France - Algeria: Visualising a (Post-)Colonial Relationship (via the UK)

We have just returned from a 10 day tour of the UK on our pilgrimage to the "Visualising the Franco-Algerian Relationship since 1954" conference at the University of Manchester and to some places of Doug's ancestors' pasts. I heartily thank Joe McGonagle and Ed Welch for inviting me to participate in this enriching day of study. Although the weather (which was apparently the most snow Britain had seen in 30 years) left some would-be participants stranded, the conference was well attended and my co-presenters gave great talks. My paper, “(Re)turning to Ruins: Pied-Noir Visual Returns to Algeria” went a bit long thanks to my technological endeavors, but I enjoyed writing and delivering the talk and realize I have more to write as I continue to struggle with Dylan Trigg's ideas on ruins in conjunction with my work on nostalgia.

Zineb Sedira was in attendance -- she's a friend of Nadira Laggoune who presented on contemporary Algerian art. Zineb, an internationally respected artist (mostly video and photo), enlightened my perspective on numerous issues related to the Français d'Algérie, and told the story of her photo (left) of the maison abandonnée. At an exhibition of her work she met two women who lived in this house which was apparently a school that their father directed during colonial years and later a maison de torture. The women could (quite understandably) not accept what had happened to their once home.

Euphoria

Euphoria
by Donna Bamford

But you were so beautiful
with your long black eye-lashes
like a girl’s
and your Parisian French,
that night in Stockholm
“I am a pied noir,”
you said
“from Casablanca.”
We drank wine
and smoked hashish
one long euphoric kiss
hitchhiking to Switzerland
in Germany we seduced each other
you were Jewish
a little shy with the Germans
in a chalet by the undulating Rhine
awakening to the tinkling of cow bells
so happy, my choice seemed so apt
and on to Lausanne
bliss unending or so it seemed
or so it seemed
kisses sweeter than Liebfraumilch

** Thank you to Donna for allowing me to repost her poem here. It immediately seduced me.
a.

Camus to the Pantheon?

Sarkozy has decided he would like to move Camus to the Pantheon. It's been fifty years since Camus' death, and this is Sarkozy's way of honoring the Nobel laureate. I have read numerous articles and emails from colleagues on this topic. It seems absurd to me to move this man who wrote with such love and nostalgia for his bright and warm homeland, to such a cold solemn place in the heart of Paris. I asked one of my colleagues, what would Camus want?

It's become, of course, a political issue. Jean-Marie Le Pen is calling this an "électoraliste" decision. "Celui d'un écrivain pied-noir à quatre mois des élections régionales où probablement la majorité va subir une lourde défaite, je crois que c'est assez évident". I asked the same colleague, why does anyone care what Le Pen thinks? "C'est de la politique".

Poor Camus. He's being made into a symbol and possibly a monument.

Les pieds-noirs réunis autour d'un méchoui

Reportage de SudOuest, le lundi 5 octobre 2009
Jean-Louis Cordier

À l'invitation de France et Michel Delenclos - ce dernier est écrivain et chercheur en histoire contemporaine - plus de 150 Français d'Algérie et leurs amis se sont réunis à la salle des fêtes, dimanche 20 septembre, pour un méchoui. Les responsables des deux associations participantes, Jean-Claude Sanchez, Jean-Marie Roques et Georges Bocquel, lors de l'apéritif, ont salué Pierrette Razé, le maire, et la municipalité, notamment Martine Boyer et Frédéric Guillaudeux, pour leur accueil.

Forum algérianiste

À la veille du 36e congrès national et du Forum algérianiste du livre, qui se tiendra du 23 au 25 octobre à Aix-en-Provence, les participants ont débattu sur le thème « Français d'Algérie, transmettre un combat pour l'histoire. Transmettre à qui ? Comment ? Pourquoi ? » Depuis leur exode de 1962, les Français d'Algérie attendent toujours « les promesses faites par les gouvernements successifs ». Ils mènent un combat « pour la vérité historique, la défense de l'oeuvre de la France en Algérie » et la mémoire de leurs morts et disparus.

Photo: "France et Michel Delenclos ont organisé cette journée des Français d'Algérie." (photo J.-L. c.)