scholarly journals Policing the French Empire

2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Samuel Kalman

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).”

Author(s):  
Sylvie Thénault

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.


Author(s):  
Arthur Asseraf

The epilogue extends the story to the Algerian War of Independence (1954–62) and beyond to the role of news in independent Algeria and post-1962 France. It summarizes the findings of the previous chapters and ties them together by reconsidering the writings of Frantz Fanon on radio and the development of television in the last years of colonial rule. While nationalists hoped that independence would bring uniformity between the media and the people, no such thing happened. This should lead us to consider whether news under colonialism was particularly exceptional, and when, if ever, the news stopped being electric. It ends by considering what might be a new relationship between the historian and the news.


Author(s):  
Laura Jeanne Sims

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.


Author(s):  
Robert J. C. Young

‘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.


2017 ◽  
Vol 97 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-110
Author(s):  
Marisa Fois

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.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-148
Author(s):  
Alexandra Binnenkade

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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