Performing the Pied-Noir Family: Constructing Narratives of Settler Memory and Identity in Literature and On-Screen

The Algerian War (1954-1962) has had a lasting impact on France, and this book sheds new light on the memory community of the pieds-noirs, European settlers who migrated to France during the war. Aoife Connolly explores autobiographical and fictional narratives by the settlers in over 30 canonical and non-canonical works of literature and film, focusing on renewed attachment to the family in exile and uncovering neglected representations, including homosexual and Jewish voices. The findings have broader implications for communities affected by colonization and migration.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 252 pages
Publication date: 15 September 2022
Publisher: Lexington Books

The Algerian War (1954-1962) had a profound impact on France, which has long repressed the subject in its collective psyche. This book sheds new light on a memory community at the heart of the conflict: the million European settlers known as the pieds-noirs, who migrated to France as the war reached its bloody end. Aoife Connolly draws on theories of performativity to explore autobiographical and fictional narratives by the settlers in over 30 canonical and non-canonical works of literature and film produced from the colony's imminent demise up to the present day. Connolly focuses on renewed attachment to the family in exile in a comprehensive analysis of settler masculinity, femininity, childhood, and adolescence that uncovers neglected representations, including homosexual and Jewish voices. Findings on the construction of a post-independence identity and collective memory have broader implications for communities affected by colonization and migration. Scholars of French Studies, Postcolonial Studies, Cultural Studies, Gender and Identity Studies, Memory Studies, and Migration Studies will find this book particularly useful.

Weight: 345g
Dimension: 228 x 152 x 18 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781498537377