Professor of Modern and Contemporary History at the University of Rouen, Raphaëlle Branche has been extensively working on colonial violence, focusing on French Algeria.
In her work, she examines the issues of illegal violence such as rape, torture, summary executions mainly from the point of view of the perpetrators. She has also addressed more specifically the issue of prisoners during the French-Algerian war (1954-1962).
Her current research is studying the French soldiers’ narratives on their war experience and the impact of these narratives on their families.
Website : raphaellebranche.fr
Her last publications in English are :
“Gender and Wars of liberation”, in Karen Hagenmann & alii (eds), The Oxford Handbook: Gender, War and the Western World since 1650, Oxford, Oxford University Press, about to be published…
“The best fellagha hunter is the French of North African descent” (General Challe). Harkis in French Algeria”, in Brian Hughes and Fergus Robson (eds), Unconventional Warfare From Antiquity to the Present Day, Basingstoke, Palgrave/Macmillan, 2017, p.47-66.
Combatants of Muslim Origin in European Armies in the Twentieth Century. Far From Jihad (coedited with Xavier Bougarel et Cloé Drieu), London : Bloomsbury, 2017, 238 p.