ABSTRACT
LouisAlthusser, PierreBourdieu,Michel Foucault and Jean-François Lyotard are all border intellectuals whose names are inextricably linked with the revolution within social theory in the twentieth century. Respectively, they have left an indelible mark on theory and challenged prevailing orthodoxy. Significantly, each in their own way was an insider and outsider within their own society. Although only Althusser was born in Algeria, all four were shaped by events there. Bourdieu and Lyotard spent a considerable time in the colony and this without doubt marked their subsequent writings. Foucault was not directly associated with Algeria but no scholar of his generation could escape the ravages of the French colonial project and its effects on
the metropole. Indeed, in Foucault’s case, his transformation and politicisation came about during a self-imposed exile in the neighbouring colony of Tunisia.
