Albert Memmi's classic work stands as one of the most powerful and psychologically penetrating studies of colonial oppression ever written. Dissecting the minds of both the oppressor and the oppressed, Memmi reveals truths about the colonial situation and struggle that are as relevant today as they were five decades ago.

Nobel Laureate Nadine Gordimer's new critical Introduction draws Memmi into the 21st century by reflecting on his achievements and highlighting his omissions. In doing so she opens new avenues of enquiry for scholars and students, and exposes new directions for activists seeking a more just world order in our neo-colonial age.

With the fires of war, terrorism and protest burning around the globe, never has Memmi's work been such relevant and necessary reading.

About the author(s)

Albert Memmi was born in Tunis in 1920. During the Second World War he was arrested and interned in a forced-labour, from which he eventually managed to escape. After the War, he studied at the University of Algiers and at the Sorbonne in Paris, where he received his degree in philosophy. He has taught both in Tunis and Paris, where he now lives.

Contents

Preface (1965) * Introduction by Jean-Paul Sartre * New Introduction by Nadine Gordimer * Part One: Portrait of the Colonizer - Does the Colonial Exist? * the Colonizer Who Refuses * the Colonizer Who Accepts * Part Two: Portrait of the Colonized - Mythical Portrait of the Colonized * Situations of the Colonized * The Two Answers of the Colonized * Part Three: Conclusion