PLEASE READ BOTH READINGS AND WATCH THE VIDEO: THIS IS THE LINK TO THE VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRE3j8pDMds
ONLY USE THE 2 READINGS IM PROVIDING YOU AND THE VIDEO AS SOURCES. PLEASE CITE THE VIDEO AND THE READINGS FOR EXAMPLE ( READING HENNER LINE 4 PAGE 5). THOSE ARE THE ONLY 3 SOURCES YOU CAN USE
Algeria was unlike most European colonies in Africa because the French took over the country long before the 1890s/1900s Scramble for Africa. They invaded and began to settle Algeria much earlier in 1830. In fact, Algeria was France’s main settler colony in Africa. Several rebellions took place in the more than 130 years of French rule, but the French remained. The decisive phase of warfare in the country lasted roughly from 1955 (starting specifically in November 1954) to 1960, when the French successfully crushed the military wing of the independence movement. This period and the associated events both before and after the armed struggle are referred to as the Algerian Revolution. Even though the French triumphed on the battlefield, they lost politically for several reasons including international pressure. The French left Algeria in 1962, and the country gained independence.
This movie, which is a dramatization of historical events, is associated with the Weeks 6 & 7 readings. Please read both Hrebek and Fanon in Weeks 6 & 7 Readings as you watch this movie. Please take notes to prepare for Film Response #2 which will be due on Friday, October 7th at 5 PM. To reiterate, because of the non-teaching days this week and next week, Film #2 Response will not be due until next week (Week 7). The questions for the Film #2 Response will be posted shortly.
In the meantime, please watch the movie. It is long (around two hours), so you may want to watch it in parts. Also, please also look up and define the following terms in your notes:
(1) Decolonization
(2) Pieds Noirs
(3) FLN – Front de liberation nationale
These terms will help you understand what happened in Algeria during the revolution, and how that country eventually achieved independence. This vocabulary list may be extended when the questions are posted.
Please do not repeat the questions in your Word document response. This will give you a high (BAD) score in SafeAssign.
Use Hrebek and Fanon’s chapters in the Weeks 6 & 7 Readings and the Battle of Algiers movie to answer the questions below.
Before you start answering the questions, look up and define the words listed in the description posted above the movie. Please write out those definitions in your notes.
Also before you get started, look up the definitions of and differences between these proper nouns:
(a) Algeria
(b) Algiers
(c) Algerians
(d) Battle of Algiers vs. the Algerian Revolution
… now a very important term that need to make sure you understand:
(e) decolonization
As noted already, the colony of Algeria was France’s most important possession in Africa. In contrast with Kenya, which was home to only 30,000 British settlers, Algeria was the home of 1 million French settlers, many who had lived in the colony for generations. As stated above, the French had been in Algeria since 1830 — long before the Scramble for Africa. Algeria is so close to France geographically that the French considered it an overseas part of France. If you look at a map, you will see that Algeria is directly across the Mediterranean sea from southern France. The French had made massive investments in Algeria for over a century, and the colony was a major agricultural and even industrial part of the French empire.
The Algerian Revolution described in the notes posed above and in the readings, took on a special urgency in the Battle of Algiers, which was a specific part of the overall struggle against the French in Algeria. This long battle focused on the capital city, where many French people resided. The fighting in that city saw the extensive targeting of innocent civilians by both the French and the Algerian FLN in what were clearly terror campaigns. It is estimated that by the end of the Algerian war, 1 million people had died.
When the French government finally agreed to Algerian independence in 1962, hundreds of thousands of French Algerians left the country. Many of these people came from families that had been in Algeria for over a century. Furthermore, a new civil conflict began in Algeria, where Algerians viewed as collaborators with the French were hunted down. It is estimated that hundreds of thousands of Algerians were killed in the aftermath of independence — not by the French, but by fellow Algerians.
QUESTIONS:
Make sure you write 350 words. Please write in complete sentences in essay format. Do not summarize the plot of the movie. Rather, try to answer the following questions using the sources recommended above.
Was/is North Africa, including Algeria, a part of Africa or a part of the Middle East? Explain.
Using Algeria and other countries as examples, what were some of the difference between the decolonization of settler colonies (colonies that were home to European settlers), and African colonies that were not home to settlers?
Using Algeria as a case study, how did nationalist construct “nationality” in Africa during the decolonization period? What processes were involved in creating political movements and independent states? Think about the formation of local political elites, the mobilization of populations, the assertion of common cultural, linguistic, and religious identities, etc. Could it be argued that building nationalism in Africa during the 1950s and 1960s involved processes of exclusion?
How was violence against innocents (terror) justified by the Algerian FLN to achieve independence? By the French to hold on to the colony? What were the claims of moral superiority or attaining higher goals that both parties used to justify their brutality against civilians?
Again: Please do not repeat the questions in your Word document response.
