Franco-Algerian Memories in France and Questions of Gender Beatrice
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1 Franco-Algerian Memories in France and Questions of Gender Beatrice Amelia Ivey Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts by Research. The University of Leeds, School of Languages, Cultures and Societies. September 2014. The candidate confirms that the work submitted is her own and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgment. © 2014 The University of Leeds and Beatrice Amelia Ivey The right of Beatrice Amelia Ivey to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act 1988. 2 In memory of my grandfather, Arthur John Orchard, 1926 – 2014. Acknowledgments I would like to express my gratitude for all the invaluable support and expertise that has been lent to me by both my supervisors, Professor Max Silverman and Professor Margaret Atack. I would also like to thank the School of Languages, Cultures and Societies for the generous award granted to me this year, without which this thesis would not have been possible. 3 Abstract This thesis will explore literary representations of Franco-Algerian memories in France since the end of the Algerian War of Independence (1954-62), with particular concentration on the manner in which gendered identities are represented in these narratives of memory, and how these narratives themselves are gendered and gendering. This study claims that theoretical links between memory and gender have not been fully explored. I will attempt to examine this overlooked area by focusing on theories of collective memory through a lens of Judith Butler’s theory of gender performance, in which she argues that gender is not a natural quality, but a process that gains significance through enactment and repetition. Cultural theorists have identified that the ways in which societies and collective groups remember have become increasingly problematic in the wake of the traumatic events of the twentieth century (World Wars, Genocide, colonial war, mass migration). I will draw on the works of several of these theorists who focus on ‘non- competitive’ memory in the 20th century; namely, Marianne Hirsch, Alison Landsberg, Mireille Rosello, Michael Rothberg and Max Silverman. The works of these authors have been the basis for which I will argue that collective memory is process of mediation and enactment, in a similar manner that Butler’s theory demonstrates that gender is not an attribute but an activity. With the aid of these theories, I will examine how anti-colonial and anti-racists texts in French from the 1970s either contribute to or challenge narratives of memory that support gendered and gendering concepts. By studying the literary works of Rachid Boudjedra Ahmed Kalouaz, Didier Daeninckx, François Maspero, Hélène Cixous and Leïla Sebbar, this project will attempt to tackle questions of gender in Franco-Algerian memories that have previously been ignored. 4 Table of Contents INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................... 6 Historical and contextual overview ............................................................................... 6 Memory and gender; theoretical frameworks ................................................................ 8 Literary case studies ..................................................................................................... 19 CHAPTER ONE Rachid Boudjedra and Ahmed Kalouaz: The ‘Haunting’ of Colonial Sexuality in Anti- Algerian Violence .................................................................................................................. 25 Memory as a gendered activity .................................................................................... 25 Topographie idéale pour une agression caractérisée ................................................. 34 Figure 1 ................................................................................... 38 Haunting of colonial sexuality .................................................................................... 39 Figure 2 ................................................................................... 42 Point Kilométrique 190 ................................................................................................ 46 Resisting gender binaries ............................................................................................ 49 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 52 CHAPTER TWO Didier Daeninckx and François Maspero: Remembering 17th October 1961 and Masculine Subjectivity........................................................................................................... 53 5 Retrieving marginal memories ..................................................................................... 53 Meurtres pour mémoire .............................................................................................. 57 Les Passagers du Roissy-express ................................................................................ 67 Photographic subjectivity............................................................................................. 76 Figures 3 and 4 ......................................................................... 77 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 79 CHAPTER THREE Hélène Cixous and Leïla Sebbar: Gendered Memory and Staging .................................. 81 Gendered memories and exposing orientalist stereotypes ........................................... 81 L’Indiade, ou L’Inde de leurs rêves ............................................................................. 85 Performing memory; lieu du crime, lieu du pardon .................................................... 88 La Seine était rouge .................................................................................................... 95 Staging memory in the city ....................................................................................... 102 Figure 5 .................................................................................. 104 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 108 CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................... 109 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................ 116 6 INTRODUCTION Historical and contextual overview In the aftermath of the Second World War, the era of global empires appeared to be coming to an end. India, the jewel in the crown of the British Empire, achieved sovereignty in 1947 and was followed by a wave of decolonisation across the globe. France was not untouched by this surge of newly-independent nations with Morocco gaining independence in 1956. However, at the same time, in neighbouring Algeria, a bitter war for independence was still being fought. From 1954 to 1962, Algeria fought for independence in a brutal and far reaching conflict, finally ending with French defeat. The memory of this war in metropolitan France still proves to be politically divisive.1 Up until 1999, the guerre sans nom was only euphemistically recognised by France as les opérations de maintien de l'ordre (McCormack 2007: 6). French reticence to officially recognise the war is due, in part, to the fundamental challenge to French identity that came with the forging of an independent Algerian nation. Algeria was under French administration for 132 years and considered to be an integral part of France. Therefore, independence in 1962 represented more than the loss of a colony, but required France to redraw its national borders. Defeat in 1962 was reminiscent of the French débacle in 1940, producing a ‘certain idea of “la France de Dunkerque à Tlemcen”’ (McCormack 2007: 1). The loss of l’Algérie française required the reconception of the parameters of French identity, and produced a series of national reaffirming narratives that largely ignored the history of the war all together. This practice is not unique to the aftermath of the Algerian War. As Claire Gorrara argues, post-war Europe ‘saw the creation of a series of founding narratives, mythic constructs aimed 1 The creation of a museum dedicated to the memory of ‘l’histoire de la France et de l’Algérie’ in Montpellier was met with various forms of opposition from both French and Algerian groups. The project was finally cancelled in May 2014 (Dejean 2014). 7 at rallying national communities after the trauma of occupation and civil war’ (Gorrara 2009: 129–30). In Le Syndrome de Vichy (1987) Henry Rousso argues that the difficult memories of the Second World War, such as the extent of Vichy-Nazi collaboration and the role of French citizens in the deportation of Jews, are left out of collective consciousness. The trauma of the Algerian war has produced similar nationalistic narratives that obscure memories of French loss. Drawing on Rousso’s text, Anne Donadey examines the connection between the occultation of collaboration in the Second World War and the effacement of the Algerian war from collective French memory,