Memory Struggles: A Story of Collective Learning and Construction of the Memories of Pied-noirs in the Context of French Post-Colonialism

Memory Struggles: A Story of Collective Learning and Construction of the Memories of Pied-noirs in the Context of French Post-Colonialism

This study analyzed the collective learning process through which colonial memory is reconstructed in post-colonial era. Through literature analysis and interviews, it examined the case of the 'Pied-noirs', the French who lived in the colonial Algeria since 1830s and were forced to relocate to France in 1962, to whom existence was denied by the government at their arrival in France. It revealed that their colonial memory was reconstructed through a process of collective and social learning composed of a life cycle. Stages of this cycle traced periods ranging from their colonial life before 1962 to their revisit to Algeria in the 2000s, passing by the experiences of denial of existence, occultation of memory, hiding of identity, creation of associations, division of themselves into several entities, and officialization and decontextualization of memory. We discovered that personal experiences were rebuilt into collective memories through a generative process composed of internalization, communication, and externalization stages. It is also found that, in the post-colonial circumstances, the decolonial and the pro-colonial operate simultaneously. Is also proved that colonial hybridity is not predetermined or consistent through one’s objective socio-economic status. Finally, the meaning of 'colonialism' to the Pied-noirs is demonstrated to be multiple.