North African intellectual migration to Paris from 1914 to 1962: a local history of cultural encounters and a global history of ideas

Thesis

From 1914, it was increasingly common for North Africa's intellectual and political elite to study in France. While the mobility of North African labourers has been the subject of considerable analysis over the past six decades, the international mobility of the intellectual elite for intellectual purposes has been comparably neglected.

Drawing from French archive material, this study begins by setting out what intellectual migration is in relation to other migratory patterns and how to study it. It positions this topic within the North African context and situates it within the lives of migrants who, for the most part, became authors, artists, thinkers and politicians of note. It also investigates Paris’ agency as a stage for cultural encounters.

It then moves on to interpreting the significance of this historical phenomenon on a migrant’s life trajectory, their future literary or cultural production, on the ensuing decolonisation movement, on nation building, on East-West relations and on the spiritual-material dialectic. Through the material produced by migrants themselves, we can obtain insight into the significance of this 'rite of passage' on the individual, while situating it within wider structures of intellectual and political colonialism, international political relations and on narratives of cultural encounters. By observing how global contacts were established in a particular locality, this study demonstrates how global discourse developed through a series of local encounters.

Though an exercise in global history, the thesis draw on disciplines from migration studies, the sociology of literature and comparative literature, to political theory, urban theory and religious thought.

It finds that intellectual migration to Paris was important for local North African artistic, literary and political movements, but not for the reasons previously accredited. It will also show that 1914 to 1962 was a time when this migratory process was particularly significant on the global development of ideas.

Authors: Luce, O

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-zgryb1pjx
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford