Colonial Histories, Postcolonial Memories

Examines the many ways social groups have adopted, transformed, and used the North African myth of Kahina. In this book, Abdelmajid Hannoum examines the role the myth played in wha: may be called an ideological conquest. Since its inception in the 11th century, the Kahina legend has provided the ideological armature for use in anticolonial struggles, North African nationalism, Eerber nationalism, and Arab feminism. But the Kahina story has also provided the ideological justification for incursions into North Africa by various groups who used the legend to articulate the region as Arab, sometimes French, sometimes Berber, and sometimes Jewish. His book further explores the processes and context in which memories of the past are transformed and shaped, not only by those recounting the legend oraily, but by historians writing about North Africa, Islam, and French colonial rule in the region.

Author Biography

Abdelmajid Hannoum received his Ph. D. in Near Eastern Studies and Anthropology at Princeton University. He has taught in the Department of Anthropology at the New School for Social Research in New York City. Currently, he is Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University.