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The Algerian War of Independence (1954-62), which brought an end to over a century of French colonial dominance in Algeria, is widely viewed as one of the most violent wars of decolonisation, the repercussions of which continue to prove pertinent to contemporary French society. After a thirty-seven year period of widely acknowledged state amnesia in France, the French government finally recognised the Franco-Algerian conflict as a war in 1999. This phase of forgetting persisted in spite of the visible reminder constituted by the sizeable population of Algerian origin living in France: a population that bears the legacy and memory of the war and transmits it to subsequent generations. The hesitation of the state to confront its colonial past in this way has exacerbated the sense of exclusion of France’s Algerian population, and has hindered its capacity to integrate into French society. Through a study of literature, this thesis addresses these issues of remembrance and exclusion. Taking as its primary corpus novels by four authors who embody the divisive past shared by France and Algeria – Azouz Begag, Mehdi Charef, Mounsi, and Leïla Sebbar – this study investigates the ways in which Franco-Algerian literature has represented the marginalisation of France’s ethnic Algerian population, and posited routes of escape from this marginalisation. Furthermore, it analyses the extent to which the primary texts challenge the history of silence maintained for so long by the French government, and bring to light instead a complex, plural historical narrative as opposed to the monolithic version of history put forward by the state. By examining texts published between 1981 and 1999, the thesis traces the increased presence of the children of Algerian migrants in French society during the 1980s, which leads into a greater attention to history and a wave of remembrance in the 1990s, prefiguring the eventual official acknowledgment of the Algerian War by the French government in 1999.

In addition to proposing a survey and subsequent analysis of the French-Algerian War in French-language comics, also known as bandes dessinées, published in Algeria, France, and Belgium since the 1960s, my dissertation investigates the ways in which this medium re-appropriates textual and iconographic source materials. I argue that the integration or citation of various sources by artists functions to confer a measure of historical accuracy on their representation of history, to constitute a collective memory as well as personal postmemories of the war, and to re-contextualize problematic images so that they and the hegemonic discourses they reinforce may be deconstructed. Moreover, the bande dessinée mimics secondary schoolbook representations of the war in both Algeria and France in its recycling of problematic images such as Orientalist painting, colonial postcards, and iconic images of war. The recycling of textbook images has the double advantage of ensuring reader familiarity with these images and of inviting critical interpretations of them. By exploring how the bande dessinée reuses colonial images as well as critical histories in predominantly anti-colonialist narratives, I seek to explain how this popular medium uniquely problematizes questions of history, memory, and postcolonial identity related to French Algeria and its decolonization. It is my contention that, because historical bandes dessinées frequently include or reference authentic textual and iconographic source material documenting the repercussions of the French-Algerian war on various communities, they represent a valuable resource to middle and high school teachers looking to enrich the state-mandated history curriculum. By using the bande dessinée in this capacity, educators exploit this medium as both a historical document (whose objective is to transmit knowledge of the past) and a document of history (which allows scholars to retrace the evolution of public opinion).

The desire and need for historical representation in postmodernism are coupled with the self-reflexive acknowledgement of our inability to faithfully represent the past. This dissertation examines the ways in which certain historical events are represented in postmodern fiction. More specifically, it introduces the term ‘distortion’ to designate various ways that postmodern authors have attempted to convey traumatic and violent histories through intentional permutations of historical facts. In this study, I analyse six texts, representative works that present the multi-faceted nature of what I call ‘distorted’ historical fiction. Each text is devoted to one of three historical events: the Holocaust in Martin Amis’s Time’s Arrow and Art Spiegelman’s Maus; the Chilean dictatorship in Diamela Eltit’s Lumpérica and Isabel Allende’s La Casa de los espíritus; and finally, the Algerian War of Independence in Kateb Yacine’s Nedjma and Mohammed Dib’s Qui se souvient de la mer. The analyses of each text are guided by three main questions: How is the depicted history distorted in the narrative? Why is the historical reality distorted? And lastly, what are the hermeneutical effects for the reader of engaging with the distorted historical text? I contend that these historical fictions apply various modes of distortion to create a specific and often peculiar effect on the reader. These include distortions of narrative form and voice, as well as distortions of temporality and space. I argue that the reader’s encounter with distorted historical fiction creates a peculiar hermeneutical effect of ‘defamiliarisation,’ which has affinities with Viktor Shklovsky’s use of the term and Bertolt Brecht’s ‘V-effekt.’ The sense of defamiliarisation creates a conflict in readers, in which their foreknowledge of a past event clashes with the event's distorted depiction. This conflict demands that the reader be responsible, implying that the reader should not be ‘swept away’ by the distorted narrative. Instead the responsible reader is encouraged to interact with the text, apply previous historical knowledge to correct said distortions, and through this interaction gain a greater intimacy with the past.

The desire and need for historical representation in postmodernism are coupled with the self-reflexive acknowledgement of our inability to faithfully represent the past. This dissertation examines the ways in which certain historical events are represented in postmodern fiction. More specifically, it introduces the term ‘distortion’ to designate various ways that postmodern authors have attempted to convey traumatic and violent histories through intentional permutations of historical facts. In this study, I analyse six texts, representative works that present the multi-faceted nature of what I call ‘distorted’ historical fiction. Each text is devoted to one of three historical events: the Holocaust in Martin Amis’s Time’s Arrow and Art Spiegelman’s Maus; the Chilean dictatorship in Diamela Eltit’s Lumpérica and Isabel Allende’s La Casa de los espíritus; and finally, the Algerian War of Independence in Kateb Yacine’s Nedjma and Mohammed Dib’s Qui se souvient de la mer. The analyses of each text are guided by three main questions: How is the depicted history distorted in the narrative? Why is the historical reality distorted? And lastly, what are the hermeneutical effects for the reader of engaging with the distorted historical text? I contend that these historical fictions apply various modes of distortion to create a specific and often peculiar effect on the reader. These include distortions of narrative form and voice, as well as distortions of temporality and space. I argue that the reader’s encounter with distorted historical fiction creates a peculiar hermeneutical effect of ‘defamiliarisation,’ which has affinities with Viktor Shklovsky’s use of the term and Bertolt Brecht’s ‘V-effekt.’ The sense of defamiliarisation creates a conflict in readers, in which their foreknowledge of a past event clashes with the event's distorted depiction. This conflict demands that the reader be responsible, implying that the reader should not be ‘swept away’ by the distorted narrative. Instead the responsible reader is encouraged to interact with the text, apply previous historical knowledge to correct said distortions, and through this interaction gain a greater intimacy with the past.

The Algerian War of Independence (1954-1962) has generally not been talked about in France despite having around 2 million Algerians living in France. The memory of the war has been a contested issue in France between the French state's official memory and the Algerian memory. As the topic has been mainly discussed by historians and state officials, this study looks at how the young Algerians living in France obtain and deal with the memory of the Algerian War, by exploring the reinforcement of memories from the past to the present. Issues of remembering, commemorating, and reconciling are examined among the young Algerians in France who did not experience the war directly but feel strongly connected to it in the present day. ​​Placed at the intersection of Peace and Conflict Studies and Memory Studies fields, this qualitative study is based on six interviews and employs thematic analysis of the interview material. The analysis reveals the intergenerational shaping of collective memories and highlights the importance of considering both state-level policies and individual perceptions for achieving reconciliation. The study shows that research on collective memory can contribute to a deeper understanding of the ongoing struggles for recognition and acknowledgement.

This thesis problematizes the recent transdisciplinary turn to melancholia by grounding the concept within the literature of three contemporary Algerian authors: Assia Djebar, Yasmina Khadra, and Boualem Sansal. If Freud figured melancholia as a pathological response to loss, much recent scholarship has reconceptualized it as an ethico-political model of remembrance that safeguards the memory of the lost or marginalized other. Yet the recent and ubiquitous depathologization of melancholia is only possible insofar as theorists overlook its more insidious elements. By analyzing how melancholia emerges within the postcolonial novels of Djebar, Khadra, and Sansal, this thesis reveals how melancholia in fact undermines an ethico-politics of remembrance, further displacing those lost others that theorists of melancholia would recuperate. Divided into two sections, the first part of the thesis thus challenges the ethico-political viability of melancholia as a mnemonic model. Through close readings of the texts, the first four chapters reveal postcolonial melancholia in Algeria to be imbricated in amnesia, immobility, repetition, victimhood, apolitical retrospection, and the unethical appropriation of the lost object. Part II investigates how the authors imagine different models of remembrance that move beyond the limits of the mourning and melancholia dyad. If melancholia has been depathologized, it nonetheless remains ensnared within a binary system in which the subject either forgets (mourns) or engages in a putative act of hyper-remembrance (melancholia). Building upon the recent theory of Dominick LaCapra, Mireille Rosello, and Judith Butler, the final two chapters explore the critical potential of ‘working upon’ the past. As an on-going and conscious model of remembrance, ‘working upon’ actively resists the closure inherent to mourning but it also circumvents the melancholic (re)appropriation of the past and its lost others. Ultimately, then, this thesis signals the need for emergent models of memorialization that move beyond the restrictions of the Freudian binary of mourning and melancholia.

En 1954, l’Arme Blindée et Cavalerie (ABC) est une arme qui monte en puissance pour faire face à la menace soviétique en Europe. Le général inspecteur de cette arme voit s’achever la guerre d’Indochine avec un soulagement car il pense pouvoir se consacrer pleinement à cette tâche. Aussi, est-ce avec une certaine réticence, qu’à partir de 1955, il fournit à la Xe région militaire (Algérie) les renforts qu’elle réclame. L’organisation opérationnelle des corps, l’instruction du personnel et le programme d’équipement s’en trouvent très perturbés. Voulant à la fois maintenir sa capacité opérationnelle en Europe et faire face aux besoins de l’Algérie, le commandement désorganise l’ABC. Les unités blindées ne sont adaptées ni à un conflit de type insurrectionnel, ni au terrain particulier de l’Algérie. Pourtant, à partir de 1958, elles donnent satisfaction. Leur composante portée s’est développée, leur puissance de feu et leur mobilité sont mises pleinement à profit sur les barrages, et les unités à cheval, qui ont refait leur apparition, sont employées plus judicieusement sur des terrains favorables. Mais cette adaptation s’est faite au prix de grands sacrifices. Le vieux matériel américain n’est remplacé que très progressivement soit par des engins français modernes (EBR ou AMX 13), que le commandement a le sentiment de gaspiller, soit par des nouveaux matériels (Ferret, AML 60, ou AMX 13 à tourelle de M24) qui ne peuvent être employés qu’en Algérie et dont l’acquisition se fait au détriment du char de 25 t dont doit pourtant être équipée l’ABC d’urgence. En somme, l’ABC aurait rencontré les pires difficultés si le conflit avait dû se prolonger au-delà de 1962. / In 1954, the French Armored Cavalry was a corps that was aiming to get stronger to face the Soviet threat in Europe. The Inspector General of this corps was relieved when the war in Indochina ended because he thought he could rededicate himself to this task. So it was with some reluctance, that from 1955 on wards, he provided the tenth military region (Algeria) with the reinforcements it required. The operational organization of the units, personnel training and equipment program found it very disturbing. Seeking both to maintain its operational capacity in Europe and meet the needs of Algeria, the command reorganized the Armored Cavalry. Armored units were not adapted neither to counter-insurgency, neither to the particular terrain in Algeria. Yet in 1958, they gave satisfying result. The vehicle-mounted infantry had been expanded, their firepower and mobility were expertly used over fences; and horseback units were re-created and deployed more wisely on a favorable terrain. But this re-organization cost very much. The old American equipment was only gradually replaced by French modern equipment (EBR or AMX 13), the command considering this equipment was being wasted. The new materials (Ferret, AML 60, or AMX 13 with M24 turret) could only in Algeria and their acquisition was at the expense the 25 ton tank. However, the French Armored Corps urgently needed this battle tank. To sum up, the Armored Cavalry would have encountered severe difficulties if the conflict had been extended beyond 1962.

Durant la guerre d'Algérie, des officiers français ont pensé l'armée et son action comme révolutionnaire. Il s'agissait pour eux de réformer radicalement l'institution militaire, en l'adaptant à un conflit présenté comme une guerre révolutionnaire menée par le communisme dont l'enjeu est le contrôle politique de la population. Cette armée révolutionnaire se devait de participer à la modernisation de l'Algérie, intégrant les Algériens au corps social français, permettant l'émergence d'une «Algérie nouvelle». Afin de réaliser cet objectif, ces officiers prônaient un durcissement autoritaire de l'État à même de contrer la subversion communiste. Cette thèse explore cette armée révolutionnaire, dont elle s'attache à saisir les racines, le contenu et les conséquences, à travers l'étude des 5es bureaux, bureaux d'état-major chargés de mener l'action psychologique de 1955 à 1960, à la fois propagandistes, commissaires politiques et théoriciens de l'action politico-militaire. Elle se penche, à travers une approche prosopographique, sur les parcours individuels et collectifs de ses officiers. Elle analyse les logiques institutionnelles, les discours et les pratiques des 5es bureaux. Elle met en lumière l'action politique de l'armée lors de la crise de mai et juin 1958 à travers la mobilisation autoritaire des Algériens lors de manifestations de fraternisation mettant en scène l'adhésion des colonisés à un ordre coloniale rénové. Ce projet se heurte à l'opposition de plus en plus claire du pouvoir gaulliste qui dissout les 5es bureaux en février 1960, suite à la semaine des barricades, mais surtout à une mécompréhension systématique de la situation politique algérienne. / During the Algerian War, French officers considered the army and its action as revolutionary. They aimed to radically reform military institutions, adapting them to a conflict perceived as a revolutionary war led by communism whose goal was the political control of the population. This revolutionary army had to participate in the modernization of Algeria, integrating Algerians into the French social body, allowing the emergence of an "Algérie nouvelle". In order to achieve this goal, these officers advocated an authoritarian hardening of the state capable of countering communist subversion. This thesis explores the roots, content and consequences of this revolutionary army through the study of the 5th bureau : the staff officers responsible for conducting psychological action from 1955 to 1960, as well the propagandists, political commissars and theoreticians of politico-military action. It employs a prospography of the individual and collective career trajectories of these officers, and analyzes the institutional logics; discourses, and the practices of the 5th bureaus. Tt highlights the political action of the army during the crisis of May and June 1958 through the authoritarian mobilization of Algerians for fraternization demonstrations that aimed to evince Algerians' commitment to a renovated colonial order. This project was defeated by the cleat opposition of the Gaullist state, which dissolved the 5th Bureaus in February 1960 following the week of the barricades uprising, but particularly by its systematic misunderstanding of the Algerian political situation.

Cette thèse porte sur les pratiques de déplacement des populations rurales pendant la guerre d’indépendance algérienne. Au cours de ce conflit, la création de « zones interdites » par l’armée française se solde par le transfert de plus de deux millions d’Algériens vers ce que l’armée appelle alors des « centres de regroupement ». L’objectif de ce travail consiste à comprendre les dynamiques de diffusion de cette pratique et son intégration dans l’arsenal stratégique mobilisé par l’armée française dans la lutte contre le Front de Libération National. Il s’agit aussi de cerner la figure de l’une des institutions majeures de ce conflit, le camp de regroupement. Essentiellement créé à des fins de contrôle social, il génère dans la plupart des cas une crise économique pour les populations visées, déracinées et privées de l’accès à leurs terres, désormais dépendantes de l’État. Il s’agit enfin de comprendre comment l’État et l’armée réagissent à cette crise, en développant notamment une politique dite des « Mille villages » censée transformer les camps en autant de nouvelles entités semi-rurales – et les effets de cette politique. Dans cette perspective, ce travail vise à étudier la mise en œuvre de cette double politique sur le terrain militaire, politique et administratif, en analysant les relations entre les principaux acteurs de l’État dans la conduite de l’action publique. Il s’intéresse plus particulièrement aux activités sécuritaires, sociales et économiques des officiers des Sections Administratives Spécialisées (SAS), alors chargés de l’encadrement des populations déplacées. Elle cherche ainsi à contribuer à l’écriture d’une histoire de l’État colonial dans ce contexte où il connaît ses ultimes transformations. / This PhD concerns the displacement of rural population during the Algerian war for independence. During this conflict, the creation of “forbidden zones” by the French army ends in the transfer of nearly two million Algerians towards some camps that the militaries then called “regroupment centres”. The objective of this work consists to study the dynamics of this practice’s diffusion and its integration in the militaries strategy implemented against the National Liberation Front. Its aim is also to define the specificity of one of the major institution of this conflict: the “regroupment” camp. Essentially created for Social Control purposes, it generated in most of the cases an economic crisis for the rural population, uprooted and deprived of the access to its land, and most part of the time depending on State’s food distribution. This work try to understand how some actors, civilian or militaries, try to react to this crisis, by developing a particular policy: the “One thousand villages”, that was supposed to transform the camps into some “new villages”. This work aims to study the implementation of this double policy, on the local military, political and administrative ground, by analysing the relations between the main actors of the State. It is focused in particular on the security, social, economic activities of the officers of the Specialized Administrative Sections, which were in charge of the camp. In such a perspective, it tries to contribute to the writing of a history of Colonial State in its last algerian manifestation.