Algeria Revisited: History, Culture and Identity (Bloomsbury Ethics Book 6)

On 5 July 1962, Algeria became an independent nation, bringing to an end 132 years of French colonial rule. __Algeria Revisited__ provides an opportunity to critically re-examine the colonial period, the iconic war of decolonisation that brought it to an end and the enduring legacies of these years. Given the apparent centrality of violence in this history, this volume asks how we might re-imagine conflict so as to better understand its forms and functions in both the colonial and postcolonial eras. It considers the constantly shifting balance of power between different groups in Algeria and how these have been used to re-fashion colonial relationships. Turning to the postcolonial period, the book explores the challenges Algerians have faced as they have sought to forge an identity as an independent postcolonial nation and how has this process been represented. The roles played by memory and forgetting are highlighted as part of the ongoing efforts by both Algeria and France to grapple with the complex legacies of their prolonged and tumultuous relationship. This interdisciplinary volume sheds light on these and other issues, offering new insights into the history, politics, society and culture of modern Algeria and its historical relationship with France. Cover page 1 Halftitle page 2 Title page 4 Copyright page 5 CONTENTS 6 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 8 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 9 LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS 10 MAP OF ALGERIA 13 INTRODUCTION Revisiting Algeria 14 Part One: Re-imagining Colonial Conflictsand Relationships 17 Part Two: Identity Construction and Contestation 20 Part Three: Remembering Algeria 24 Notes 25 PART ONE Re-imagining Colonial Conflicts and Relationships 30 CHAPTER ONE Criminalizing Dissent: Policing Banditry in the Constantinois, 1914–18 32 Notes 46 CHAPTER TWO The Young Algerians and the Question of the Muslim Draft, 1900–14 52 From mercenaries to conscripts 54 Conscription and the Young Algerians 57 Conclusion: rethinking assimilation 63 Notes 64 CHAPTER THREE ‘Between Two Worlds’: Emir Khaled and the Young Algerians at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century in Algeria 69 The emergence of the Young Algerians 70 Emir Khaled’s political role 76 Internal tensions 79 An unattainable emancipation ‘under the aegis of France’ 80 Conclusion 82 Notes 84 CHAPTER FOUR Weapons of Mass Representation: Algerians in the French Parliament, 1958–62 92 ‘The ill-elected’: from the May ‘revolution’ to the elections of November 1958 95 Allegories of Algeria 97 Disloyal loyalists 99 Ignored and ejected 101 Conclusion 103 Notes 104 PART TWO Identity Construction and Contestation 110 CHAPTER FIVE Individual and Collective Identity in Algerian Francophone Literature: Jean Sénac’s ‘Poetry on All Fronts’ 112 The contested identity of the pied-noir writer 113 The ambiguities of a ‘baton-passing’ literature 117 The fight for the liberation of the homosexual body 120 Conclusion 126 Notes 126 CHAPTER SIX Algerian Female Identity Re- constitution and Colonial Language: A Postcolonial Malaise in Assia Djebar’s L’Amour, la fantasia 131 The ambivalence of postcolonial identity 134 En/gendering subjectivity 138 Recasting the French language 142 Notes 145 CHAPTER SEVEN ‘Encounters’ of Frustration and Hope in the Writing of Maïssa Bey 148 Corpus 149 I. Encounters with history: the past in the present 151 II. Discursive prejudices as oppositional encounter 155 III. Encounter as disillusionment: the Algerian people and their state 157 IV. Linguistic and literary encounters: nourishing hope 159 Conclusion 162 Notes 162 CHAPTER EIGHT On the Shifting Significance of ‘Algerian Cinema’ as a Category of Analysis 168 Eight elements that participate in the construction of national cinema 169 Algerian cinema in Algeria: giving meaning to the inability to live up to the ideals of the Algerian Revolution 171 Algerian cinema from without 177 Conclusion 180 Notes 181 CHAPTER NINE The Algerian Woman in Conflict in The Battle of Algiers (Gillo Pontecorvo, 1966) 185 Dominant images of Algerian women 187 ‘A taste for the secret’ 190 The secret Algerian woman in action 194 Conclusion 198 Notes 199 PART THREE Remembering Algeria 204 CHAPTER TEN The Entangled Politics of Postcolonial Commemoration 206 Notes 219 CHAPTER ELEVEN Passing the Torch: Memory Transmission and Activism within the Pied-Noir Community Fifty Years after Algerian Independence 225 National commemorations of 1962 226 The development of pied-noir activism 229 Pied-noir memory activism in 2012 231 Transmitting the pied-noir past 234 The future of pied-noir activism 239 Notes 242 CONCLUSION Culture as War by Other Means: Community, Conflict and Cultural Revolution, 1967–81 248 Notes 262 INDEX 266 Map of Algeria -- Introduction: Revisiting Algeria / Rabah Aissaoui (University of Leicester, UK) and Claire Eldridge (University of Southampton, UK) -- Part 1: Revisiting Conflict -- 1. Criminalising Dissent : Policing Banditry in the Constantinois, 1914-1918 / Samuel Kalman (St. Francis Xavier University, Canada) -- 2. Between Two Worlds : Emir Khaled and the Jeunes Algériens at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century / Rabah Aissaoui -- 3. The Algerian Woman in Conflict in The Battle of Algiers / Sophie Bélot (University of Sheffield, UK) -- 4. Culture as War by Other Means : Community, Conflict, and Algeria's Cultural Revolution / James McDougall (University of Oxford, UK) -- Part 2: Re-imagining Colonial Relationships -- 5. The Young Algerians and the Question of the Muslim Draft, 1900-1914 / Michelle Mann (Brandeis University, USA) -- 6. Weapons of Mass Representation : Algerians in the French Parliament, 1958-1962 / Arthur Asseraf (University of Oxford, UK) -- 7. Making Algerians Eurafricans? : Imagining Algeria in French Late-Colonial Projects / Stephen Tyre (University of St Andrews, UK) -- Part 3: Postcolonial Identity Construction and Contestation -- 8. Collective and Individual Identity in Algerian Francophone Literature : Jean Senac's "Poetry on all fronts" / Blandine Valfort (Université de Lyon II, France) -- 9. Algerian Female Identity Re-constitution and Colonial Language : a Postcolonial Malaise in Assia Djebar's L'Amour, la Fantasia / Rachida Yassine (Ibn Zohr University, Morocco) -- 10. "Encounter," Frustration and Hope in the writings of Maïssa Bey / Samira Farhoud (St. Thomas University, Canada) -- 11. On the Shifting Significance of "Algerian Cinema" as a Category of Analysis / Patricia Caillé (Université de Strasbourg, France) -- Part 4: Remembering Algeria -- 12. Repatriating the Duc d'Orléans : The Entangled Politics of Postcolonial Commemoration / Jennifer Sessions (University of Iowa, USA) -- 13. Passing the Torch : Memory Activism within the Pied-Noir and Harki Communities Fifty Years after Independence / Claire Eldridge -- Conclusion: Algerian History in a Comparative, Transnational and Emotional Perspective / Martin Evans (University of Sussex, UK) "On 5 July 1962, Algeria became an independent nation, bringing to an end 132 years of French colonial rule. Algeria Revisited provides an opportunity to critically re-examine the colonial period, the iconic war of decolonisation that brought it to an end and the enduring legacies of these years. Given the apparent centrality of violence in this history, this volume asks how we might re-imagine conflict so as to better understand its forms and functions in both the colonial and postcolonial eras. It considers the constantly shifting balance of power between different groups in Algeria and how these have been used to re-fashion colonial relationships. Turning to the postcolonial period, the book explores the challenges Algerians have faced as they have sought to forge an identity as an independent postcolonial nation and how has this process been represented. The roles played by memory and forgetting are highlighted as part of the ongoing efforts by both Algeria and France to grapple with the complex legacies of their prolonged and tumultuous relationship. This interdisciplinary volume sheds light on these and other issues, offering new insights into the history, politics, society and culture of modern Algeria and its historical relationship with France"-- Provided by publisher