Foreign Languages & Literatures ETDs

Publication Date

7-10-2013

Abstract

The Algerian War has been surrounded with historical amnesia, which the figure of Charles de Gaulle perpetuated by the creation of a national myth that included the concepts of a civilizing mission' and the need to revive its 'glorious past. The question of torture during that period proved discordant with the republican ideals of France and the construction of the myth, thus awkwardly moving the country back and forth between silence and commemoration. The official line of the state, mostly motivated by silence, excluded accounts of torture and resulted in a postcolonial conflict between fragmented memories and a monolithic vision of history, making the Algerian War a very contemporary debate despite a gap of fifty years.

Keywords

memory, silence, algeria, france, algerian war, de gaulle, torture, history, movies

Document Type

Thesis

Language

French

Degree Name

French

Level of Degree

Masters

Department Name

Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures

First Committee Member (Chair)

Vallury, Rajeshwari

Second Committee Member

Putnam, Walter

Third Committee Member

Bishop, Stephen

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