Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Glossary
- Acronyms & Abbreviations
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 Massinissah's Children
- 2 The Republic of Martyrs
- 3 Shifting Centres
- 4 The Theft of History
- 5 The Centres of the World
- 6 Speaking in the Name of the Village
- Conclusion
- Appendix 1 Tables & Figures
- Appendix 2 Texts
- Bibliography
- Index
2 - The Republic of Martyrs
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 September 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Glossary
- Acronyms & Abbreviations
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 Massinissah's Children
- 2 The Republic of Martyrs
- 3 Shifting Centres
- 4 The Theft of History
- 5 The Centres of the World
- 6 Speaking in the Name of the Village
- Conclusion
- Appendix 1 Tables & Figures
- Appendix 2 Texts
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
We were all naive. We came down from our mountains, our heads full of dreams … We were dreaming about inscribing freedom in all our acts, democracy in all hearts, justice and fraternity among all men … But while the jubilant people were celebrating their newly recovered freedom, other men, hidden in the shadows, made plans about the future … And one beautiful morning we woke up with a bitter taste in our mouth … The disaster was accomplished.
(Mimouni 1982: 196)Early nationalism(s)
Primary schools were not long to remain the only institutions through which Kabyles could get to know the intellectual and practical tools of their French occupiers. In the First World War, 158,533 Algerian soldiers fought in the French army, while 11,000 men emigrated to Syria to avoid conscription, and returned after the war (Mahé 2001). Some were taken to France to replace factory workers busy at the front, and stayed. In 1914, 13,000 Algerian ‘French Muslims’ were registered in France, 10,000 of whom were probably from Kabylia; in 1928 Louis Massignon counted 120,000 Kabyles in France:
It is said that in certain douars [districts] of the Guergor 70% of men aged 20 to 60 years have come to work in France; they return home, profoundly changed – several naturalised – some communists… A large-scale assimilation, through the working forces, thus takes shape in certain Algerian communes – and this is a serious phenomenon; the colonial problem… occurs in Paris itself.
(Massignon 1930: 169)- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Village MattersKnowledge, Politics and Community in Kabylia, Algeria, pp. 31 - 48Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2009