{"id":702,"date":"2025-05-09T00:27:51","date_gmt":"2025-05-08T22:27:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/practicalsense.net\/?page_id=702"},"modified":"2025-12-04T11:13:48","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T10:13:48","slug":"the-translations-of-pierre-bourdieus-books-on-algeria","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/practicalsense.net\/index.php\/issue-no-1\/the-translations-of-pierre-bourdieus-books-on-algeria\/","title":{"rendered":"The Translations of Pierre Bourdieu’s Books on Algeria"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Matthias Fringant and J\u00e9ssica Ronconi<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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As the literature on the transnational circulation of ideas suggests (Bourdieu, 2002; Casanova, 1999; Sapiro, Leperlier, and Brahimi, 2018; Vauchez, 2013), a text’s ability to cross national boundaries and reach other intellectual fields depends on many factors. A key factor is its capacity to be translated, which in turn is conditioned by the nature of the text, the linguistic and cultural power of its original language, and the history and position of its discipline within both the original and receiving fields, to name a few elements. This text examines the translations of Pierre Bourdieu\u2019s books on Algeria and aims to analyze their international reach.<\/span>
Pierre Bourdieu began his first sociological works on Algerian society during his stay in the country from 1956 to 1961.<\/span>
Though this body of studies was used throughout the sociologist’s career, it specifically led to four distinct books dedicated to Algeria. [1] Sociologie de l’Alg\u00e9rie<\/em>, a study on the history and social composition of Algeria, was first published in 1958. Travail et travailleurs en Alg\u00e9rie<\/em>, a collective book published in 1963, is based on statistical material examining the effects of the introduction of capitalism on economic and temporal practices. Le D\u00e9racinement<\/em>, co-written with Abdelmalek Sayad and published in 1964, furthers develops the previous line of reasoning by empirically analyzing the effects of the displacement of rural populations during the war. Lastly, Alg\u00e9rie 60<\/em>, published in 1977, is quite different from the rest of this body of work as it is a version of Travail et travailleurs en Alg\u00e9rie<\/em> stripped of both its empirical and methodological material.<\/span>
This text aims to describe the existing translations of these books, originally written in French, into other languages, analyzing this process as a particular case study of the transnational circulation of ideas.<\/span>

The Translations of Pierre Bourdieu’s Books on Algeria<\/strong><\/span>
Table 1 provides an overview of the translations of Pierre Bourdieu’s books on Algeria.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Publications in French
(original and new editions)<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n		Translations (in chronological order)<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bourdieu, P. (1958) Sociologie de l’Alg\u00e9rie<\/em>, Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, \u201cQue sais-je ?\u201d<\/span>

New editions in 1961, 1963, 1970, 8th edition in 2008, \u201cQuadrige\u201d in 2010.<\/span><\/td>\n		English: Bourdieu, P. (1962) The Algerians<\/em>, Boston: Beacon Press (translator Alan Ross, preface by Raymond Aron)<\/span>

Spanish (Spain): Bourdieu, P. (2006) Sociolog\u00eda de Argelia y Tres estudios de etnolog\u00eda cabilia<\/em>, Madrid: Centro de Investigaciones Sociol\u00f3gicas, Boletin Oficial del Estado (translator Dolores Beltr\u00e1n deFelipe)<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bourdieu, P., Darbel, A., Rivet, J.-P., Seibel C. (1963) Travail et travailleurs en Alg\u00e9rie<\/em>, Paris-La Haye: Mouton<\/span>

Abbreviated edition in 1977; new edition in 2021.<\/span><\/td>\n		\u00a0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bourdieu, P., Sayad, A. (1964) Le D\u00e9racinement. La crise de l’agriculture traditionnelle en Alg\u00e9rie<\/em>, Paris: Minuit, \u201cGrands documents\u201d<\/span>

New edition in 1996.<\/span><\/td>\n		Spanish (Spain): Bourdieu, P., Sayad A. (1965) Argelia entra en la historia<\/em>, Barcelona: Editorial Nova Terra (translator \u00c1ngel Abad) Spanish (Argentina): Bourdieu, P., Sayad A. (2017) El Desarraigo. La violencia del capitalismo en une sociedad rural<\/em>, Buenos Aires: Siglo XXI Editore (translator Angel Abad)<\/span>

English: Bourdieu, P., Sayad, A. (2020) Uprooting: The Crisis of Traditional Agriculture in Algeria<\/em>, Cambridge, UK: Polity Press (translator Susan Emanuel)<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bourdieu, P. (1977) Alg\u00e9rie 60. Structures \u00e9conomiques et structures temporelles<\/em>, Paris:<\/span>
Minuit, \u201cGrands documents\u201d<\/span><\/td>\n		English: Bourdieu, P. (1979) Algeria 1960 : The disenchantment of the world, The sense of honour, The Kabyle house or the world
reversed<\/em>, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press (translator Richard Nice)<\/span>

Portuguese (Brazil): Bourdieu, P. (1979) O Desencantamento do Mundo. Estruturas Econ\u00f4micas e Estruturas Temporais<\/em>, S\u00e3o Paulo: Perspectiva (translator Silvia Mazza). New edition in 2021.<\/span>

Japanese: Bourdieu, P. (1993), Tokyo: Fujiwara Shoten (translator Tetsu Harayama)<\/span>

Korean: Bourdieu, P. (1995), Seoul: Dongmoosun Publishing Co (translator Jong Chul-Choi)<\/span>

German: Bourdieu, P. (2000) Die zwei Gesichter der Arbeit. Interdependenzen von Zeit \u2014 und Wirtschaftsstrukturen am Beispiel einer Ethnologie der algerischen \u00dcbergangsgesellschaft<\/em>, Konstanz: UVK (translator Franz Schultheis)<\/span>

Spanish (Spain): Bourdieu, P. (2006) Algeria 60. Estructuras economicas y estructuras temporales<\/em>, Madrid: Siglo XXI de Espa\u00f1a Editores (translator Ariel Dilon)<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
Table 1: The Translation of Pierre Bourdieu’s Books on Algeria. Source: Delsaut and Rivi\u00e8re (2022) completed by further research.<\/em><\/span><\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Pierre Bourdieu’s books on Algeria, written in the late 1950s and early 1960s, were rarely translated after their original publication. Only Sociologie de l’Alg\u00e9rie<\/em> was translated into English in 1962, and Le D\u00e9racinement<\/em> into Spanish in 1965. In contrast, Alg\u00e9rie 60<\/em>, was translated into English and Portuguese just two years after its first publication in 1977. In the 1990s, this book experienced a new phase of circulation as it was translated into Japanese and Korean, and later into German and Spanish, making it the most widely translated of Bourdieu’s books on Algeria. Recently, Bourdieu’s empirical works have entered another phase of translation, with Sociologie de l’Alg\u00e9rie<\/em> being translated into Spanish in 2006 and Le D\u00e9racinement<\/em> into English and Italian<\/span>
in 2020 and 2022, respectively.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

A Theoretical and Globally Selective Translation Process<\/strong><\/span>
The short description of these translations lends itself to several interpretations that align with findings from other studies on the transnational circulation of ideas, particularly on Bourdieu\u2019s work (Sapiro and Bustamante, 2009). The circulation of this body of work primarily occurred through Alg\u00e9rie 60<\/em>, which is the most abstract of Bourdieu’s works on Algeria. This book, stripped of its empirical and methodological material from Travail and Travailleurs en Alg\u00e9rie<\/em> \u2014 never translated to a foreign language to date \u2014 underscores a key trend: the likelihood of a text’s international circulation is closely linked to its content. Theoretical works tend to circulate more readily because their translation can more easily transcend the boundaries of their original object, language, and disciplinary context. In contrast, empirical studies, which require an understanding of local and regional contexts, face greater challenges in translation and dissemination (Casanova, 1999, p. 64; Sapiro, Leperlier and Brahimi, 2018, pp. 10-11).<\/span>
When examining the most widely translated of Bourdieu\u2019s books on Algeria, Alg\u00e9rie 60. Structures \u00e9conomiques et structures temporelles<\/em>, an interesting pattern emerges in title and subtitle adaptations. The original title includes an empirical reference to Algeria and an abstract subtitle, \u201cEconomic structures and temporal structures.\u201d The Spanish translation preserves the original formulation, whereas the English version maintains the empirical aspect of the title but adds \u201cKabyle house\u201d to the subtitle, reinforcing the field of work, likely due to American empirical traditions in social sciences (Merkel, 2022; Pollak, 1975). The Brazilian translation takes a different approach by omitting the reference to Algeria and adopting the theoretical title \u201cDisenchantment of the World,\u201d while keeping the abstract subtitle. The German version minimizes the empirical element in the title but incorporates it into the subtitle, referring to the \u201cEthnology of the Algerian Transitional Society.\u201d One can observe that these variations in translation are closely related to the disciplinary fields of sociology and social sciences in the respective countries of reception. <\/span>
The choice to emphasize the empirical or theoretical aspects of Bourdieu\u2019s work is also evident in the covers of his first book on Algeria, both the original and the English versions, as illustrated in Figures 1 and 2:<\/span><\/p>\n

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<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Figure 1: Cover of The Algerians (1962). We can see the Algerian flag by the colors, green and white, and the red star and crescent at the moment when the country gained its independence.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Figure 2: Cover of the first edition of Sociologie de l\u2019Alg\u00e9rie (1958), which follows the design of the \u201cQue sais-je?\u201d series.<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Furthermore, focusing on the languages these works have been translated into highlights the centrality of English and Spanish. These are the only languages into which most of Bourdieu’s translated books have been rendered, while none of these books \u2014 albeit dedicated to Algeria \u2014 have been translated into Arabic or Tamazight, the two official languages of Algeria.<\/span>
The acceleration of these translations in the 1990s, when Bourdieu started to be recognized as a social theorist in<\/span>
English-speaking parts of the world, such as the United Kingdom and North America, the importance of the abstract book, Alg\u00e9rie 60<\/em>, and the centrality of the English language lead us to interpret this process as a theoretically focused and geographically limited one.<\/span>
This short analysis of the translation process of Pierre Bourdieu’s books on Algeria tends to confirm known results on the circulation of ideas, such as the easier dissemination of theoretical works compared to empirical studies, but it also underscores that these circulations occur within power dynamics, as evidenced by the dominant role of the English language and the selection of titles aligning with the social sciences fields in the receiving countries. However, these preliminary remarks shouldn’t prevent other works from refining them. Further research, including archival work or interviews, could provide a more nuanced understanding of these dynamics.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Footnotes<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

[1] It could be argued that at least Esquisse d’une the\u0301orie de la pratique, Le Sens pratique, La Domination masculine, Images d\u2019Alge\u0301rie and Esquisses Alge\u0301riennes should be included in this body of work. But as these books have been written later in time and sometimes have a scope exceeding Algerian society, we excluded them from the study.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

References<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  • Bourdieu, P. (2002) \u201cLes conditions sociales de la circulation internationale des id\u00e9es\u201d, Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales<\/em>, 145, pp. 3-8.<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Bourdieu, P. (1999) \u201cThe Social Conditions of the International Circulation of Ideas.\u201d In Shusterman, R. Bourdieu: a critical reader<\/em>. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 220-228.<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Casanova, P. (1999) La R\u00e9publique mondiale des lettres<\/em>. Paris: Le Seuil.<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Delsaut, R. and Rivi\u00e8re M.-C. (2022) Pierre Bourdieu, une bibliographie<\/em>, Paris: Raisons d\u2019agir.<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Merkel, I. (2022) Terms of Exchange. Brazilian Intellectuals and the French Social Sciences<\/em>. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Pollak, M. (1979) \u201cPaul F. Lazarsfeld, fondateur d’une multinationale scientifique\u201d, Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales<\/em>, 25, pp. 45-59.<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Sapiro, G. and Bustamante, M. (2009) \u201cTranslation as a Measure of International Consecration: Mapping the World Distribution of Bourdieu\u2019s Books in Translation\u201d, Sociologica<\/em>, 2-3.<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Sapiro, G., Leperlier, T. and Brahimi M. A. (2018) \u201cQu’est-ce qu’un champ intellectuel transnational?\u201d, Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales<\/em>, 224, pp. 4-11.<\/span><\/li>\n
  • Vauchez, A. (2013) \u201cLe prisme circulatoire. Retour sur un leitmotiv acad\u00e9mique\u201d, Critique internationale<\/em>, 59, pp. 9-16.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Matthias Fringant and J\u00e9ssica Ronconi As the literature on the transnational circulation of ideas suggests (Bourdieu, 2002; Casanova, 1999; Sapiro, Leperlier, and Brahimi, 2018; Vauchez, 2013), a text’s ability to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":545,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"footnotes":"[{\"content\":\"It could be argued that at least Esquisse d'une th\u00e9orie de la pratique<\/em>, Le Sens pratique<\/em>, La Domination masculine<\/em>, Images d\u2019Alg\u00e9rie<\/em> and Esquisses Alg\u00e9riennes<\/em> should be included in this body of work. But as these books have been written later in time and sometimes have a scope exceeding Algerian society, we excluded them from the study.\",\"id\":\"e32a16c9-2a49-4188-9a65-fd9aaf911933\"}]"},"class_list":["post-702","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/practicalsense.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/practicalsense.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/practicalsense.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/practicalsense.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/practicalsense.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=702"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/practicalsense.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/702\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2658,"href":"https:\/\/practicalsense.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/702\/revisions\/2658"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/practicalsense.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/545"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/practicalsense.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}