Flâneurs in the Orient: The Colonial Maghrib and the Origins of the French Modernist Tradition

Abstract

The rebuilding of Paris during the years of the Second Empire (1852–1870) has occupied a central place in solidifying this modern identity. Baron George Haussmann’s state-sponsored urbanization projects have served as the backdrop against which the drama of modernity unfolded. Walter Benjamin’s influential studies on the genesis of urban modernism identified a familiar nineteenth-century Parisian icon—the flâneur—as one of modernism’s chief protagonists. Yet in privileging this Parisian flâneur, scholars have overlooked the role of France’s colony in Algeria in constructing this ideal. This article seeks to reframe this notion by emphasizing the Algerian influences on French modernity.