TREASON OR CHARITY? CHRISTIAN MISSIONS ON TRIAL AND THE DECOLONIZATION OF ALGERIA

2012 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 733-753 ◽  
Author(s):  
Darcie Fontaine
Keyword(s):  
North Africa ◽  
Algerian War ◽  
Complex Relationship ◽  
National Liberation ◽  
Christian Missions ◽  
War Of Independence ◽  
Military Tribunal ◽  
Algerian War Of Independence ◽  
National Liberation Front ◽  
The Military

AbstractThis article explores the role that Christianity played in the decolonization of Algeria and in particular how the complex relationship between Christianity and colonialism under French rule shaped the rhetoric and actions of Christians during the Algerian War of Independence (1954–62). Using the case of a 1957 trial in the military tribunal of Algiers in which twelve Europeans were charged with crimes ranging from distributing propaganda for the National Liberation Front to sheltering suspected communist and nationalist militants, I demonstrate how “Christian” rhetoric became one of the major means through which the conduct of the war and the defense of French Algeria were debated. While conservative defenders of French Algeria claimed that actions such as those of the Christians on trial led to the erasure of Christianity in North Africa, I argue that such actions and moral positions allowed for the continued presence of Christianity in Algeria after independence.

Western Europe, the Second Front in the War of Algerian Independence (1954–1962)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda Amiri
Keyword(s):  
Western Europe ◽  
Algerian War ◽  
General Strategy ◽  
National Liberation ◽  
Military Organization ◽  
Administrative Organization ◽  
War Of Independence ◽  
Algerian War Of Independence ◽  
National Liberation Front ◽  
Human Costs

The Algerian War of Independence took place on two main fronts: Algeria and metropolitan France. In both cases, the National Liberation Front (Front de libération nationale [FLN]) paid little heed to national borders as they sought to internationalize their cause. Serving as the linchpin of Algerian nationalism, immigration was instrumental in the emergence and development of a clandestine organization with totalitarian aspirations: the French Federation of the FLN. Manned by a politico-administrative organization coupled with a military organization, the Federation sought both to combat Algerian opponents in Europe and to bring the struggle for independence to metropolitan France. Algerian immigration thus came under the purvey of the FLN’s general strategy and further spread the conflict to metropolitan France and, by extension, to Western Europe. Although the human costs of the war are still difficult to establish, this does nothing to diminish the long-standing stigma that it continues to bear on French postcolonial society.

scholarly journals Revolutionizing Maghrebi Art to Move Toward a Cultural Identity

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Haider ◽  
Class of 2018
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Contemporary Art ◽  
North Africa ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Artistic Expression ◽  
Algerian War ◽  
War Of Independence ◽  
Algerian War Of Independence ◽  
Happy Marriage ◽  
Tunisian Revolution

The Maghreb, or North Africa west of Egypt, has encountered countless revolutions since the early 1950’s, such as the Algerian War of Independence from 1954 to 1962, the Moroccan protests against King Mohammed VI in 2012, the Tunisian Revolution which forced the exit of President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali , and the Libyan Civil War in which the dictator Muammar Gadhafi was executed by rebels. The steady rise in these political revolts was not simply a rise to sovereignty, however; these revolutions and wars devastated families who could no longer continue their businesses and lives in their homelands, pushing the large-scale diaspora of Maghrebi people into Europe. After years of attempting to assimilate into European communities, Maghrebi immigrants and refugees have been left on their own to discover where they come from and who they identify as. Pushed out of their homes into more unwelcoming territory, they have founded a culture of their own through artistic expression. In a worldwide exhibition tour called Memory, Place, Desire: Contemporary Art of the Maghreb and Maghrebi Diaspora, artists conceive a culture of expression out of the conflicted emotions arising from their immigration. This essay examines how this exhibition and the combination of various elements of different Maghrebi artists’, scholars’ and writers’ work—such as Tahar Ben Jelloun’s The Happy Marriage and Bouchra Khalili’s Mapping Journey Project—embodies collective feelings of displacement, nostalgia, guilt, and loss of identity. 

Memories of a French Migration Crisis

2018 ◽  
pp. 56-72
Author(s):  
Laura Jeanne Sims
Keyword(s):  
Algerian War ◽  
African Origin ◽  
North African ◽  
Structural Racism ◽  
Internment Camps ◽  
Collective Memories ◽  
War Of Independence ◽  
Algerian War Of Independence ◽  
Migration Crisis ◽  
North African Origin

This chapter examines how the French state created a crisis through its management of the arrival and installation of the Harkis in 1962. The Harkis, Algerians of North African origin who supported the French army during the Algerian War of Independence (1954-1962), faced reprisal violence in Algeria at the end of the war and many were forced to migrate with their families to France. In response, French officials attempted to prevent the Harkis from escaping to France and placed some of those who succeeded in internment camps. Comparing the treatment of the Harkis with that of the Pieds-Noirs, the descendants of European settlers in Algeria who likewise fled to France in 1962, highlights the structural racism underlying French perceptions of and reactions to Harki migration. This chapter also explores the ways in which second-generation Harkis have constructed collective memories of the crisis and their attempts to hold the state responsible for its actions.

6. Hybridity

2020 ◽  
pp. 77-90
Author(s):  
Robert J. C. Young
Keyword(s):  
African Americans ◽  
American Music ◽  
Cultural Hybridity ◽  
Traumatic Experiences ◽  
Algerian War ◽  
War Of Independence ◽  
African American Music ◽  
European Culture ◽  
Algerian War Of Independence ◽  
The Us

‘Hybridity’ explains that cultural hybridity can be seen as an expansion of W. E. B. Du Bois’ concept of ‘double consciousness’: a painful incompatibility between how people see themselves and how society sees them only in terms of their race. Nevertheless, this has also formed the basis of the extraordinary cultural creativity of African-Americans. Drawing on cultural memory of their African roots, African-Americans have adapted and transformed aspects of European culture encountered in the US, particularly noticeable in the realm of African-American music. A comparable development of a hybridized culture is considered by tracing the emergence of raï music in 1970s Algeria, following the traumatic experiences of the Algerian War of Independence.

Algerian Nationalism: From the Origins to Algerian War of Independence

2017 ◽  
Vol 97 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-110
Author(s):  
Marisa Fois
Keyword(s):  
Algerian War ◽  
International Context ◽  
Arab Nationalism ◽  
Nationalist Movement ◽  
War Of Independence ◽  
Long Period ◽  
Algerian War Of Independence ◽  
Colonial Order ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Independent Country

Arab nationalism is not a monolithic construct. In the case of Algeria, the nationalist period undoubtedly played a significant role in determining the nature of its nationalist movement, its foundational principles and the nature of the future independent country. It was during the nationalist period that disputes regarding the colonial order, autonomy versus independence and the definition of Algerian identity emerged. The anti-colonial revolution occurred after a long period of gestation, the result of a combination of people’s spontaneous initiative, the action of forces fed by new or existing ideas and the influence of the international context. This article provides an overview of Algerian nationalism—including both Arab and Berber nationalisms—from the 1920s to the 1950s, identifying parties, leaders and currents of thought.

What You See Is What You Get

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-148
Author(s):  
Alexandra Binnenkade
Keyword(s):  
Knowledge Production ◽  
History Textbooks ◽  
Textbook Analysis ◽  
Algerian War ◽  
French History ◽  
War Of Independence ◽  
Multimodal Analysis ◽  
Visual Knowledge ◽  
Algerian War Of Independence ◽  
Verbal Content

French history textbooks occupy a pivotal position in the colonial fracture. They impart difficult knowledge about the Algerian War of Independence, knowledge that impacts the relationships between the communities of memory in France today. Textbook analysis has focused on their verbal content and, recently, in the work of Jo McCormack, on corresponding teaching practices. This article highlights graphic design as one layer of visual knowledge production and primarily contributes to the methodology of textbook analysis with an exemplary multimodal analysis. It reveals a hidden narrative about the postcolonial relationship that is not expressed in words.

scholarly journals Torture of terrorists? Use of torture in a “war against terrorism”: justifications, methods and effects: the case of France in Algeria, 1954–1962

2007 ◽  
Vol 89 (867) ◽  
pp. 543-560 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raphaëlle Branche
Keyword(s):  
Algerian War ◽  
National Liberation ◽  
Nationalist Movement ◽  
Main Form ◽  
True Target ◽  
Conflict Situations ◽  
National Liberation Front ◽  
The Way ◽  
Terrorist Violence

AbstractDuring its war against the armed nationalist movement fighting for Algerian independence (1954–62), France made extensive use of torture, for which the main justification given was the terrorism employed by the National Liberation Front, even though such terrorist violence was neither the nationalists' main form of action nor the French army's true target. Research into the methods used and the aims pursued challenges that justification, shedding light on the way in which torture really operates in a war of this kind, even though the Algerian War has been presented as a model for many subsequent conflict situations.

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