Entre Recits et Realite: The French Narrative Construction and Institutionalisation of Women and Gender in Colonial Algeria (1830-1954)

Abstract

This thesis examines the official and feminist construction, narration, and institutionalisation of women and gender in the colonial period preceding the Algerian War of Independence (1830-1954). It analyses the military, feminist, travel, and regulationist literature and discourse born out of the colonial interest in Algerian women, and the extent to which the said narration was institutionalized to control their statuses and dictate their conduct. This thesis places Algerian women in the centre of postcolonial and feminist discussion of Algeria’s history to show the ways in which the colonial administration employed imperial narratives and discourses about the Algerian woman to tailor schemes and regulations that ensured the successful progress of the conquest. It casts light on the complex coloniser/colonised gender perceptions and relations textualised in imperial narratives to study the role gender played in strategizing the colonization of Algeria and the extent to which it influenced the construction and narration of the colonised women and the space they occupied. It concludes that the French colonisation of Algeria was a mode of production, a system of narration, an institution of domination, and women and gender politics, roles, ties, and relations were central to the ideologisation of the French political and cultural hegemony.

Date of Award	1 Aug 2023
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The University of Manchester
Supervisor	Anastasia Valassopoulos (Supervisor) & Zahia Smail Salhi (Supervisor)