For the past twenty years or so, I’ve had two careers: journalist and historian. As a journalist, I travel the world to bring back stories that appear in Le Monde diplomatique. At the same time, I conduct long-term investigations into France’s colonial past in Algeria and Vietnam. Between 2023 and 2026, I devoted a great deal of time to a project on Indochinese Workers in the Dordogne, which builds on the work I’ve been doing for nearly twenty years on the Indochinese workers who were forcibly recruited in 1939 to work in the arms factories in metropolitan France. As for Algeria, I’m a bit stuck since the Algerian authorities are still refusing to grant me a visa. Otherwise, I continue to give talks at middle and high schools throughout France—and sometimes in prisons. To stay updated on my activities, click here.
Indochinese Workers in France
In 1939, the French government recruited 20,000 Vietnamese peasants to send them to the armaments factories in mainland France.
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Pieds-noirs in Algeria
What was the real fate of the Pieds-noirs in Algeria after Independence? 200,000 of them decided to stay in their country.
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Harkis in Algeria
It is generally thought that in 1962, the harkis either managed to flee to France or were massacred. This idea is false.
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Le Monde diplomatique
As a field reporter, I travel to different parts of the world, trying to understand people's lives, their joys, and their sufferings.
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Talks in high schools and middle schools
For the past ten years, I have been giving talks in middle and high schools, either as a journalist or as a historian.
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