Ferdaous Affan
Doctoral researcher at the C²DH
Ferdaous works on the project ‘Media, Empire, and Propaganda: A Multilayer Analysis of Colonial Discourse and Power in Historical Newspapers during the Scramble for Africa (1880-1914)’ under the supervision of Marten Düring
The press has long been a strategic tool in shaping historical narratives and public perception. My thesis aims to examine the role of newspapers as vehicles for colonial discourse and propaganda, and their influence on interactions, rivalries, and power struggles among colonial powers during the Scramble for Africa, with a focus on Morocco from 1880 to 1914. Through a data-driven, large-scale study, my goal is to explore the historical context, key players, significant events, and the role of propaganda in what has been historically labelled as the “Morocco Question”.
My research also delves into the evolution of the media landscape during the Scramble for Africa, and aims to verify arguments suggesting that the press only belatedly participated in colonial propaganda, and that before the end of the 1920s, the press (particularly the French one) paid very little attention to colonial issues. Additionally, through the use of NLP (Natural Language Processing), I want to analyse the prevalent colonial tropes and narratives disseminated in historical newspapers, and their potential contribution to the support of colonial power structures and policies, diplomatic negotiations, conflicts, and treaties shaping colonial rivalry in Morocco.
My aim is also to leverage network analysis and visualisation to identify key actors and central nodes in the dissemination of colonial discourse, to map the information flow within newspapers, to uncover potential relationships of influence and cooperation, and to track the spread of ideas and the evolution of key concepts over time and space.