Abstract EN:

Indeavouring to provide with a genealogy of colonial occupation and government apparatuses towardsalterity, this work is set up on a historical continuum that runs from the French conquest of Algeria to contemporary forms of immigration control, where are best shown originating conditions and succesiveadjustments of militaro-pastoral power exerted by the « social officers » of the colonial army in Algeria,Marocco and still further in the metropolis. It is willingly pursuing on grounded fields the projects of agovernmentality history by Michel Foucault, questioning the mecanisms at work within the impersonation ofa character inherent to our political modernity : the interior alien. Through its singular historicity, thischaracter helps us to think about « alter-populations’ » modes of subjection, beyond the limits of nationalversus stranger. From the « indigen » to the « muslim », from the « French muslim from Algeria » to the « immigrated worker », a whole cluster of enunciation can be found into archives. This in turn helps to traceback a colonial genealogy of power that cannot be reduced to the sheer normalisation of bodies andbehaviors, because it aims at transforming the mindsets of the governed people, which we might describe as a « psychopolitical » power.