CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2022
| Author | Trudelle, Tiphaine |
|---|---|
| Title | The French Pieds Noirs of Algeria: Liminality and Hybridity in a Post-Colonial Context |
| Summary | Settler Colonialism and Post-Colonialism commonly depict the (post)colonial world as dichotomic, opposing ‘the colonizer’ to ‘the colonized.’ The Algerian-born French settlers of former French Algeria (1830-1962), also known as ‘French of Algeria’ or ‘pieds noirs,’ have suffered from such a simplistic understanding, being considered as direct perpetrators of colonialism. This thesis is devoted to challenging such assumptions, by demonstrating that (post)colonial subjects like the pieds noirs have an ambivalent positionality that cannot be fully understood through the lens of fixed political categories. Instead, it draws on the metaphorical concepts of rite of passage, liminality, hybridity, and ‘Third Space of Enunciation’ that have been respectively developed by anthropologists Arnold Van Gennep and Victor Turner, and post-colonial scholar Homi K. Bhabha, to show that (post)colonial actors are located in an in-between space. This research also relies on the data collected through seven semi-structured key informant interviews conducted between June 2021 and August 2021. Engaging with the feeling of unbelonging that was ubiquitous in the interviews, this thesis demonstrates that the pieds noirs have undertaken a rite of passage, which led them to enter a long-term liminal space, in which they were neither Algerian nor fully French. This research ultimately enriches the existing literature on (post)colonialism and delves into the different responses post-colonial subjects like the pieds noirs have had towards their hybrid identity. |
| Supervisor | Merlingen, Michael |
| Department | International Relations MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2022/trudelle_tiphaine.pdf |
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