Decolonizing Emotions in French Algeria: Anticolonial Mythmaking and Morality Tales, 1954-62

Alongside the diplomatic struggles of the early Cold War, European politicians worked to shape emotions about the postwar order-advocating fear of communism and hope for postwar recovery. In this context, the French Empire in North Africa emerged as one important emotional battleground, where Algerian nationalists and anti-colonial campaigners challenged French narratives about imperial pride and native hysteria.

During the Algerian War (1954–1962), emotions thus became a pivotal part of th...