Algiers 1958/Paris 1968

What do these moments of coup d’état, revolt and change in Algeria and France have to tell us about American society today? What can we learn from these events? How did the Algerian Revolution, the end of the Fourth Republic, and the coming of General Charles de Gaulle as president change French society? Were there repercussions all over the world? Did the student riots and the general strike of 1968–what de Gaulle called the “chi-en-lit”–alter the basic fabric of French society in any profound way? What were the students trying to accomplish and what relevance does their struggle have today?

With the help of some personal experiences and political insights the writers: Sheila Kohler, author of fourteen books and the recent memoir “Once we were sisters,” who was present at some of these moments in Paris, and Samia Henni, author of Architecture of Counterrevolution: The French Army in Northern Algeria, in which she investigated the psychology of the 1958 and 1961 French Generals putsches in Algiers during the Algerian Revolution will discuss these events.

This event is part of the 1968/2018 Cities on the Edge series, co-sponsored with the Humanities Council. Additional support kindly provided by the Princeton Department of French & Italian and the Program in African Studies.