Returning to the “Return”: pied-noir Memories of 1962
When Algeria became an independent nation in 1962, the pieds-noirs felt compelled to leave their homeland and migrate to France. Deeply traumatic, the twin historical experiences of departure from Algeria and arrival in France were so foundational that they have structured and sustained a communal i...
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| Veröffentlicht in: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/remi, |
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| 1. Verfasser: | |
| Format: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Sprache: | Anglais |
| Veröffentlicht: |
Revue européenne des migrations internationales
2014
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| Online Zugang: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Zusammenfassung: | When Algeria became an independent nation in 1962, the pieds-noirs felt compelled to leave their homeland and migrate to France. Deeply traumatic, the twin historical experiences of departure from Algeria and arrival in France were so foundational that they have structured and sustained a communal identity and collective mobilisation that now spans five decades. In seeking to articulate the trauma associated with 1962, one strategy employed by the pied-noir community has been to compare and contrast their own experiences to processes of forced migration and violent population displacement that have occurred in other international contexts. By deconstructing this apparently international framing of the pied-noir past, this article traces how this community of national migrants have attempted to negotiate their sense of being simultaneously part of and apart from their own nation. This in turn allows the evolving relationship between the community and the State to be highlighted, as well as offering an insight into how the pieds-noirs understand their position within the nation’s collective memory. The over-arching argument is that, for all pied-noir discourse encompasses a broad map of international territories and events, the route of these voyages is essentially circuitous; it always returns to their own “return” to France in 1962 and to the anxiety and ambiguity embedded in that moment. |
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