La famine de 1866-1868: Anatomie d'une catastrophe et construction médiatique d'un événement

This article analyses how a series of sanitary and food supply crises were represented as a famine by the media towards the end of the Second Empire in France and in the English speaking world. The first section of the article considers the complex history of the crisis while the second section develops an analysis of the manner in which the events of Algeria were reported in the press in metropolitan France and abroad. This article argues that this 'media' campaign used new methods as well as established modes of representation and developed political themes such as apostolic freedom campaign in Algeria as well as new figures of compassion such as the orphans of the famine. New methods went beyond the usual methods of charitable fundraising to stress the sensational circumstances of the famine as well as the fundamental alterity of the victims. Finally the protagonists used more freely the terms humanitarian and humanitarianism, suggesting that this crisis plays a part in the history of humanitarianism.