Highly Skilled Algerian Women Displaced During the Black Decade: Online Networks, Transnational Belonging and Political Engagement Latefa Narriman Guemar A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the School of Social Sciences, University of East London for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2016 TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract iv Acronyms v Acknowledgements vi Dedication viii Chapter One: Introduction General context of the research: migration and diaspora 1 Research questions 4 Significance, motivation and aims of the research 4 Literature review 9 Defining diaspora(s) and diasporic consciousness 9 Beyond ethnicity: the social constructionist critique of ‘diaspora’ 17 Dialogism: the Bakhtinian feminist approach to women’s re-construction of identity 24 The concepts of ‘de-selving’ and ‘re-selving’ 28 Organisation of the thesis 31 Chapter Two: Framework and Methodology Introduction 36 Feminist epistemology and research methods 37 Methodology of the oppressed 38 The role of ontology in questions of epistemology 44 My identity and positioning within the research 45 The Arab Spring, women’s online discourse and the birth of a research project 45 A research project on the move 49 Methodology at work 51 Sampling the network 51 Survey and questionnaire design 54 Interview technique 54 i Fieldwork 56 The core case study of Lamia 58 Confidentiality 60 Dissemination and debriefing participants 60 Transcribing the interviews 61 Limitations and strengths of the research 62 Characteristics of the participants 63 Conclusion 64 Chapter Three: The Political Background to the Feminisation of Algerian Migration Introduction 65 Democracy and women’s rights in Algeria: chicken or egg? 66 The rise of a radical Islamist movement in Algeria 69 Causes and patterns of Algerian women’s forced migration 73 The impact of the Black Decade on women 71 The making of an Algerian female diaspora 75 The legal and social situation of women 78 Conclusion 86 Chapter Four: Fragmented Narratives of the Black Decade (Part 1) Lamia’s Case Study – Reasons for Leaving: Terror, Trauma and Gender Introduction 87 Who is Lamia? 87 The gendered origins of personal trauma 89 Collective trauma: the experience of terror 99 The recurring theme of violence 105 The psychological aftermath of terror 108 Terrorism and women’s oppression 115 ii Chapter Five: Fragmented Narratives of the Black Decade (Part 2) Lamia’s Case Study – Migration, the ‘Imagined Homeland’ and Diasporic Consciousness Introduction 120 The migration process 120 Reaching the UK 120 Arrival in the UK 129 Claiming asylum 134 The emotional impact of migration 143 Reconciliation and forgiveness 147 Personal reconciliation 147 Reconciliation in Algeria: politics at home 151 Resilience: negotiating a new identity 163 An Algerian women’s diaspora 166 Chapter Six: Identity, Transnational Space and Belonging: The Case of Algerian Women Introduction 168 Persecution and the decision to leave: further narratives 169 Rebuilding lives and a sense of self 180 Integration, language and identity 188 Narratives of regaining self-hood 193 The ‘myth of return’: missing home but where is home? 200 An Algerian women’s diaspora: other perspectives 211 Conclusion 217 Chapter Seven: Conclusion Introduction 218 Reflecting upon the use of the concept of diaspora 218 The role of feminist research in investigating an Algerian women’s diaspora 220 The elements of diaspora: trauma, adjustment and the ‘myth of return’ 222 Conclusion and recommendations 229 Appendices 233 Bibliography 253 iii Abstract The contemporary era of global transformations has re-oriented academic debates on the growth of non-nation-based solidarities and transnational cultural constructions. Despite this, social constructionists suggest that the concept of ‘diaspora’ continues to privilege the notion of ethnicity as the point of origin in the construction of solidarity between migrants, overlooking the differences of social class and gender. This research interrogates this contention by exploring the role of gender in shaping diaspora – a complex process by which migrant women articulate new identities and give new social and political meanings to their relationships with one another, with co-nationals living elsewhere and with an imagined ‘homeland’. It investigates the motivation behind the emigration of highly skilled Algerian women during the ‘Black Decade’ of the 1990s and its aftermath, and looks at the agendas of this particular set of migrants, the extent to which they feel they belong to a diaspora, and their attitude towards returning ‘home’. Their political engagement takes a variety of forms, but the research reveals that certain modes of online discourse and manifestations of a diasporic social consciousness are common to their self-presentation. In order to investigate their networks, I used Social Networking Websites Analysis (mainly Facebook) and a Respondent-Driven-Sampling (RDS) method to sample and recruit participants, coupled with 15 in-depth interviews. The majority of participants cited the amnesty law (which absolved the perpetrators of violence during the 1990s, including violence against women, of their crimes) and the rise of radical Islamist ideology as the main barriers to considering present-day Algeria as ‘home’. Participants appeared to exhibit both a sense of exile and a desire to be part of a diaspora. iv Acronyms ABC Algeria British Connection AI Amnesty International AIDA Association Internationale de La Diaspora Algérienne AIS Armée Islamique du Salut ALN Armée de Libération Nationale ANP Armée Nationale Populaire ASC Algerian Solidarity Campaign CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women EU European Union EP European Parliament FFS Front des Forces Socialistes FIDA Fédération Internationale de la Diaspora Algérienne FIS Front Islamique du Salut FLN Front de Libération Nationale GIA Groupes Islamique Armés IMF International Monetary Fund IOM International Organisation for Migration NAC National Algerian Centre PAGS Parti d’Avant-Garde Socialiste PCF Parti Communiste Français PT Parti des Travailleurs RAFD Rassemblement Algérien des Femmes Démocrates RCD Rassemblement pour la Culture et la Démocratie SOS Femmes en Détresse UGTA Union Générale des Travailleurs Algériens v Acknowledgements I owe the completion of this thesis to Dr. Fran Cetti, and her encouragement and editorial assistance. No words can express my deepest gratitude to her. I wish to pay great homage to the women who took part in this research. Their bravery and resilience will continue to be a source of inspiration for me. I hope that friendships built during this study will last until we see a free, democratic and prosperous Algeria, and beyond. Special thanks go to Feroudja, Lamia, Nadia, Maya and Louisa for whom I wish even more success in future. Many people have helped me along this journey. I am privileged to have met Prof. Philip Marfleet who introduced me to the Centre for Research on Migration Refugees and Belonging, and enabled me to join the University of East London, where I was fortunate enough to be able to transfer and complete this research. Particular thanks goes to my supervisors at UEL, Prof. Gargi Batthacharyya and Dr. Maja Korac, who believed in me and took over the job of supervising me in the middle of my research, and without whose encouragement and guidance, this research would have taken a different turn. I also want to take this opportunity to say how greatly I value the unfailing support, academic and emotional, of Chris New to whom I owe particular thanks. A special thank you goes to him and to the team of the Reconnect with Research programme for Scholars at Risk at the London School of Economics. I would also like to express my gratitude to Prof. Anne Philips, Prof. Mary Evans, Prof. Clare Hemmings and Hazel Johnstone at the Gender Institute of the LSE for hosting me as a Visiting Fellow between 2012 and 2014. It was a greatly enriching experience on both an academic and a personal level. I would like to thank Prof. Ammar Belhimer of the University of Algiers for his interest in my research and his practical support in facilitating my access to the library and to unpublished documents. I also thank Prof. Aissa Kadri in Paris 8 for spending time discussing my work and for sharing his expertise and experience in researching the Algerian diaspora. vi My great thanks also go to my dear friends Gill Evans and Prof. Nicola Cooper and my former supervisors and colleagues at the Centre for Migration Policy Research at Swansea University: Prof. Heaven Crawley, Dr. Tom Cheesman, Dr. Keith Halfacre and Dr. Sergei Shubin for their invaluable assistance and support, academic, technical and emotional. To my friends who have helped me throughout this journey – Meriem Bouchali, Fatiha Hassanine, Amel Taleb, Nazim Mekbel, Yahia Mekhiouba, Nassera Merah, Nabila Hariti, Alia Mullan, Roger Laurent , Kader Brahiti and Meriem Mentouri-Tamzali – I thank you for your encouragement and invaluable advice. To my lovely mother, my brother, Mohamed, and my children, Imene, Nadji and Lina, a big thank you for your unconditional love and patience, which gave me the strength to complete this work. Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to the Council for Assisting Refugee Academics, without whose support this thesis would not have been possible. vii Dedication This thesis is dedicated to Lina , Imene and Nadji, for their patience, their cuddles and their love, and to all who have survived the Black