Samia Henni: Architecture of Counterrevolution
The lecture will focus on the book Architecture of Counterrevolution: The French Army in Northern Algeria (Architektura kontrarevoluce: Francouzská armáda v severním Alžírsku, 2017), which examines the causes and consequences of French colonial territorial measures and military counterinsurgency operations in Algeria during the local revolution from 1954 to 1962. During this protracted and bloody armed conflict, French civil and military authorities planned and implemented not only tactical destruction but also new construction, aiming to firmly control the Algerian population and protect European communities residing in Algeria. The mentioned study focuses on three interconnected territorial measures: the massive forced resettlement of the Algerian population, a mass housing program designed for the Algerian population as part of Plan de Constantine (Plan for Constantine) by General Charles de Gaulle, and then on a fortified new administrative city intended to protect French authorities during the last months of the Algerian revolution. Following the lecture, there will be a guided tour of the exhibition Concealed Violence: Architecture and the French War in Algeria, which showcases the massive forced resettlement of the Algerian population. The tour will focus on the intentions and strategies of "depropagandization" of staged French military film footage and scenes, which are presented in Gallery VI PER.
Samia Henni is an assistant professor of the history of architecture and urban development at the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning at Cornell University. In 2016, she obtained her PhD in history and theory of architecture from ETH Zurich. In her research and lectures, she focuses on the history and theory of built environments in relation to colonialism, population displacement, gender, race, religion, and wars from the early European colonial struggles to the present. She is the author of the book Architecture of Counterrevolution: The French Army in Northern Algeria (gta Verlag, Zurich 2017) and curator of the exhibition Discreet Violence: Architecture and the French War in Algeria, presented from 2016 to 2018 at ETH Zurich, Het Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam, Archive Kabinett in Berlin, the Graduate School of Architecture in Johannesburg, La Colonie in Paris, and finally in Gallery VI PER in Prague. She has taught at Princeton University, ETH Zurich, and the Geneva School of Art and Design (HEAD – Geneva).
Title image: The military defensive line known as Morice, and its prohibited zones along the border between Algeria and Tunisia, October 1959 © Beauvais, Gérard / SCA / ECPAD.
Samia Henni is an assistant professor of the history of architecture and urban development at the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning at Cornell University. In 2016, she obtained her PhD in history and theory of architecture from ETH Zurich. In her research and lectures, she focuses on the history and theory of built environments in relation to colonialism, population displacement, gender, race, religion, and wars from the early European colonial struggles to the present. She is the author of the book Architecture of Counterrevolution: The French Army in Northern Algeria (gta Verlag, Zurich 2017) and curator of the exhibition Discreet Violence: Architecture and the French War in Algeria, presented from 2016 to 2018 at ETH Zurich, Het Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam, Archive Kabinett in Berlin, the Graduate School of Architecture in Johannesburg, La Colonie in Paris, and finally in Gallery VI PER in Prague. She has taught at Princeton University, ETH Zurich, and the Geneva School of Art and Design (HEAD – Geneva).
Title image: The military defensive line known as Morice, and its prohibited zones along the border between Algeria and Tunisia, October 1959 © Beauvais, Gérard / SCA / ECPAD.
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