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Djamila Boupacha
Series: Verso's Southern Questions
Brief Description
In 1960, as the Algerian War for Independence entered its sixth year, 22-year-old Djamila Boupacha was arrested for allegedly planting a bomb in a university cafeteria. While in custody, she was tortured and raped by French soldiers. Her case would have been buried like countless others...
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See moreA searing denunciation of French torture in Algeria
A searing denunciation of French torture in Algeria
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Description
In 1960, as the Algerian War for Independence entered its sixth year, 22-year-old Djamila Boupacha was arrested for allegedly planting a bomb in a university cafeteria. While in custody, she was tortured and raped by French soldiers. Her case would have been buried like countless others had it not been for the efforts of her lawyer, Gisèle Halimi, and the philosopher Simone de Beauvoir to transform it into an international cause célèbre.
Djamila Boupacha is the culmination of this campaign to expose the systemic violence of colonial rule. “To protest in the name of morality against ‘excesses’ or ‘abuses’,” Beauvoir writes, “is an error which hints at active complicity. There are no ‘abuses’ or ‘excesses’ here, simply an all-pervasive system.”
More than a historical document, the book is a profound exploration of morality, complicity and resistance. A classic text of anticolonialism, this is a story that demands to be read—and remembered.
Book Details
INFORMATION
ISBN: 9781836741817
Publisher: Verso Books
Format: Paperback / softback
Date Published: 16 February 2027
Country: United Kingdom
Imprint: Verso Books
Edition: Paperback original
Audience: General / adult
DIMENSIONS
Width: 140.0mm
Height: 210.0mm
Weight: 250g
Pages: 224
About the Author
Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986) was a French writer, philosopher and feminist, known for her seminal works on existentialism and feminist thought. She has won several awards, including the Prix Goncourt for her novel The Mandarins, and her work has been translated into several languages.
Gisèle Halimi (1927-2020) was a Tunisian-French lawyer, politician, essayist and decolonial feminist activist brought to prominence in the 1950s for defending members of the Algerian National Liberation Front in French courts.
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