At the Crossroads of Empires: North African Libraries in the 19th Century

About

While it is widely accepted that Maghrebi libraries were profoundly disrupted during the colonial period, we actually know very little about their earlier state. Drawing on archival materials gathered in Tunis and two libraries confiscated during colonial wars in Algeria and relocated to France, this presentation lays the groundwork for rediscovering book culture and library practices in the region during the 18th and early 19th centuries. It will highlight, in particular, the influence of empires—both Ottoman and colonial—on the culture and fate of these book collections from Tunisia and Algeria. 

Augustin Jomier is an Associate Professor in the Department of Arabic Studies at INaLCO (Paris) and also holds a joint appointment as an Associate Professor in the Department of History at ENS-PSL (École Normale Supérieure). His research focuses on the social and cultural history of the Maghreb. He is currently working on a social, cultural, and political history of libraries in the Maghreb (18th–20th centuries). He is the scientific director of the Maktabatân project, for the enriched digitization of manuscripts and archives of Emir Abdelkader and Sheikh al-Haddâd. He also serves as the scientific director of the René Basset Archives (EHESS).