Books by Burleigh Hendrickson
Cornell University Press, 2022
Decolonizing 1968 explores how activists in 1968 transformed university campuses across Europe an... more Decolonizing 1968 explores how activists in 1968 transformed university campuses across Europe and North Africa into sites of contestation where students, administrators, and state officials collided over definitions of modernity and nationhood after empire. Burleigh Hendrickson details protesters' versions of events to counterbalance more visible narratives that emerged from state-controlled media centers and ultimately describes how the very education systems put in place to serve the French state during the colonial period ended up functioning as the crucible of postcolonial revolt. Hendrickson not only unearths complex connections among activists and their transnational networks across Tunis, Paris, and Dakar but also weaves together their overlapping stories and participation in France's May '68.
Using global protest to demonstrate the enduring links between France and its former colonies, Decolonizing 1968 traces the historical relationships between colonialism and 1968 activism, examining transnational networks that emerged and new human and immigrants' rights initiatives that directly followed. As a result, Hendrickson reveals that 1968 is not merely a flashpoint in the history of left-wing protest but a key turning point in the history of decolonization.
Published Articles by Burleigh Hendrickson
French Politics, Culture & Society , 2020
In the late period of nineteenth- and twentieth-century French imperialism, French thinkers, arti... more In the late period of nineteenth- and twentieth-century French imperialism, French thinkers, artists, and colonists had long held a fascination with the “others” inhabiting France’s colonies. Intimate contact and cross-cultural encounters led to descriptions and often violent differentiations of these groups that helped define French identity. But what might we learn by employing a “postcolonial praxis” that seeks new ways of interrogating identity from anti-imperial actors? Taking the perspectives of three key anti-imperialists—Frantz Fanon, Ousmane Sembène, and Simone Lellouche Othmani—this article unearths their perceptions about France and French identity. For these figures, France could represent either an unfulfilled promised land or a place of exile. Frenchness, likewise, ran the spectrum from a set of desired if unattainable qualities, an immoral culture to be resisted at all costs, to a national identity to be deployed for political strategy. This radical approach turns Frenchness into an “other” while contributing to the emergence of new postcolonial identities. At the same time, it demonstrates how three important definitions of France and of Frenchness depended upon both peripheral positionality and intimate access to French culture.
The Sixties: A Journal of History, Politics, and Culture, 2018
This article locates the global 1960s in Tunisia, and situates the role of Tunisians in the globa... more This article locates the global 1960s in Tunisia, and situates the role of Tunisians in the global 1960s. By focusing on social movements in Tunisia and those involving Tunisians living in France from the 1960s to the early 1970s, I argue that local, transnational, and postcolonial dimensions converged to place the Tunisian experience firmly within a broader global 1960s framework.
In the spring of 1968, activists across the globe took to the streets and clashed with authoritie... more In the spring of 1968, activists across the globe took to the streets and clashed with authorities to protest neo-imperialism, oppressive regimes, and the postcolonial order of things. While there is no shortage of archival material documenting this type of activism during France's mai 68, this is often not the case for similar activism in places like Tunisia and Senegal. This article discusses the importance of personal archives and oral histories for analyzing lesser-known activism of the 1960s and 1970s in the former French empire. On the one hand, oral histories can help clarify archival material; on the other hand, they can further muddy politically charged narratives where past, present, and future collide. Through an analysis of interviews conducted with 1968 participants in France, Tunisia, and Senegal, I uncover the promises and perils of expanding conventional notions of the archive for the study of the " global 1960s. "
This article examines the activism of Tunisian university students in the late 1960s. During the ... more This article examines the activism of Tunisian university students in the late 1960s. During the series of events surrounding the student protests of March 1968 at the University of Tunis, political activists across Tunisia and France forged communication networks or drew upon existing ones in order to further their political claims. The objectives of this article are to investigate the historical roots of these transnational networks in the colonial and postcolonial periods as well as to integrate Tunisia within the “global 1968.” Through an analysis of student protests and government reactions, I argue that ties with the former metropole shaped students’ demands and that a strictly national perspective of events is insufficient. In response to state repression, Tunisian activists shifted their struggle from global anti-imperialism toward the expansion of human rights on the national level. The networks proliferated over the course of 1968 and beyond as concrete realities shaped the direction of new claims.
Migrance, 2012
This article examines and compares the development of notions of indépendance inachevée that were... more This article examines and compares the development of notions of indépendance inachevée that were articulated during 1968 student movements in the former French Empire in Dakar and Tunis. Comparing the experiences of activists in Senegal and Tunisia helps to highlight local difference between these movements while linking them through their colonial pasts. The article builds upon the scholarship of the “global 1968” by entering two important understudied areas of the Franchophone Third World into the global ‘60s conversation. It further demonstrates that intellectual migration during the colonial period played a pivotal role in the creation and eventual pluralization of Senegalese and Tunisian student organizations after independence. Newly established universities in Dakar and Tunis, modeled heavily on the French system, represented important symbols of national modernity for leaders like Léopold Sédar Senghor and Habib Bourguiba, who had excelled in French institutions. For both students and heads of state, one measure of the success of decolonization was to assess the progress of their young universities. University protests in 1968 in both Dakar and Tunis can thus be viewed as conflicts between a privileged sector of society and the state over unfulfilled expectations for independent Senegal and Tunisia, or what can be termed indépendance inachevée. In Tunisia, heavy repression of dissident intellectuals ironically led to demands
for human rights, while in Senegal protesters faced the incompatibility of seeking to cut ties from France yet maintain
generous scholarships subsidized by France. In each case, the historical relationship to France was crucially important to the
articulation of demands of these postcolonial intellectual communities.
Published Book Chapters by Burleigh Hendrickson
This contribution applies the notion of ideas as political weapons — as articulated by French New... more This contribution applies the notion of ideas as political weapons — as articulated by French New Left philosopher, Louis Althusser — to colonial history in the context of the political activism of 1968. Focusing specifically on student movements in Tunisia and Senegal, I explore how agents of the state and student protestors each politicized and weaponized colonial history to denounce each other. Like in France, campuses at the Universities of Tunis and Dakar erupted in protest in the spring of 1968. Authorities shuttered campuses with force and set in motion prolonged confrontations with students. The convulsions of the Francophone global 1960s provide a window into the politics of colonial history as both a counter-revolutionary and revolutionary weapon by states and student activists. Drawing on multi-sited archival research undertaken in France, Tunisia, and Senegal, including interviews with former 1968 activists, this chapter uncovers the battle between protestors and the state over the authentic meanings of revolution, neo-imperialism, and mimicry.
From Françoise Blum, Pierre Guidi and Ophélie Rillon (dir.), _Étudiants africains en mouvement : ... more From Françoise Blum, Pierre Guidi and Ophélie Rillon (dir.), _Étudiants africains en mouvement : Contribution à une histoire des années 1968_ (Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne, 2016), this chapter traces the genealogy of the Tunisian human rights movement to the Tunisian student protests of the 1960s. The Bourguiga regime heavily suppressed university students' in the 1960s and 1970s, which included allegations by student agitators of torture and lack of due process. The Special Courts and show trials that followed campus activism elicited strong calls for increased democracy, penal reform, and human rights. In the wake of state repression, Tunisian activists launched human rights organizations—first in France and later in Tunisia in the 1970s—seeking the liberation of political detainees. Though early iterations of Tunisian human rights activism did not necessarily spread beyond left-leaning political circles, by the late 1970s, transnational networks of human rights activists were able to respond to the state repression of a more widespread labor movement. Bourguiba's Destourian operatives violently detained and tried labor leaders following a January 1978 workers' strike. This chapter argues that the organizational infrastructure from the previous student movement allowed for a relatively successful human rights campaign in the late 1970s. I contend that Tunisia's complex history of activism, repression, and human rights abuses and advocacy continue to color its post-revolutionary cultural and political landscape in the present.
Ce chapitre vise à tracer la généalogie du mouvement des droits de l'homme en Tunisie jusqu'aux manifestations estudiantines des années 1960. Le régime Bourguibien a fortement supprimé les étudiants universitaires--qui les accusaient de torture et d'avoir empêché le processus judiciaire—dans les années 1960 et 1970. Les tribunaux spéciaux et les procès-spectacles qui ont suivi l'agitation sur des campus ont suscité des appels pour la démocratie, la réforme pénale et pour la défense des droits de l'homme. Les militants tunisiens ont lancé des comités et des organisations—d'abord en France et puis en Tunisie dans les années 1970—dédier à la libération des détenus politiques. Tandis que le mouvement pour les droits de l'homme en Tunisie ne s'est pas répandu tout de suite en dehors des cercles de gauche, par la fin des années 1970, les réseaux de militants pour la défense des droits de l'homme avaient été mis en place pour affronter la répression étatique contre une grève générale ouvrière en janvier 1978. Les opératives destouriens de Bourguiba ont violement détenu et jugé les leadeurs des syndicats ouvriers. Ce chapitre affirme que l'infrastructure et l'organisation du mouvement précédent des étudiants ont préparé le terrain pour les campagnes compréhensives des droits de l'homme à la fin des années 1970. Je prétends que l'histoire complexe du militantisme, de la répression, et des abus et de la promotion des droits de l'homme en Tunisie continue à colorier son paysage politique et culturel du présent postrévolutionnaire.
Postcolonial Studies: modes d'emploi (Presses Universitaires de Lyon), 2013
qu'est-ce que la Postcolonialité ? veRs une définition PluRaliste Dans cet article, nous nous int... more qu'est-ce que la Postcolonialité ? veRs une définition PluRaliste Dans cet article, nous nous interrogerons sur l'état de la réception de la théorie postcoloniale en France, et nous établirons un parallèle avec des analyses développées dans d'autres contextes (aux États-Unis, en Angleterre et en Inde par exemple). Dans les études théoriques, les concepts de postcolonialisme, postcolonialité et postcolonial studies ne sont pas toujours définis de manière très explicite. Si ce n'est d'ailleurs peut-être ni souhaitable ni même possible, nous pouvons en revanche mettre en question ces concepts et ces courants historiographiques souvent cités, mais peu problématisés dans les analyses. Lors d'une discussion à laquelle nous avons assisté en novembre 2009 dans laquelle intervenait Jennifer Robinson 1 (University College of London), chercheuse spécialisée en études urbaines, un étudiant lui a demandé : « Qu'est-ce que la postcolonialité ? Et où est-ce qu'on peut la trouver ? » Après avoir hésité un moment, elle a répondu : « C'est partout et tout le temps. » Or, si « c'est partout et tout le temps », quelle est donc la fonction de cette notion ? En une phrase, voilà un terme essentialisé, ce qui lui ôte toute utilité théorique. Un tel propos fait sentir la nécessité d'une définition plus claire, plus efficace, d'un point de vue tant théorique qu'empirique. En effet, nombreux sont les discours qui déclarent que nous
Published Reviews by Burleigh Hendrickson
Recension de Françoise Blum, Héloïse Kiriakou, Martin Mourre, Maria-Benedita Basto, Pierre Guidi, Céline Pauthier, Ophélie Rillon, Alexis Roy et Elena Vezzadini. Socialismes en Afrique / Socialisms in Africa, Paris: Éditions de la Maison des sciences de l’homme, 2021, 716p. Revue d’histoire contemporaine de l’Afrique, 2023
Ce volume ambitieux rassemble des chercheurs de plusieurs pays sur trois continents autour de la ... more Ce volume ambitieux rassemble des chercheurs de plusieurs pays sur trois continents autour de la question des « socialismes en Afrique », vaste sujet servi par de nombreux auteurs. Divisé en trois parties principales (Doctrines et corpus, Socialismes en actes et Socialismes transnationaux), l’ouvrage est bien organisé et couvre un large panel de paysages politico-géographiques ainsi que culturels.
Papers by Burleigh Hendrickson
French Historical Studies, 2017
This article examines the activism of Tunisian university students in the late 1960s. During the ... more This article examines the activism of Tunisian university students in the late 1960s. During the series of events surrounding the student protests of March 1968 at the University of Tunis, political activists across Tunisia and France forged communication networks or drew upon existing ones in order to further their political claims. The objectives of this article are to investigate the historical roots of these transnational networks in the colonial and postcolonial periods as well as to integrate Tunisia within the “global 1968.” Through an analysis of student protests and government reactions, I argue that ties with the former metropole shaped students’ demands and that a strictly national perspective of events is insufficient. In response to state repression, Tunisian activists shifted their struggle from global anti-imperialism toward the expansion of human rights on the national level. The networks proliferated over the course of 1968 and beyond as concrete realities shaped the direction of new claims.
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Books by Burleigh Hendrickson
Using global protest to demonstrate the enduring links between France and its former colonies, Decolonizing 1968 traces the historical relationships between colonialism and 1968 activism, examining transnational networks that emerged and new human and immigrants' rights initiatives that directly followed. As a result, Hendrickson reveals that 1968 is not merely a flashpoint in the history of left-wing protest but a key turning point in the history of decolonization.
Published Articles by Burleigh Hendrickson
for human rights, while in Senegal protesters faced the incompatibility of seeking to cut ties from France yet maintain
generous scholarships subsidized by France. In each case, the historical relationship to France was crucially important to the
articulation of demands of these postcolonial intellectual communities.
Published Book Chapters by Burleigh Hendrickson
Ce chapitre vise à tracer la généalogie du mouvement des droits de l'homme en Tunisie jusqu'aux manifestations estudiantines des années 1960. Le régime Bourguibien a fortement supprimé les étudiants universitaires--qui les accusaient de torture et d'avoir empêché le processus judiciaire—dans les années 1960 et 1970. Les tribunaux spéciaux et les procès-spectacles qui ont suivi l'agitation sur des campus ont suscité des appels pour la démocratie, la réforme pénale et pour la défense des droits de l'homme. Les militants tunisiens ont lancé des comités et des organisations—d'abord en France et puis en Tunisie dans les années 1970—dédier à la libération des détenus politiques. Tandis que le mouvement pour les droits de l'homme en Tunisie ne s'est pas répandu tout de suite en dehors des cercles de gauche, par la fin des années 1970, les réseaux de militants pour la défense des droits de l'homme avaient été mis en place pour affronter la répression étatique contre une grève générale ouvrière en janvier 1978. Les opératives destouriens de Bourguiba ont violement détenu et jugé les leadeurs des syndicats ouvriers. Ce chapitre affirme que l'infrastructure et l'organisation du mouvement précédent des étudiants ont préparé le terrain pour les campagnes compréhensives des droits de l'homme à la fin des années 1970. Je prétends que l'histoire complexe du militantisme, de la répression, et des abus et de la promotion des droits de l'homme en Tunisie continue à colorier son paysage politique et culturel du présent postrévolutionnaire.
Published Reviews by Burleigh Hendrickson
Papers by Burleigh Hendrickson
Using global protest to demonstrate the enduring links between France and its former colonies, Decolonizing 1968 traces the historical relationships between colonialism and 1968 activism, examining transnational networks that emerged and new human and immigrants' rights initiatives that directly followed. As a result, Hendrickson reveals that 1968 is not merely a flashpoint in the history of left-wing protest but a key turning point in the history of decolonization.
for human rights, while in Senegal protesters faced the incompatibility of seeking to cut ties from France yet maintain
generous scholarships subsidized by France. In each case, the historical relationship to France was crucially important to the
articulation of demands of these postcolonial intellectual communities.
Ce chapitre vise à tracer la généalogie du mouvement des droits de l'homme en Tunisie jusqu'aux manifestations estudiantines des années 1960. Le régime Bourguibien a fortement supprimé les étudiants universitaires--qui les accusaient de torture et d'avoir empêché le processus judiciaire—dans les années 1960 et 1970. Les tribunaux spéciaux et les procès-spectacles qui ont suivi l'agitation sur des campus ont suscité des appels pour la démocratie, la réforme pénale et pour la défense des droits de l'homme. Les militants tunisiens ont lancé des comités et des organisations—d'abord en France et puis en Tunisie dans les années 1970—dédier à la libération des détenus politiques. Tandis que le mouvement pour les droits de l'homme en Tunisie ne s'est pas répandu tout de suite en dehors des cercles de gauche, par la fin des années 1970, les réseaux de militants pour la défense des droits de l'homme avaient été mis en place pour affronter la répression étatique contre une grève générale ouvrière en janvier 1978. Les opératives destouriens de Bourguiba ont violement détenu et jugé les leadeurs des syndicats ouvriers. Ce chapitre affirme que l'infrastructure et l'organisation du mouvement précédent des étudiants ont préparé le terrain pour les campagnes compréhensives des droits de l'homme à la fin des années 1970. Je prétends que l'histoire complexe du militantisme, de la répression, et des abus et de la promotion des droits de l'homme en Tunisie continue à colorier son paysage politique et culturel du présent postrévolutionnaire.