Colonial Biopolitics: A Politics of Health Which Kills and Cures

Join the School of European Languages and Culture for the inaugural lecture of Professor Azzedine Haddour.

This lecture examines the interconnections between the development of modern France’s republican and democratic institutions, the rise of the Second Empire, and the colonisation of Algeria. In its aftermath, biopolitics took on a distinctly colonial character, merging social welfare with the management of surplus populations deemed threats to social hygiene. This convergence of social and colonial policies profoundly shaped France’s political and legal frameworks. Beyond influencing colonial governance, biopolitics had a devastating impact on Algerian society. It established a racialised healthcare system that decimated the native population and imposed a political structure akin to apartheid. Colonial biopolitics not only ravaged Algerian society but also undermined the foundations of France’s republican institutions, ultimately laying the groundwork for the Algerian War.