Gender – Domination – Visuality
Pierre Bourdieu's sociological view
Die Ausstellung zeigt thematisch ausgewählte Fotografien aus dem Nachlass des französischen Soziologen Pierre Bourdieu, die nach seiner Aussage seine wichtigsten theoretischen Konzepte visualisierten. Bourdieu is one of the most influential voices in international sociology of the 20th century. His major works, such as The Subtle Differences (1979) and The Misery of the World (1997), are widely received. However, Bourdieu’s early ethnographic research in Algeria between 1957 and 1961, which was conducted during the Algerian War of Independence (1954-1962) under French colonial rule, is less well known. Here, his camera and the view through the viewfinder accompany him at every turn in his diverse empirical studies.
In hundreds of photographs, he captured the traces of a traditional way of life destroyed by colonial violence and the consequences of the uprooting caused by the brutal forced resettlement of large sections of the population. Bourdieu’s sociological perspective focused in particular on how gender-specific everyday practices and role models manifest themselves in different social contexts – for example at work or in social activities in private and public spaces. These early observations of physical and social behaviors later became an important source of inspiration for his habitus theory and the study Die männliche Herrschaft. The exhibition therefore works with a systematic combination of image and text to make this connection clearly visible.
The exhibition is complemented by the video work created in 2024 for the Centre Pompidou in Paris by the French-Algerian artist Katia Kameli (*1973). The film was made on the occasion of the presentation of Pierre Bourdieu’s Algeria paintings there and expands on them with a contemporary cinematic reflection. In her documentary work “L’Enquête Bourdieu. Le Ricochet des Images” (“The Bourdieu Investigation. The Ricochet of Images”, OmU English), Kameli follows Bourdieu’s traces in Algeria and opens up a new, audiovisual perspective on his photographic and sociological work for the exhibition.
On 19. and November 20, 2025 the first Bourdieu Lectures of Bielefeld University took place in the Kunsthalle Bielefeld. They form an annual symposium series organized and hosted in close cooperation with the University of Bielefeld, Zeppelin University (Friedrichshafen), the Freiburg University of Education and the Fondation Pierre Bourdieu.
Details can be found on the website of the Fondation Bourdieu.
More information on the life and work of Pierre Bourdieu can be found on the website of the Fondation Bourdieu.
In 1955, the young Parisian philosopher Pierre Bourdieu was recruited into the Algerian War of Independence. Largely on his own, he learns the tools of empirical research. He stayed in Algeria for several years, documenting people’s lives, their postures, their division of labour and social roles between men and women as well as the changes brought about by war and modernization with his camera and notebook. The photographs and field notes show how Bourdieu combined observation, image and theory. For him, seeing was always also thinking.
The experiences he gained in Algeria changed his view of the social world. Step by step, through observation and the stories of the people he meets, he also develops a new understanding of himself and his origins in the French provinces. From these observations, Bourdieu develops key concepts such as habitus, i.e. the totality of a person’s disposition that determines their position in social space, and capital, i.e. the recognized values such as education, money or knowledge that enable advancement and relegation.
This article was produced by the organizers of the Bourdieu Lectures.
The texts were written by: Ullrich Bauer, Uwe Bittlingmayer, Charlotte Hüser, Lilli Kim Schreiber & Franz Schultheis.
Recorded voice: Franz Schultheis.
The young Pierre Bourdieu grew up in the rural environment of the French Béarn at the foot of the Pyrenees. During his field research in Kabylia, he repeatedly discovered structures similar to those in his home country. An everyday and economic culture characterized by strict morals and a marriage market changed by social upheavals. These observations motivated him to develop an anthropology that extended beyond the northern Mediterranean. His images, for example of field work, which are often almost indistinguishable between Algeria and Béarn, document the process of gradual peasantization in both regions and are an expression of loss on both sides of the Mediterranean.
This article was produced by the organizers of the Bourdieu Lectures.
The texts were written by: Ullrich Bauer, Uwe Bittlingmayer, Charlotte Hüser, Lilli Kim Schreiber & Franz Schultheis.
Recorded voice: Franz Schultheis.
Please take a close look at these photographs. Pierre Bourdieu shows a society full of contrasts and fractures. We see a destroyed traditional culture next to modern city districts: the ruins of the Kabyle way of life, a North African culture thousands of years old, next to the urban worlds built by the colonial rulers with their buildings, stores and lifestyles. This imported modernity seems artificially constructed. Bourdieu makes it clear that a foreign order was introduced by force. The smooth facades do not hide the fact that society is deeply torn by colonial power interests. His images make it clear how colonialism divides cultures and traps people between worlds
This article was produced by the organizers of the Bourdieu Lectures.
The texts were written by: Ullrich Bauer, Uwe Bittlingmayer, Charlotte Hüser, Lilli Kim Schreiber & Franz Schultheis.
Recorded voice: Franz Schultheis.
In Algeria, Bourdieu mainly photographed and documented the “Nif” as a principle of honor for men. To walk through life with an upright posture, or “Hexis” as Bourdieu calls it, and never to lose face. Men predominantly perform their work in an upright posture, whether walking, acting or in public life – an expression of honor and visibility. In contrast, the woman fulfills her own duties as a counterpart, which take place in a bent or downward position, such as fetching water or other domestic activities. Many of Bourdieu’s pictures illustrate men standing in the center of the picture, whereas women often appear in a crouched position, less visible and in a serving function.
This article was produced by the organizers of the Bourdieu Lectures.
The texts were written by: Ullrich Bauer, Uwe Bittlingmayer, Charlotte Hüser, Lilli Kim Schreiber & Franz Schultheis.
Recorded voice: Franz Schultheis.
In all his field research, for example on the layout of the house, architecture, the division of labour between the sexes or ethics and behavioural norms, Bourdieu recognizes the gender relationship as a central structural principle of Kabyle culture. This dualism also shapes the cosmological order, which divides the categorization of social life into cold and warm or dry and wet, for example, and assigns female and male virtues, such as the inward-looking domestic life of women and the predominantly public life of men. French colonization, whose representatives were hardly familiar with these practices and rituals, changed Algerian society, especially traditional Kabyle society.
This article was produced by the organizers of the Bourdieu Lectures.
The texts were written by: Ullrich Bauer, Uwe Bittlingmayer, Charlotte Hüser, Lilli Kim Schreiber & Franz Schultheis.
Recorded voice: Franz Schultheis.
Instead of images of war, Bourdieu shows colonialism in a different way in his photographs. For example, he captures abandoned, uninhabitable houses and documents the lives of numerous Algerians, millions of whom were forcibly resettled in camps. The portraits reveal the deep insecurity that this experience left behind. People often seem torn inside, as if they are caught between two worlds. Bourdieu’s sociological view makes the traces of uprooting, loss and adaptation visible.
This article was produced by the organizers of the Bourdieu Lectures.
The texts were written by: Ullrich Bauer, Uwe Bittlingmayer, Charlotte Hüser, Lilli Kim Schreiber & Franz Schultheis.
Recorded voice: Franz Schultheis.
