Algeria
(see also France, Islam & Islamic Fundamentalism)
Basics
CIA World Factbook. Includes map.
Library of Congress Country Profile.
UN Development Program, Human Development Indicators
On the Web: Articles
On the Web: Specialized Sites
Al Bawaba: Middle East Gateway. Section for each country.
In the Library: Articles
Bennoune, Karima. "Algerian women confront fundmentalism," Monthly Review 46,4 (9/94):26-39.
Bennoune, Mahfoud. "French counter-revolutionary doctrine & the Algerian peasantry," Monthly Review 25,7 (12/73):43-60.
Burke, Edmund III. "Parties & elites in North African politics: Algeria & Morocco," Africa Today 18,4 (1971):50-59.
Ciment, James. "The battle of Algiers. The roots of Algeria's vicious war," In These Times (12/28/97):19-21.
Colanna, Fanny. "Cultural resistance & religious legitimacy in colonial Algeria," Economy & Society 3,3 (1974):233-52.
Connelly, Matthew. "Taking off the Cold War lens: visions of North-South conflict during the Algerian war for independence," American Historical Review 105,3 (6/00):739-69.
Fanon, Frantz. "Algeria unveiled," in his Studies in a Dying Colonialism (NY, 1965). How divide-and-rule strategy of French colonialism handicapped Algerian women by urging their "emancipation" from an indigenous culture seen as regressive and therefore deserving of domination.
Gallagher, Nancy. "Learning lessons from the Algerian war of Independence," MERIP Report 225 (win 2002).
Gleijeses, Piero. "Cuba's first venture in Africa: Algeria, 1961-1965," Journal of Latin American Studies 28,1 (2/96).
Kielstra, Nico. "Was the Algerian Revolution a peasant war?" Peasant Studies 7 (1978):172-86.
Lewis, William H. "The decline of Algeria’s FLN," Middle East Journal 20,2 (1966).
Maddy-Weitzman, Bruce. "Contested identities: Berbers, 'Berberism' & the state in North Africa," Journal of North African Studies 6,3 (2001).
Miège, J.L. "French action & indigenous reactions in the Maghrib, 1880-1914," in H.L. Wesseling (ed.) Expansion & Reaction (The Hague, 1978), pp. 103-15.
Nouschi, André. "North Africa in the period of colonization," Cambridge History of Islam Vol. II (Cambridge, 19??), pp. 299-326.
Roy, Olivier. "Getting into the game: political manoeuvres in Algeria," Index on Censorship 26,3 (5-6/97):53-4.
Said, Edward. "Narrative, geography & interpretation," New Left Review 180 (1990):81-97. On fictional representations of colonial Algeria.
Schatz, Adam. "The torture of Algiers," NY Review of Books (11/21/02):53-57. Review essay on the war for Algerian independence.
Swift, Richard. "Khalida Messaoudi (interview)," New Internationalist (3/95):31. Feminist activist.
Thomas, Edward H. "The politics of language in former colonial lands: a comparative look at North Africa & Central Asia," Journal of North African Studies 6,3 (2001).
Todorov, Tzvetan. "Letter from Paris," Salmagundi (sum-fall 02). Review essay on Patrick Rotman's book & TV program L'ennemi intime, on root causes of torture by French troops during Algerian war for independence.
In the Library: Non-Fiction Books
Abu-Nimer, Mohammed. Nonviolence & Peace Building in Islam (Gainesville: U. of Florida, 2003).
Berque, Jacques. French North Africa: The Maghrib between Two World Wars [1962] (London, 1967).
Branche, Raphaëlle. La Torture et l'Armée pendant la Guerre d'Algérie, 1954-1962 (Paris: Gallimard, 2002).
Burgat, François & William Dowell. The Islamic Movement in North Africa (Austin, 1993).
Çelík, Zeynep. Urban Forms & Colonial Confrontations. Algiers under French Rule (Berkeley, 1997).
Ciment, James. Algeria: The Fundamentalist Challenge (NY: Facts on File, 1997).
Clancy-Smith, Julia A. Rebel & Saint: Muslim Notables, Populist Protest, Colonial Encounters (Algeria & Tunisia, 1800-1904) (Berkeley, 1994).
Gerber, Haim. Islam, Guerrilla War & Revolution: A Study in Comparative
Social History (Boulder, 1988).
Horne, Alistair. A Savage War of Peace: Algeria, 1954-1962 (London:
Macmillan, 1977). Best one-volume history of the war for independence.
Ighilahriz, Louisette. Algerienne: recit recueilli par Anne Nivat (Paris: Fayard/Calmann-Levy, 2001).
Le Seuer, James D. Uncivil War: Intellectuals & Identity Politics during the Decolonization of Algeria (Philadelphia: U. Pennsylvania, 2001).
Leveau, Remy. Algeria: Adversaries in Search of Uncertain Compromises (Paris: Institute for Security Studies, 1992).
Maran, Rita. Torture: The Role of Ideology in the French-Algerian War (NY, 1989).
Merle, Robert. Ben Bella (London, 1967).
Middle East Watch. Human Rights in Algeria: No One is Spared (NY, 1994). Overlooks the abuses directed against women.
Mosteghanemi, Ahlam. Memory in the Flesh (Cairo, American U., 2003).
O’Ballance, Edgar. The Algerian Insurrection, 1954-62 (London, 1967).
Ottaway, David & Marina. Algeria: The Politics of a Socialist Revolution (Berkeley, 1970).
Prochaska, David. Making Algeria French: Colonialism in Bone, 1970-1920 (NY, 1990).
Reudy, John V. Land Policy in Colonial Algeria: The Origins of the Rural Public Domain (Berkeley, 1967).
Roberts, Hugh. Algerian Socialism & the Kabyle Question (Norwich: U. of East Anglia, 1981).
__________. The Battlefield Algeria, 1988-2002: Studies in a Broken Polity (NY: Verso, 2003).
Shrader, Charles. The First Helicopter War: Logistics & Mobility in Algeria, 1954-1962 (Westport CT: Praeger, 1999).
Slyomovics, Susan (ed.) The Walled Arab City in Literature, Archtecture, & History: The Living Medina in the Maghrib (Portland OR: Frank Cass, 2001).
Stora, Benjamin. La gangrène et l'oubli: la mémoire de la guerre d'Algerie (Paris: La Decouverte, 1991).
Willis, Michael. The Islamist Challenge in Algeria: A Political History (NY, 1996).
Wolf, Eric. Peasant Wars of the 20th Century (NY, 1970).
In the Library: Fiction
Djaout, Tahar. The Last Summer of Reason (Ruminator Books, 2001). Author a journalist murdered in 1993, who foresaw terror of civil war between new military dictatorship & Islamic fundamentalists.
Feraoun, Mouloud. The Poor Man's Son: Menrad, Kabyle Schoolteacher [1950] (trans. Lucy R. McNair; Charlottesville: U. of Virginia, 200?). Testimony of colonial Berber mountain village life & emigration to Paris.
Ghalem, Ali. A Wife for My Son [1979] (Chicago, 1984).
Khadra, Yasmina. In the Name of God [1998] (London, 2000).
__________. Wolf Dreams (A Quoi Revent les Loups) [1999] (trans. Linda Black; New Milford CT: Toby, 2003). How a young Algerian who wants to be a movie star becomes a fundamentalist mass murderer.
Lemsine, Aïcha. Beneath a Sky of Porphyry [1978] (London, 1990). Life in an Algerian village 1950-74 -- before, during & after War of Liberation against French.
Messud, Claire. The Last Life (NY: Harcourt Brace, 1999). Several decades in tortured history of a French-Algerian family on both sides of Mediterranean.
In the Library: For Young Readers
In the Library: Poetry
In the Library: Drama
In the Library: Photography
CD & Audio
Various artists, "Rai Rebels" (Earthworks/Virgin, 1988). Urban young people's music of rebellion, easy living & free speech from the 80s, before youth largely turned to Islamic fundamentalism.
Khaled, "N'ssi N'ssi" (Mango/Island, 1993). Rai music recorded in French exile.
Film & Video
"Algeria's Bloody Years" [2003], dir. Malek Bensmail, 59m. From First Run/Icarus. Rise & repression of Islamic fundamentalism in 1980s & 90s.
"Arab Diaries: Love & Marriage" [2001], dir. Samia Chala & Muriel Aboulrouss, 26m. From First Run/Icarus. Women & love in Algeria & Lebanon.
"Arab Diaries: Youth" [2001], dir. Ali Bilail, Samia Chala & Muriel Aboulrouss, 26m. From First Run/Icarus. Youth issues in Lebanon, Algeria & Egypt.
"Battle of Algiers" [1966], dir. Gillo Pontecorvo, 125m. From Axon Video. Urban guerrilla warfare during the struggle for Algerian independence.
"Death Squadrons: The French School" [2003], dir. Marie-Monique Robin, 60m. From First Run/Icarus. Impact on Latin America of counter-insurgency lessons from Algeria & Indochina.
"Drowning by Bullets" [1992], dir. Pbilip Brooks & Alan Hayling, 52m. From First Run/Icarus. Massacre of Algerian protesters in Paris during war for Algerian independence, 10/17/61.
"A Female Cabby in Sidi Bel-Abbès" [2000], dir. Belkacem Hadjadj, 52m. From First Run/Icarus. Profile of a woman worker & her community.
"The Perfumed Garden" [2000], dir. Yamina Benguigui, 52m. From First Run/Icarus. Algerian film-maker explores sexual myths & realities in contemporary Arab society.