Muslim Marseille: the Metropolization

MUSLIM MARSEILLE: THE METROPOLIZATION OF IMPERIAL PRACTICES (1900-1939) by Gregory Richard Jackson A dissertation submitted to the faculty of The University of Utah in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of History The University of Utah December 2014 Copyright © Gregory Richard Jackson 2014 All Rights Reserved The University of Utah Graduate School STATEMENT OF DISSERTATION APPROVAL The dissertation of Gregory Richard Jackson has been approved by the following supervisory committee members: James R. Lehning Chair 9/22/2014 Date Approved Nadja Durbach Member 9/22/2014 Date Approved Lauren Jarvis Member 9/22/2014 Date Approved Edward J. Davies, II Member 9/22/2014 Date Approved Therese de Raedt Member 9/22/2014 Date Approved and by Isabel Moreira Chair/Dean of the Department/College/School o f ____________________History and by David B. Kieda, Dean of The Graduate School. ABSTRACT During the first four decades of the twentieth century, Muslim North Africans were French colonial subjects and started to become a sizable minority in France. A few thousand in the first decade, France brought over 300,000 of them to Europe as soldiers and workers during World War I. Though many returned to their homes in Algeria, Tunisia, or Morocco after the war, French officials of the interwar period found the status quo ante bellum of a negligible Muslim presence in France unattainable. Their numbers in metropolitan France never dropped below 50,000 again and continued to rise from the 1920s through the 1930s. This dissertation argues that although historians have generally interpreted this history as one of foreign immigration to France, categorizing it primarily as such imposes a postcolonial and anachronistic understanding of France and North Africa on the time period. Further, it does not fully reflect how French society and North Africans both saw this migration: as a movement of colonial subjects within a single imperial nation-state. As such, it is better to think of this as a colonial and transnational history as much as one of migration, and the metropolitan “capital of the colonies,” Marseille, illustrates this. The port city served as the gateway in and out of France for Muslim North Africans and had a Muslim colonial population second only to Paris. The city’s officials looked to colonial administrators and experts in governing them, thus bringing imperial practices to metropolitan France that included views on hygiene, policing, and preventing North Africans from integrating as citizens. Meanwhile, North Africans brought their knowledge of the French state and what rights they had as limited participants in that society with them as well. Thus, Muslim North Africans did not arrive in France as complete foreigners, but as members of the French imperial-state, and unlike many European immigrants, the French government prevented them from integrating as citizens. Colonialism made them partial members of French society, neither in nor out. In doing so, France placed them in a transnational existence that straddled two continents, languages, major religions, and political statuses. iv For Sue, Lyla, Nicolas, and Alexander. TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT............................................................................................................................iii LIST OF FIGURES.............................................................................................................. viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................... x Chapters I INTRODUCTION: MUSLIM COLONIES IN THE METROPOLE.......................... 1 Historiography ..................................................................................................................10 Colonialism, North Africa, France, and Marseille .......................................................23 Structure of the Dissertation........................................................................................... 61 II COLONIAL SPACES IN THE METROPOLITAN CITY OF MARSEILLE ......... 66 Historiography..................................................................................................................69 The Expositions of 1906 and 1922.................................................................................79 The Staircase at Gare de Saint-Charles..........................................................................98 The Muslim Village.......................................................................................................109 Conclusion......................................................................................................................138 III REPATRIATION WITHIN A NATION? REMOVING MUSLIM NATIONALS AND SUBJECTS FROM THE METROPOLE IN 1920...........................................141 Historiography............................................................................................................... 144 The French Police(s)......................................................................................................149 A Dossier of Forced Repatriation.................................................................................155 Removing Colonial Subjects, Not Immigrants............................................................162 Arrests: Rationale and Location...................................................................................170 Conclusion......................................................................................................................189 IV SERVICE DES AFFAIRES INDIGENES NORD-AFRICAINES: THE SURVEILLANCE OF MUSLIMS IN INTERWAR MARSEILLE........................194 Historiography............................................................................................................... 196 The Development of Colonial Surveillance................................................................201 Murder, Fear, and Colonial Practices in Paris.............................................................206 SAINA Marseille........................................................................................................... 215 Conclusion......................................................................................................................225 V BECOMING A CITIZEN: A DESIRE THAT TRANSCENDED FRENCH OR ALGERIAN IDENTITY...............................................................................................227 Historiography............................................................................................................... 231 Muslim Politics and the Young Algerians (1900-1926).............................................236 L ’Islam (1909-1914) and Conscription for Civil Rights............................................244 L ’Ikdam (1919-1923) and Civil Rights....................................................................... 257 Muslim Politics and Algerian Nationalism (1926-1939)...........................................269 El Ouma (1930-1939) and L ’Ikdam (1931-1935).......................................................277 Conclusion......................................................................................................................290 VI CONCLUSION............................................................................................................. 293 From the Colonies to the Metropole.............................................................................294 “Muslim Marseille” within the Historical Discourse................................................. 299 From “Capital of the Colonies” to Euromediterranee............................................... 306 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY......................................................................................... 308 vii LIST OF FIGURES 1 Map of the 1906 Colonial Exposition..................................................................... 83 2 The Tunisian Palace, 1906 Colonial Exposition.................................................... 85 3 Visitors walking on the rue de I ’Annam, 1906 Colonial Exposition.....................86 4 The West African Palace, 1906 Colonial Exposition............................................. 88 5 The Algerian Palace, 1906 Colonial Exposition.................................................... 90 6 Panoramic view of the Grand Palais, 1922 Colonial Exposition......................... 93 7 The Moroccan Palace, 1922 Colonial Exposition.................................................. 94 8 The Algerian Palace, 1922 Colonial Exposition.................................................... 95 9 Angkor Wat Palace, 1922 Colonial Exposition.......................................................97 10 View from the top of the staircase at St. Charles train station............................ 100 11 View from the bottom of the staircase at St. Charles train station......................102 12 “Colonies of Asia” statue, staircase at St. Charles train station.......................... 102 13 “Colonies of Africa” statue, staircase at St. Charles train station.......................104 14 “Marseille, Gateway to the East” statue, staircase at St. Charles train station.... 106 15 “Marseille, Greek Colony” statue, staircase at St. Charles train station............ 107 16 Blueprint of housing for North African families.................................................. 125 17 Blueprint of housing for single North African workers.......................................126 18 Villot’s

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