Interview with Marc Laffineur, "The Memory of the Algerian War must be Appeased"

Translated excerpts from the interview in La Croix with Minister of Veteran Affairs, Marc Laffineur (5 December 2011)

La Croix: Isn't it also time to work out the truth about the Algerian War?
ML: The Algerian War was a tragedy. We must have the courage to bring all aspects of this conflict to light. The vast majority of the French military were exemplary in carrying out their duty. The truth should not work in only one direction. It has to reflect all aspects, even the mistakes on both sides, and it has to be wanted from both sides of the Mediterranean. Created in October 2010 and presided by Claude Bébéar, the Foundation for the Memory of the Algerian War and the battles in Morocco and Tunisia is working towards this.

La Croix: Can France and Algeria strengthen their ties during this fiftieth anniversary?
ML: I am obviously in favor of a dispassionate exchange regarding the commemoration of the end of the Algerian War with respect to the veterans' associations on both sides of the Mediterranean. A greater connection between the two countries is desirable. The Algerian War was a huge mess. We have to admit that it's time to turn the page. What was done with Germany in terms of reconciliation should be able to happen with Algeria.

Coordinator chosen to organize the 50th anniversary commemorations

Translated and edited from Lignes de Défense blog by Philippe Chapleau, 6 December 2011

"Next year will mark the fiftieth anniversary of the end of the Algerian war. As such, the French President has given Hubert Colin de Verdière, formerly ambassador to Algeria for two mandates, the task of coordinating the multiple initiatives related to the anniversary. Marc Laffineur, Minister of Veteren Affairs, gave this information to La Croix who published an interview with him on Monday." (Title of this interview in English: The Memory of the Algerian War Must be Appeased)

Chapleau says he had been unaware of this nomination that was made on October 23.  However, Colin de Verdière has already taken up his post at the Quay d'Orsay and is currently building his team. His appointment comes after the creation in 2010 of the Foundation for the Memory of the Algerian War and the battles in Morocco and Tunisia. This organization's mission is "to facilitate public access to archives, to support scientific research in France and abroad, and to transmit the memory of a period which has often remained unknown." Directed by Hubert Falco, the foundation also wishes to "accomplish  the important task of collecting testimonials. It will support the publication or reprinting of these works."

Leïla Sebbar: Voyage en Algéries autour de ma chambre

While I work on my chapter, "Leïla Sebbar's Review of Algerias Past," I've been catching up on her blog (thanks to Laura Reeck's Writerly Identities which references it), and I see she has continued her Voyage en Algéries autour de ma chambre, published in 2008. Of particular interest, Sebbar includes images of the fabled Jardin d'Essai in Algiers (see Cixous's Si près, among many other post-Algerian memory works that reference it) and a painting of another Algerian cemetery, Cimetière d’El Hamma Sidi M’Hamed, Alger by Catherine Rossi, 2010. The ruins of the past keep coming to the fore, both visually and textually.

bibliography on pieds-noirs

No, I haven't been blogging much about the Pieds-Noirs, but I am indeed writing and editing to tidy up my manuscript over our "summer" holiday in Australia. To help those of you interested in my writing on Pied-Noir literature, I'm including a few references here. Please email me if I can provide you with any further resources.

Book in progress:

Rewriting Home: How the Pieds-Noirs Remember Algeria. This book examines the written recreation of Algeria in the literature from the Pied-Noir community from 1962 to present. Through an examination of nostalgic returns, both real and imagined, I demonstrate colonial identity as being worked through and sustained in the motion of return and in the act of repetition.

  

Book Chapters:

“Viewing the Past through a ‘Nostalgeric’ Lens: Pied-Noir Photo-documentaries” in Textual and Visual Selves: Photography, Film and Comic Art in French Autobiography. Ed. Natalie Edwards, Amy L. Hubbell and Ann Miller. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2011.

“Dual, Divided, and Doubled Selves: Three Women Writing between France and Algeria.” This “Self” which is not One: Women’s Life-Writing in French. Ed. Natalie Edwards and Christopher Hogarth. Newcastle, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2010. 35-46.

“Returning to the Baobab fou: (Dis)integrating Roots in Ken Bugul’s and Marie Cardinal’s Autobiographies.” Emergent Perspectives on Ken Bugul: From Alternative Choices to Oppositional Practices. Ed. Jeanne-Sarah De Larquier and Ada Uzoamaka Azodo. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 2009. 81-99.

“Slipping Home in Marie Cardinal’s Écoutez la mer.” Gender and Displacement: Home in Contemporary Francophone Women's Autobiography. Ed. Natalie Edwards and Christopher Hogarth. Newcastle, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2008. 34-45.

Essays:

“Separation and Return in the Intellectual Work of the Pieds-Noirs.” International Journal of Francophone Studies. Special Issue: The African Intellectual. Guest Ed. Natalie Edwards and Christopher Hogarth. Forthcoming 2012.

“L’Algérie recurrente et l’Algérie errante dans l’écriture des Françaises d’Algérie.” L’écriture migrante au féminin: entre temporalités et spatialités multiples. Ed. Névine El-Nossery and Anna Rocca. Forthcoming.

“The Past is Present: Pied-Noir Returns to Algeria.” Ed. Jacqueline Dutton. Nottingham French Studies. Forthcoming 2012.

“(Re)turning to Ruins: Pied-Noir Visual Returns to Algeria.” Ed. Joseph McGonagle and Edward Welch. Special issue, “Visualizing the Franco-Algerian Relationship since 1954” in Modern and Contemporary France 19.2 (May 2011): 147-61.

  

 “« La valise ou le cercueil » : un aller-retour dans la mémoire des Pieds-Noirs.” Revue Diasporas: histoire et sociétés 12 (October 2008): 199-207.

“The Wounds of Algeria in Pied-Noir Autobiography.” Dalhousie French Studies 81 (Winter 2007): 59-68.

“An Amputated Elsewhere: Sustaining and Relieving the Phantom Limb of Algeria.” Life Writing 4.2 (October 2007): 247-62.

“Looking Back: Deconstructing Postcolonial Blindness in Nostalgérie.” Revue CELAAN Review 3.1-2 (Fall 2004): 85-95.