Burning the veil draws upon sources from newly-opened archives, exploring the 'emancipation' of Muslim women from the veil, seclusion and perceived male oppression during the Algerian War of decolonisation. The claimed French liberation was contradicted by the violence inflicted on women through rape, torture and destruction of villages. This book examines the roots of this contradiction in the theory of 'revolutionary warfare', and the attempt to defeat the National Liberation Front by penetrating the Muslim family, seen as a bastion of resistance. Striking parallels with contemporary Afghanistan and Iraq, French 'emancipation' produced a backlash that led to deterioration in the social and political position of Muslim women. This analysis of how and why attempts to Westernise Muslim women ended in catastrophe has contemporary relevance and will be important to students and academics engaged in the study of French and colonial history, feminism and contemporary Islam. -- .

The first comprehensive study in English of the earliest and largest 'Third-World' migration into pre-war Europe. Full attention is given to the relationship between the society of emigration, undermined by colonialism, and processes of ethnic organisation in the metropolitan context. Contemporary anti-Algerian racism is shown to have deep roots in moves by colonial elites to control and police the migrants and to segregate them from contact with Communism, nationalist movements and the French working class.

"Burning the Veil" draws upon sources from newly-opened archives, exploring the "emancipation" of Muslim women from the veil, seclusion and perceived male oppression during the Algerian War of decolonization. The claimed French liberation was contradicted by the violence inflicted on women through rape, torture and destruction of villages. This book examines the roots of this contradiction in the theory of "revolutionary warfare," and the attempt to defeat the National Liberation Front by penetrating the Muslim family, seen as a bastion of resistance. Striking parallels with contemporary Afghanistan and Iraq, French "emancipation" produced a backlash that led to deterioration in the social and political position of Muslim women. This analysis of how and why attempts to Westernize Muslim women ended in catastrophe has contemporary relevance and will be important to students and academics engaged in the study of French and colonial history, feminism, and contemporary Islam.

The role of the peasantry during the Algerian War of Independence (1954-1962) has long been neglected by historians, in part because they have been viewed as a 'primitive' mass devoid of political consciousness. War in the Mountains: Peasant Society and Counterinsurgency in Algeria, 1918-1958 challenges this conventional understanding by tracing the ability of the peasant community to sustain an autonomous political culture through family, clan, and village assemblies. The long-established system of indirect rule by which the colonial state controlled and policed the vast mountainous interior of Algeria began to break down after the 1920s. War in the Mountains explains how competing guerrilla forces and the French military sought to harness djemaas as part of a hearts-and-minds strategy. Djemaas formed a pole of opposition to the patron-client relations of the rural elites, with clandestine urban-rural networks emerging that prepared the way for armed resistance and a system of rebel governance. Contrary to accepted historical analysis suggesting that rural society was massively uprooted and dislocated, War in the Mountains demonstrates that the peasantry demonstrated a high level of social cohesion and resistance based on powerful family and kin networks.

The massacre of Algerian demonstrators by the Paris police on the night of 17 October 1961 is one of the most contested events in contemporary French history. This book provides a multi-layered investigation of the repression through a critical examination of newly opened archives, oral sources, the press and contemporary political movements and debates. The roots of violence are traced back to counter-insurgency techniques developed by the French military in North Africa and introduced into Paris to crush the independence movement among Algerian migrant workers. The study shows how and why this event was rapidly expunged from public visibility in France, but was kept alive by immigrant and militant minorities, to resurface in a dramatic form after the 1980s. Through this case-study the authors explore both the dynamics of state terror as well as the complex memorial processes by which these events continue to inform and shape post-colonial society.

The massacre of Algerian demonstrators by the Paris police on the night of 17 October 1961 is one of the most contested events in contemporary French history. This book provides a multi-layered investigation of the repression through a critical examination of newly opened archives, oral sources, the press and contemporary political movements and debates. The roots of violence are traced back to counter-insurgency techniques developed by the French military in North Africa and introduced into Paris to crush the independence movement among Algerian migrant workers. The study shows how and why this event was rapidly expunged from public visibility in France, but was kept alive by immigrant and militant minorities, to resurface in a dramatic form after the 1980s. Through this case-study the authors explore both the dynamics of state terror as well as the complex memorial processes by which these events continue to inform and shape post-colonial society.