Defence of thesis - Alice Baudy: "The State and the victims of the colonial past. Children of Harkis and administrative staff put to the test by reparation policies (1962-2022)".

Tuesday 24 June 2025 | from 2pm | EPS (room 001)

We are pleased to inform you that thesis defence d'Alice Baudyentitled "The State and the victims of the colonial past. Children of Harkis and administrative officials put to the test by reparation policies (1962-2022)".will be held on Tuesday 24 June 2025, from 2pm, at the Espace Philippe Séguin, room 001.

Summary:

Since 2018, the French state has been implementing aid and financial reparation schemes for the descendants of harkis repatriated to France after the Algerian war, in respect of the harm they suffered during their stay in camps between 1962 and 1975. This thesis adopts a cross-disciplinary approach to public action in order to study this reparation policy, from its implementation to its reception. The research is based on archives, a field survey conducted at the Office national des anciens combattants et des victimes de guerre (ONAC-VG), and interviews with children of Harkis affected by the reparation.

The thesis first sheds socio-historical light on the construction of a public policy of reparation and shows how, for a long time considered as a population to be integrated, the children of the Harkis were reclassified as victims of a historical prejudice to be repaired.

It then shows how ONAC-VG field staff, responsible for implementing reparation and remembrance measures for the children of Harkis, carry out their mission at the intersection of different professional and personal dispositions, sometimes in tension. The concrete experiences of staff and users involved in administrative reparation procedures are then studied, highlighting the ambivalent effects of these procedures, between distancing and subjectivisation.

Finally, the thesis invites us to go to the other side of the counter to explore the way in which individuals appropriate reparation. An analysis of their biographical trajectories reveals that their stay in reception centres (camps, forest hamlets, Sonacotra housing estates) has had contrasting effects on the social mobility of the children of Harkis, shaping their different relationships with the past, the State and public action for reparation.

Key words : reparation, public action, children of harkis, administration, camps 

Composition of the jury :

• Philippe ALDRINProfessor of Political Science, Sciences Po Aix, MESOPOLHIS (thesis supervisor)
• Pierre-Yves BAUDOTProfessor of Political Science, Université Paris-Dauphine-PSL (Rapporteur)
• Margot DELONCNRS Research Fellow / Centre Nantais de Sociologie (Examiner)
• Giulia FABBIANOSenior Lecturer in Anthropology, AMU, IDEAS (Examiner)
• Sarah GENSBURGERCNRS Research Director, Centre de sociologie des organisations (CSO), Sciences Po (Chair of the Jury)
• Aude SIGNOLESHDR Lecturer in Political Science, Sciences Po Aix, MESOPOLHIS (Thesis supervisor)

🎉 The presentation will be followed by a drink, to which you are warmly invited.

💻 Hybrid format: to obtain the zoom link, please register via this form.