On April 18 2008, Vietnamese journalist Danh Đức was standing in the rain at the Kourou Space Centre, the European Space Agency’s spaceport in French Guiana, a territory that is, as an overseas département, still an integral part of France. Eyes heavenward, Danh Đức was eager to witness the launch Continue Reading
An Algerian Prisoner in New Caledonia Part 2: The Descendants of Abdelkader ben Cherfia
In a previous blog, An Algerian Prisoner in New Caledonia, we began the story of Abdelkader ben Cherfia. A blacksmith from Blida, Abdelkader met an untimely death as a murder victim at the hands of his wife, Peroline Langevin, in 1901. His death notwithstanding, Abdelkader ben Cherfia’s life story reflected Continue Reading
Salvation, Commerce, and Repatriation: The Salvation Army in French Guiana
Among the materials held in the archives of French Guiana is a box of papers relating to the activities of the Armée du Salut, or Salvation Army, in France’s mainland South American colony in the 1930s. French Guiana became a penal colony in 1854. It held under-sentence convicts from all Continue Reading
An Algerian Prisoner in New Caledonia
The Story of Abdelkader ben Cherifa Many accounts of Algerians sent to New Caledonia focus on those sent in the aftermath of the 1870-71 uprisings against colonial French rule. However, prisoners were also sent from Algeria and areas of the Maghreb prior to 1870; approximately 2000 prisoners were transported between Continue Reading
Shifting The Gaze on Histories of Penal Transportation
In some of our recent writing (available freely here and here) and in some of our recent talks we have been arguing in favour of approaches to the history of convict transportation that started in the receiving destinations: the penal colonies. Our ambition was to move the focus of our Continue Reading