Mobilizing memory : the Great War and the language of politics in colonial Algeria

Abstract

This book provides the first detailed account of the political legacies of the Great War in colonial Algeria. Drawing on archival and press sources from both sides of the Mediterranean, it traces the ways in which political actors from across interwar Algerian society mobilised the memory of the conflict to legitimise their visions of a just post-war order. At the heart of this book is the contention that the First World War gave rise to a common political language that transcended boundaries of race, religion, class, ideology, and gender in the colony. The book’s analysis of a broad range of debates in interwar Algeria illustrates how most political actors in the colony, from the Governor General to the illiterate indigenous war widow, believed that evoking the Great War was the best means of advancing their agendas. Without diminishing the coercive power of the colonial state, it stresses the agency of the citizens and subjects of Algeria who sought to leverage their contribution to the war to enhance their positions within colonial society. In doing so, Mobilising Memory explores the consequences, often unintended, of framing political, social, and economic demands in terms of the Great War. It argues that the predominance of this shared language — grounded in notions of loyalty to and sacrifice for the Empire — meant that most actors in interwar Algeria sought not to break with the imperial polity but rather to renegotiate their place within it. While these efforts rarely proved successful, the book demonstrates how they transformed the practice of politics in the colony.