From empire to exile

History and memory within the <i>pied-noir</i> and <i>harki</i> communities, 1962–2012

Claire Eldridge

• Publisher: Manchester University Press
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN:
  9781526127167
  9780719087233
• eBook ISBN:
  9781526100863
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: 20th Century History
• Index: History

This book explores the commemorative afterlives of the Algerian War of Independence (1954-62), one of the world's most iconic wars of decolonisation. It focuses on the million French settlers - pieds-noirs - and the tens of thousands of harkis - the French army's native auxiliaries - who felt compelled to migrate to France when colonial rule ended.

Challenging the idea that Algeria was a 'forgotten' war that only returned to French public attention in the 1990s, this study reveals a dynamic picture of memory activism undertaken continuously since 1962 by grassroots communities connected to this conflict. Reconceptualising the ways in which the Algerian War has been debated, evaluated and commemorated in the subsequent five decades, From empire to exile makes an original contribution to important discussions surrounding the contentious issues of memory, migration and empire in contemporary France that will appeal to students and scholars of history and cultural studies.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Information
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgements
• List of abbreviations
• Maps
• Introduction
• Part I The Era of ‘Absence’, 1962–91
• Part II The ‘Return’ of the War of Independence, 1991–2012
• Conclusion
• Select bibliography
• Index