Sacred Rivals

Front matter

Catholic Missions and the Making of Islam in Nineteenth-Century France and Algeria

Joseph W. Peterson

UNIVERSITY PRESS

CHAPTER 5 Conspiracy to Massacre: Liberal Catholics and the Invention of Pan-Islamism 113

CHAPTER 6 Worthy of His Hire: Charles Lavigerie, Algerian Muslims, and Missionary Fundraising 141

CHAPTER 7 Compel Them to Come: Algerian Students and Colonial Racism between France and Algeria 175

Epilogue 201 Notes 209 Bibliography 255

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

It is a pleasure to recognize some of the people who helped make this book a reality. I am thankful to John Merriman at Yale University, not only for his scholarly guidance but also for his friendship. John passed away as this book was making its way through production. He was a deeply generous person—generous with his time; generous in facilitating contact with his innumerable friends in the field of French history; generous in offering his understanding and support. He was well-known across the historical profession and beyond for being a captivating lecturer and a clear and prolific writer. He was also known for his devotion to family, kindness, and lack of pretension. In me, he took a chance on a relatively inexperienced historian of France and faithfully supported me throughout my studies and afterward. I owe him more than I can express. Likewise, Maurice Samuels and Jay Winter at Yale University, and Thomas Kselman at Notre Dame University offered encouragement and constructive suggestions at crucial moments throughout the process of writing this book. I owe them each a debt of gratitude. Adam Tooze and Charles Walton were both also a source of encouragement and support. Miranda Sachs and Grey Anderson both carefully slogged through portions of what became this book and gave valuable feedback.

Many other scholars have offered perceptive comments on individual chapter drafts, at various conferences and workshops—too many thoughtful interventions to recount. An interdisciplinary workshop with other Social Science Research Council dissertation research fellows introduced me to concepts and scholars that became useful in my work. Chapter 1, in particular, benefited from the help of Chantal Verdeil, Carol Harrison, and the reviewers of French Historical Studies, where an earlier version of this chapter (as well as portions of the introduction and epilogue) appeared. Parts of the introduction, chapter 2, and chapter 3 have previously appeared in the Journal of Modern History, where Jan Goldstein and the outside readers made many suggestions for improvement. Some lines and research from chapter 2 also appeared in the Los Angeles Review of Books. Todd Shepard graciously invited me to workshop a section with the history department at Johns Hopkins University, where comments by Faisal Abualhassan and others were thought-provoking and led to some last-minute x SACRED RIVALS but substantive additions. And Julia Clancy-Smith, whose work I have long admired, has responded kindly to my emails, read my work, and encouraged me. A line in the book True France by Herman Lebovics inspired the title of chapter 7. The outside readers both for Oxford University Press and for another academic publisher brought important references to my attention and helped me clarify and strengthen the book’s arguments. Susan Ferber has been a wonderful editor, tightening my prose wherever possible and steadily guiding me and my manuscript through the publication process.

Stephanie Barczewski, Alan Grubb, and Steven Marks at Clemson University were some of my earliest mentors in the historical discipline, and I acknowledge them with deep appreciation. At the University of Mississippi, faculty welcomed and supported me both personally and professionally. For their hospitality and advice, my thanks to Joshua First, Susan Gaunt Stearns, Darren Grem, Frances Kneupper, Theresa Levitt, Alexandra Lindgren-Gibson, Rebecca Marchiel, Peter Thilly, Jeffrey Watt, and Noell Howell Wilson. Paul Polgar kept his door open to answer my many questions. And Marc Lerner, above all, took the time to mentor and include me. Since arriving at the University of Southern Mississippi, I am grateful for the friendship and guidance of Allison Abra and Courtney Luckhardt, the friendship and hospitality of Craig and Amy Carey, and many others. Matthew Casey and Heather Stur even performed the collegial labor of reading some or all of my manuscript and suggesting some final revisions. And David Holt designed a wonderful map for the book.

This project would have been impossible without the help of many archivists. Among them, Père Robert Bonfils of the Society of Jesus, Père François Richard of the Missionaries of Africa (White Fathers), Lam Phan-Thanh at the Archives of the Congregation of the Mission, Odile Lolom at the Œuvres pontificales missionnaires, Julien-Antoine Desforges at the offices of the Œuvre d'Orient, and Lionel Chénedé at the Bibliothèque du Ministère des Affaires étrangères all distinguished themselves by their kindness and patience. I am also thankful for the numerous digital resources and databases that enabled me to access articles and verify bibliographic information, from Gallica to HathiTrust, Worldcat, Google Books, Persée, JSTOR, and more. Many of the resources used in this project were accessed using these sites. The research for this book was made possible by a number of grants: the Clara Levillain Prize at Yale, an International Dissertation Research Fellowship from the Social Science Research Council, a Smith-Richardson Research and Travel Award in International Security Studies, and a MacMillan Center International Dissertation Research Grant. Charley Ellis and Linda Lorimer gave me and my family the extraordinary gift of housing

Acknowledgments xi in our first years in New Haven, allowing us into their home and significantly reducing the financial pressures of graduate school.

I have never struggled with the feelings of isolation described by some who undertake graduate study and the research and writing of an academic work. Many friends and family members have kept me company along the way, have feigned interest in my research, and have distracted me whenever possible. At Yale, the friendship of Aner Barzilay, Miranda Sachs, Kate Brackney, Rachel Johnston-W hite, Sara Silverstein, Grey Anderson, and Ryan and Andrea Patrico meant a great deal to me. Thanks to Audrey Bourriaud for French conversation and help with the finer points of some translations over the years. To Dan and Rebecca, Sam and Sanjana, and our other Whitehall friends: thank you for your companionship and conversation. And friends in our faith community—Nick and Beth, Greg and Linda, James and Kim, Kelly, Rick and Soozie and many others—kept me and my family centered and supported with meals, parenting advice, spiritual guidance, and much more than we can recount or repay.

My late dad, Robert Peterson, was a high school history teacher, administrator, and local historian who wore his learning lightly and enjoyed conversing with anyone. I am thankful for his influence and for the past that still connects us. Special thanks to my mom, Susanna Peterson, my first and most influential teacher, whose spirit of sacrifice, intellectual curiosity, and many other gifts I hope to live up to. Above all, my wife, Jenny, and our daughters, Helen and Harriet, have filled my days with joy, both motivating me to do my work well and helping me not to take my work too seriously. Helen was only an infant one summer years ago when we flew to Paris to begin researching this project. She spent many a tearful night adjusting to the new environment and time zone. Harriet was born in time to endure a similar trial one summer in Rome. One of the first books I cracked open at the Bibliothéque nationale contained this dedication: “My dear children, It is close to your cradles that these Etudes were written, and more than once you interrupted their composition with your cries. I hope that one day you will read them and think of me.” In that same hope, I dedicate this book to my daughters; and to Jenny, a better thinker and writer than I will ever be, with whom I shared those days and nights, and whose love and support has gotten us all through.

Unless otherwise noted, all translations are my own.

Cities @ Mount Lebanon A

Water P SSS Maronites Druzes

À French Catholic Mediterranean, c. 1860. The Maronite and Druze districts are based on F. A. Garnier, Turquie, Syria, Liban, Caucase (Paris: Veuve Jules Renouard, 1862). Cartography by David H. Holt.