The End of Empire in the Maghreb

2017 ◽  
pp. 298-316
Author(s):  
Sylvie Thénault
Keyword(s):  
Algerian War ◽  
North African ◽  
French Society ◽  
French Empire ◽  
Subsequent Formation ◽  
War Of Independence ◽  
The North ◽  
Sequence Of Events ◽  
Algerian War Of Independence

This chapter devotes itself to explaining the dichotomy in the paths to decolonization followed by the French territories in the North African Maghreb: Morocco and Tunisia, compared to Algeria. The seminal event of the end of the French Empire, the Algerian war of independence was terribly bloody, and its most extreme acts of violence were concentrated within Algeria. Its impact on French society was profound: the long-term engagement of French troops was socially transformative, the political repercussions were huge, and Metropolitan France became a secondary theatre of the conflict. There is a pronounced imbalance in the volume of research produced on Algeria compared to that generated on Tunisia and Morocco. The sequence of events at the end of empire in North Africa and the subsequent formation of sovereign states supports an approach that pays due attention to the particular histories of the three territories, focusing chiefly on each one’s particularities.

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.

Anglo-Saxon Attitudes: The Algerian War of Independence in Retrospect

1994 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-235 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Brett
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Algerian War ◽  
National Society ◽  
Anglo Saxon ◽  
North African ◽  
War Of Independence ◽  
Algerian War Of Independence ◽  
History Of ◽  
African Writers ◽  
High Level

The English-language literature on Algeria generated by the Algerian war of independence and continuing down to the present forms an intellectual as well as linguistic tradition apart from the much more voluminous literature in French. Despite the involvement of French and North African writers who have published in English, it is largely the creation of outsiders looking at the country from British and North American points of view, according to current fashions. The war of independence remains central to its concerns as the great transformer of a colonial into a national society, however that transformation is to be understood. The qualified approval of the nationalist cause by Alistair Horne contrasts sharply with Elie Kedourie's denunciation. Most judgements have been based on the outcome, the political, social and economic performance of the regime, considered as good or bad. Since the death of Boumedienne in 1978, they have tended to be unfavourable. Their largely secular analyses, however, have been called in question since 1988 by the rise of political Islam, which has called for a reappraisal of the whole subject of the war and its consequences. Such a reappraisal is still in the future. Meanwhile Ernest Gellner, in dispute with Edward Said over the question of Orientalism, has raised the matter of the role of Islam in the history of Algeria to a high level of generalization, at which the war itself may, paradoxically, return to the forefront of international scholarly concern.

Unearthing the father’s secret: postmemory and identity in harki and pied noir narratives

2018 ◽  
pp. 153-177
Author(s):  
Véronique Machelidon
Keyword(s):  
Personal Growth ◽  
The Other ◽  
Algerian War ◽  
French Society ◽  
Literary Works ◽  
War Of Independence ◽  
Algerian War Of Independence ◽  
The Individual

Focusing on memories of the Algerian War of Independence, this article follows historian Benjamin Stora’s call to find common memorial spaces and bridge the gap between different memory groups involved in a traumatic past. It compares two literary works from different postcolonial constituencies, one written by a harki daughter, Dalila Kerchouche, and the other by a pied-noir son, Thierry Galdeano, both of which have at their core the search for the father’s secret linked to his role in the war. The discovery of the father’s mystery takes each narrator-protagonist on a postmemorial quest that results in personal growth, helping the two protagonists find their identity and place within French society. The article argues that only the pied noir son performs the reconciliation between harki and pied noir experiences, thus pointing to the possible creation of the sort of memorial bridge that can end the individual trauma and collective amnesia that are the postcolonial legacies of the Algerian War of Independence.

scholarly journals Policing the French Empire

2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Samuel Kalman
Keyword(s):  
Frantz Fanon ◽  
Algerian War ◽  
French Empire ◽  
War Of Independence ◽  
Algerian War Of Independence

Commenting on the colonial setting in its twilight during the Algerian War of Independence, Frantz Fanon famously observed: “Le travail du colon est de rendre impossible jusqu’aux rêves de liberté du colonisé. Le travail du colonisé est d’imaginer toutes les combinaisons éventuelles pour anéantir le colon (the task of the colonizer is to make impossible even the dreams of liberty of the colonized. The task of the colonized is to conceive of every possible strategy to wipe out the colonizer).”

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.

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