The “Eternal Dependence of the Maghreb”
The Faculté des lettres d'Alger and North African History during the French Algerian Centenary
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Abstract
The 1930 Centenary of French Algeria celebrated a triumphalist vision of Algerian history that offset France's supposed colonial successes against the long sweep of North African history. Professors of the Faculté des lettres d'Alger played a leading role in elaborating this narrative through a series of historical texts published for the occasion. In them, they drew on prior historical and geographical research to defend the legitimacy of French colonialism across North Africa. Though dominant, their interpretation of North African history was not universally accepted. The following year, it encountered its first substantial critique from within French academia. Viewed together, these competing North African historical narratives reveal French imaginaries of a consolidating African empire—and the possibilities of thinking beyond it—in the interwar period.
Contributor Notes
Catalina Mackaman-Lofland is a PhD candidate in History at Ohio State University. Her dissertation examines research on North African history, languages, and societies at the Faculté des lettres d'Alger and its impact on colonial settler society in French Algeria between 1930 and the 1960s.