Making Algeria French and Unmaking French Algeria

Where the French tended to view the historical saga of Algérie Jrançaise through such categories as colonisation and raise en valeur , here the making of colonial Algeria is viewed as a classic case of settler colonialism, and the formation of a distinctive colonial society and culture by the First World War is stressed. Where the Algerians tend to view Algérie algerienne as the successful result of an unbroken tradition of resistance to the French throughout the colonial period, here the unmaking of Algérie Jrançaise is presented in a manner which illuminates the historically contingent nature of Algerian nationalism by tracing over time the multiple and divergent strands of which it was composed. In telling this colonial tale from a postcolonial perspective, description is privileged as much as analysis, individuals as much as issues, by scrutinizing the inhabitants of the latter‐day Hippo of Augustine, a town the French called Bone and the Algerians call Annaba, and beginning with a young Albert Camus…