The orientalism of french Arabists is a highly controversial point because of their involvment in colonial expansionism; it has for this reason not been an historical scope of investigation yet. Through an analysis of their careers, their publications and intellectual positions, this book presents the political and scholarly issues of their action.

By taking into account the most recent historiographical debates, this book rethinks the history of the republican school by examining the relationship that the French school – and more generally the process of « nationalization » of the school system – maintained with on-going experiences in the Western countries.