‘A Great Reformatory’: Social Planning and Strategic Resettlement in Late Colonial Kenya and Algeria, 1952–63

Abstract

In the midst of their bitterly fought wars against anti-colonial guerrilla movements in Kenya and Algeria, British and French colonial authorities launched huge rural development programs. These plans were grounded on the effects of an extremely violent military practice: forced relocation of huge parts of the rural populations into strategic villages. Up to 2.5 million Algerians and 1.2 million Kenyans were affected by strategic resettlement, resulting in humanitarian crisis in both cases. The plans for socioeconomic development and the military strategy of forced resettlement cannot be analysed separately. The implementation of socio-economic reforms in such a short time-span and to such an extent required the instruments of power of military force and the disciplinary spatial structure of the strategic villages. Mass relocations of civilians and its effects on the other hand were repeatedly justified with reference to the overall plans for socio-economic development and modernization.The whole reserve is becoming and should become even more so, a great reformatory, methods being based on discipline, rigid control and hard work. 1

As políticas do “bem-estar” no império português em África (Anos 1960)

“…Tal foi visível no caso português (JERÓNIMO, 2017) como no francês e no britânico (FEICHTINGER, 2017).…”

French Decolonisation and Civil War: The Dynamics of Violence in the Early Phases of Anti-colonial War in Vietnam and Algeria, 1940–1956

“…Forcible relocations fulfilled a short-term purpose in severing peasant connections with the guerrillas and met the long-term development objective of restructuring the rural economy. 159 Yet, Algeria's wine-growing regions were left bitterly divided.…”

Colonatos e aldeamentos no Niassa, Moçambique: processos e impactos sociais em tempo de guerra (1964-1974)

“…Por exemplo, e para referir apenas casos em África, no Quénia, após a Revolta Mau-Mau em 1952 contra o domínio britânico, e na Argélia, onde a luta armada contra o colonialismo francês havia começado em 1954. Moritz Feichtinger (2017), que estudou comparativamente esses dois casos, mostra que a violência em massa relacionada com a remoção forçada das populações e o seu confinamento nos novos espaços controlados foi um meio de implementar as políticas de desenvolvimento ou modernização no período tardo-colonial. Os aldeamentos em Moçambique e Angola inserem-se na mesma lógica e ideologia, são variantes do mesmo fenómeno global de articulação de planeamento e engenharia social e contrassubversão.…”