The Discovery of the Third World: Decolonization and the Rise of the New Left in France, c.1950–1976 - Hardcover

Kalter, Christoph

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1107074517 ISBN 13: 9781107074514

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2016

Synopsis

An innovative account of how the concept of the 'Third World' emerged in France from the mid-1950s through to the mid-1970s alongside a new leftist movement. The book reveals how, in an age of Cold War, decolonization and development thinking, French activists rose to prominence within the political Left, established transnational contacts, and developed a new global consciousness. Using the 'Third World' concept to reinvigorate anticolonial solidarity, they supported the Algerian FLN, the Cuban Revolution, and the liberation movements in Vietnam and Portuguese Africa. Insisting on the postcolonial character of France after the end of empire, they promoted new forms of cooperation with developing countries and immigrant workers. Examining the work of French leftists in publications such as Partisans, parties such as the PSU, and associations like the CEDETIM, Kalter sheds new light on a crucial moment in France's history, the global contexts that prompted it, and its worldwide ramifications.

About this title

About the Author

Christoph Kalter is a historian of Western Europe in its global connections. Currently Assistant Professor of Global History at Freie Universität Berlin, he was awarded a Ph.D. in Modern History from that same university (2010). His dissertation on Third World solidarity and the radical Left in France has received the Walter-Markov-Prize granted by the European Network in Universal and Global History (ENIUGH). He has since held a fellowship at the University of Berkeley, California, and published on French and Portuguese decolonization in journals such as Geschichte und Gesellschaft and WerkstattGeschichte. He is currently working on his second book, which analyzes postcolonial migrations to Portugal.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1107074517
• ISBN 13: 9781107074514
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 516