Mellon Forum || Christianizing Algiers: Reshaping Urban Identity by “Cross and Plow”

The presentation will center on the territorial interventions of the Catholic Church in Algiers in the 19th century, examining how the Church reshaped urban space in Algiers through the construction and conversion of buildings in order to advance its aim of resurrecting Augustinian Christendom in North Africa. The larger project from which this presentation is derived seeks to uncover the complex relationship between the church and the multiple actors who helped reconfigure Algiers into a French and largely Christian city. It is structured around three urban practices: the conversion of Muslim institutions, the consolidation of urban focal points as symbolic cynosures of Christian power, and the aesthetic and symbolic expression of the buildings themselves and the hidden forms of violence perpetuated by these material forms of representation. This event will be held in-person and via Zoom.

This event is co-sponsored by the Humanities Council.