Algiers, France engaged in a century-long conquest of the Maghreb, extending sphere of influence to the neighboring regions of Tunisia, Morocco, and the Soudan. Under the guise of the mission civilisatrice, colonialists stressed their conquest’s goal of spreading enlightened French civilization for the benefit of both the indigenous populations and the world at large. France’s conquest of North Africa was not, however, solely focused on the peoples and cultures of the region. Simultaneously, France engaged in a conquest of the varied and often hostile environments of North Africa, seeking to subdue nature for the benefit of the colonial enterprise. This dissertation analyzes several key projects designed to “correct” the perceived “backwardness” of the North African landscape, focusing on the urban and rural environments of Algeria and Tunisia. Applying James C. Scott’s “high modernist ideology” framework for colonial expansion, this dissertation examines infrastructural development as a means of making the urban and rural landscapes of Algeria and Tunisia more “legible” and thus manageable. Projects including urban planning and renewal, intracolonial railway development, and large-scale hydroengineering were part of this broader effort to tame environments perceived to be unpredictable and unproductive. With few exceptions, these projects largely failed after decades of surveys, debates, and investments. Much like France’s failure to subdue the peoples of the Maghreb, its attempts to quell and manage nature were largely fruitless, but they nonetheless exerted an influence on the development of French environmental knowledge as well as the development activities of post-colonial states in the region.

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