Research Profile

Dónal Hassett

Biography

Dr Dónal Hassett is Senior Lecturer in French who teaches on topics relating to the history, the politics and the societies of France and the wider Francophone world.

Originally from Dublin, he holds a B.A. and M. Phil in European Studies from Trinity College. He completed his doctorate on the legacies of the Great War in colonial Algeria at the European University Institute in Florence in June 2016. He has lived, studied and worked in France, Spain, Italy, the UK and Ireland and has also carried out research in Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria.

His research has two main focuses: the history of the French Empire, in particular North Africa, and the legacies of conflict, especially veteran studies. He has published widely on these topics and his first monograph, Mobilizing Memory: The Great War and the Language of Politics in Colonial Algeria, 1918-1939, appeared in August 2019 with Oxford University Press.

He is also interested in analysing Ireland's place in colonial history and thinking comparatively across colonial contexts.

He previously held the position of Lecturer in French Political and Cultural History at the University of Bristol.

He is a committed supporter of the Dublin football and hurling team

Research Interests

My research interests are focused in the areas of French Colonial History and Veteran Studies.
I am primarily interested in how those who participated in military conflicts in the colonial world grappled with the legacies of war in peacetime. My work seeks to bring together the approaches used by historians of the colonial word with the analyses of those who study veterancy to lay the foundations for a global history of the war veteran.

I am a specialist of French colonialism in Algeria but also have wider interests elsewhere in the former French Empire and indeed in other former colonial contexts. I have written widely on the legacies of war in Algeria and across the French colonies. I am currently putting the finishing touches to my monograph, Mobilising Memory: The Great War and the Language of Politics in Colonial Algeria, 1918-1939, which is set to appear with Oxford University Press next year. 

In the future, I plan to develop a broader project on the history of veterancy in the colonial context, expanding the temporal and geographic borders of my research by looking beyond the First World War and beyond Algeria.

Publications

Books

 YearPublication
(2019)Mobilising Memory: The Great War and the Language of Politics in Colonial Algeria, 1918-1939.
Dónal Hassett (2019) Mobilising Memory: The Great War and the Language of Politics in Colonial Algeria, 1918-1939. Oxford: Oxford University Press. [Details]

Book Chapters

 YearPublication
(2022)'The Example of Valiant Little Ireland The Irish Revolution in Algerian Nationalist Thought'
Patrick Mannion and Fearghal McGarry (2022) 'The Example of Valiant Little Ireland The Irish Revolution in Algerian Nationalist Thought' In: The Irish Revolution: A Global History. New York: New York University Press. [Details]
(2022)'Must Leopold Fall?: The Renovation of the AfricaMuseum and Belgium’s Place in International Debates on the Decolonisation of Public Heritage'
Dónal Hassett (2022) 'Must Leopold Fall?: The Renovation of the AfricaMuseum and Belgium’s Place in International Debates on the Decolonisation of Public Heritage' In: Unfinished Histories: Empire and Postcolonial Resonance in Central Africa and Belgium. Leuven: Leuven University Press. [DOI] [Details]
(2020)'An Independent Path: Algerian Nationalists and the League Against Imperialism'
Michele Louro, Carolien Stolte, Heather Streets-Salter, and Sana Tannoury-Karam (2020) 'An Independent Path: Algerian Nationalists and the League Against Imperialism' In: The League Against Imperialism: Lives and Afterlives. Leiden: Leiden University Press. [Details]
(2018)'Reinventare l’impero all’ombra della Grande Guerra. Cittadinanza imperiale e “momento wilsoniano” nell’Algeria coloniale'
Dónal Hassett (2018) 'Reinventare l’impero all’ombra della Grande Guerra. Cittadinanza imperiale e “momento wilsoniano” nell’Algeria coloniale' In: Sara Lorenzini and Simone A. Bellezza (eds). Sudditi o cittadini? L’evoluzione delle appartenenze imperiali nella Prima guerra mondiale. Roma: Viella. [Details]
(2018)'A Tale of Two Monuments: The War Memorials of Oran and Algiers and Commemorative Culture in Colonial and Post-Colonial Algeria'
Dónal Hassett (2018) 'A Tale of Two Monuments: The War Memorials of Oran and Algiers and Commemorative Culture in Colonial and Post-Colonial Algeria' In: Ben Wellings and Shanti Sumartojo (eds). Commemorating Race and Empire in the First World War Centenary. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press and Presses Universitaires de Provence. [Details]
(2016)'Defining Imperial Citizenship in the Shadow of World War I: Equality and Difference in the Debates around Post-War Colonial Reform in Algeria'
Dónal Hassett (2016) 'Defining Imperial Citizenship in the Shadow of World War I: Equality and Difference in the Debates around Post-War Colonial Reform in Algeria' In: Small Nations and Colonial Peripheries in World War I. leiden: Brill. [Details]

Peer Reviewed Journals

 YearPublication
(2021)'Round table: Decolonising Irish history? Possibilities, challenges, practices'
Dháibhéid, Caoimhe Nic and Akhtar, Shahmima and Hassett, Dónal and Kenny, Kevin and McAtackney, Laura and McBride, Ian and McMahon, Timothy G. and Ohlmeyer, Jane (2021) 'Round table: Decolonising Irish history? Possibilities, challenges, practices'. Irish Historical Studies, 45 (168) [DOI] [Details]
(2019)'Acknowledging or Occluding “The System of Violence”?: The Representation of Colonial Pasts and Presents in Belgium’s AfricaMuseum'
Dónal Hassett (2019) 'Acknowledging or Occluding “The System of Violence”?: The Representation of Colonial Pasts and Presents in Belgium’s AfricaMuseum'. Journal of Genocide Research, 0 (0):1-20   [DOI] [Details]
(2019)'Introduction: writing the history of colonial veterans of the Great War'
Dónal Hassett and Michelle Moyd (2019) 'Introduction: writing the history of colonial veterans of the Great War'. 10 (1):1-11   [DOI] [Details]
(2019)'Catering for and controlling subject veterans: the Comité des Amitiés Africaines and North African ex-servicemen in the interwar period’'
Dónal Hassett (2019) 'Catering for and controlling subject veterans: the Comité des Amitiés Africaines and North African ex-servicemen in the interwar period’'. 10 (1):68-87   [DOI] [Details]
(2019)'Colonialism and Contested Cultures of Victory in the French Empire of the 1920s'
Dónal Hassett (2019) 'Colonialism and Contested Cultures of Victory in the French Empire of the 1920s'. Journal of Contemporary History, 54 (4):759-779   [DOI] [Details]
(2018)'Contested commemoration: The Great War, memory and politics in contemporary Algeria'
Donal Hassett (2018) 'Contested commemoration: The Great War, memory and politics in contemporary Algeria'. International Journal of Francophone Studies, 21 (3-4):209-231 [DOI] [Details]
(2018)'Proud colons, proud Frenchmen: settler colonialism and the extreme right in interwar Algeria'
Dónal Hassett (2018) 'Proud colons, proud Frenchmen: settler colonialism and the extreme right in interwar Algeria'. Settler Colonial Studies, 8 (2):195-212   [DOI] [Details]
(2016)'Pupilles de L'empire: Debating the Provision for Child Victims of the Great War in the French Empire'
Hassett, Dónal (2016) 'Pupilles de L'empire: Debating the Provision for Child Victims of the Great War in the French Empire'. French Historical Studies, 39 (2):315-345   [Details]

Book Reviews

 YearPublication
(2022)The New White Race: Settler Colonialism and the Press in French Algeria, 1860- 1914.
Dónal Hassett (2022) The New White Race: Settler Colonialism and the Press in French Algeria, 1860- 1914. Book Reviews [DOI] [Details]
(2022)Les Ratonnades d’Alger, 1956: Une histoire de racisme colonial.
Dónal Hassett (2022) Les Ratonnades d’Alger, 1956: Une histoire de racisme colonial. Book Reviews   [DOI] [Details]
(2019)Translating Frantz Fanon across continents and languages.
Dónal Hassett (2019) Translating Frantz Fanon across continents and languages. Book Reviews   [DOI] [Details]
(2019)Les communistes et l'Algérie: Des origines à la guerre d’indépendance, 1920–1962.
Dónal Hassett (2019) Les communistes et l'Algérie: Des origines à la guerre d’indépendance, 1920–1962. Book Reviews   [DOI] [Details]

Teaching Activities

Teaching Interests

I am interested in teaching on the history, politics and societies of France and the Francophone world.

I am currently co-teaching a number of courses with colleagues in the department on topics including Postcolonial France, Revolution, Decolonisation and the Arab Spring in Algeria and Critical Concepts in the Language and Interpretation of French Law.

I teach two courses directly related to my own research interests: France and the First World War: A Social and Cultural History and The History of the Extreme Right in France.

I also teach two Literary Seminars, one on the topic of 'The Marginalised of the Republic' and the other on 'Scandal and Struggle in 20th Century France'.

Contact details

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Department of French

Room 1.22 Block A, First Floor, O'Rahilly Building, University College Cork

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