Decolonization, Nation-building & Culture in North Africa: A Reading List
Professor Idriss Jebari, a postdoctoral research fellow at Beirut's Arab Council for Social Sciences, joined us on the afikra podcast for a fascinating conversation about language and colonialism in 20th century North Africa. We asked Professor Jebari for his recommendations for what to read to dive deeper into some of the topics discussed in the episode:
Tunisia's Modern Woman: Nation-Building and State Feminism in the Global 1960s, Amy Aisen Kallander
“This book looks at the importance of women to post-colonial state-building projects in Tunisia and how this relates to other state-feminist projects across the Middle East and during the Cold War. Here we see how the notion of modern womanhood was central to a range of issues from economic development (via family planning) to intellectual life and the growth of Tunisian academia.” (via Cambridge University Press)
Markets of Civilization: Islam and Racial Capitalism in Algeria, Mariam Haleh-Davis
“This history of racial capitalism shows how Islam became a racial category that shaped economic development in colonial and postcolonial Algeria. Davis explores how French officials in Paris and Algiers introduced what she terms “a racial regime of religion” that subjected Algerian Muslims to discriminatory political and economic structures.” (via Duke University Press)
Learning in Morocco: Language Politics and the Abandoned Educational Dream, Charis Boutieri
“This book offers a rare look inside public education in the Middle East. While policymakers see a crisis in education based on demographics and financing, Moroccan high school students point to the effects of a highly politicized Arabization policy that has never been implemented coherently. Based on long-term research inside and outside classrooms, Charis Boutieri describes how students and teachers work within, or try to circumvent, the system, whose contradictory demands ultimately lead to disengagement and, on occasion, to students taking to the streets in protest.” (via Indiana University Press)
Moroccan Other-Archives: History and Citizenship after State Violence, Brahim El Guabli
“An investigation into how histories of exclusion and silencing are written and rewritten in a postcolonial context that lacks organized and accessible archives. This book draws on cultural production concerning the “years of lead”—a period of authoritarianism and political violence between Morocco’s independence in 1956 and the death of King Hassan II in 1999—to examine the transformative roles memory and trauma play in reconstructing stories of three historically marginalized groups in Moroccan history: Berbers/Imazighen, Jews, and political prisoners.” (via Fordham University Press)
And, if you missed it, watch our interview “An Amazigh History of North Africa” with Professor Brahim El Guabli.
Maghreb Noir: Militant-Artists of North Africa and the Struggle for a Pan-African, Postcolonial Future, Paraska Tolan-Szkilnik
“Upon their independence, Moroccan, Algerian, and Tunisian governments turned to the Global South and offered military and financial aid to Black liberation struggles. North Africa became a haven for militant-artists, and the region reshaped postcolonial cultural discourse through the 1960s and 1970s.
Maghreb Noir dives into the personal and political lives of these militant-artists, who collectively challenged the neo-colonialist structures and the authoritarianism of African states.” (via Stanford University Press)
Dissidents du Maghreb: depuis les indépendances, Khadjia Mohsen-Finan and Pierre Vermeren (French language)
“Une histoire du Maghreb contemporain à travers ses militants, qu'ils aient combattu contre les brutalités policières et judiciaires, en faveur de revendications culturelles comme le droit à la langue berbère, en faveur de la liberté d'expression pour une presse et des syndicats libres, pour le droit à l'égalité des femmes ou encore pour le respect des droits des travailleurs.” (via Livres Hebdo)
Beyond the Veil, Fatema Mernissi
“Does Islam as a religion oppress women? Is Islam against democracy? In this classic study, internationally renowned sociologist Fatema Mernissi argues that women’s oppression is not due to Islam because this religion celebrates women’s power. Women’s oppression, she maintains, is due to political manipulation of religion by power-seeking, archaic Muslim male elites.” (via Saqi Books)
History of the Maghreb, Abdallah Laroui
“This survey of North African history challenges both conventional attitudes toward North Africa and previously published histories written from the point of view of Western scholarship. The book aims, in Professor Laroui’s words, “to give from within a decolonized vision of North African history just as the present leaders of the Maghrib are trying to modernize the economic and social structure of the country.” (via Princeton University Press)
Europe and Islam, Hichem Djaït
Need to locate information - TBC
Plural Maghreb: Writings on Postcolonialism, Abdelkebir Khatibi & P. Burcu Yalim
“A collection of essays from one of the most renowned North African literary critics, authors and influential figures in postcolonial theory. Featuring some of Khatibi's most profound meditations such as "Other-Thought," "Double Critique," "Bilingualism and Literature," and "Disoriented Orientalism”.” (via Bloomsbury Books)
Vocation of Islam, Malek Bennabi (French language)
“Ce livre parle avant tout de la civilisation musulmane, à la fois spirituelle et temporelle. Il analyse les raisons de l’échec des réformistes musulmans contemporains tout en traçant les lignes à la fois religieuses, politiques, sociologiques et philosophiques nécessaires au défi des musulmans de ce siècle.” (via Tawhid)
Désenchantement National, Hélé Béji (French language)
“Ce livre veut briser la vision simpliste qui consiste à attribuer les échecs de la Tunisie décolonisée à des forces extérieures : l'hégémonie occidentale, le jeu de l'exploitation impérialiste, etc. Hélé Béji décrit de l'intérieur un pouvoir et une société qui, sous le masque de l'idéologie nationale, mettent en place de nouvelles logiques de domination et d'oppression.” (via Amazon)
