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The Rise of the Algerian Elite, 1900–14

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2008

Belkacem Saadallah
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Extract

The present leaders in the Third World are mainly drawn from élites who, in one way or another, were the product of the colonial era. Algeria, of course, is no exception. Although she was always part of the Arab world, French rule, to which she was subjected for more than a century, left a strong impact. One of the results of the colonial era in Algeria was the rise, in the late nineteenth century, of a French-educated elite who tried, despite their limited number, to find a formula by which the native and colonial societies could live together harmoniously. The purpose of this short study is to trace the origins of these Algerians who, without doubt, were among the pioneers of these élites in Africa.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 5 , Issue 1 , May 1967 , pp. 69 - 77
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1967

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References

Page 69 note 1 Benhabiles, Cherif, L'Algériefrançaise vue par un indigènt (Algiers, 1914), pp. 107–10.Google Scholar

Page 69 note 2 Ibid. p. ii.

Page 69 note 3 Merad, Ali, ‘La Formation de la presse musulmane en Algérie, 1919–39’, in Institut des belles lettres arabes (Tunis), xxvii, 1964, p. 13.Google Scholar

Page 69 note 4 Bousquet, G. H., ‘Les Elites gouvernantes en Afrique du nord depuis la conquête française’, in Welt des Islams (Leiden), III, 1954, pp. 15–33.Google Scholar

Page 70 note 1 Leroy-Beaulieu, , ‘La France dans l'Afrique du nord’, in Revue des deux mondes (Paris), 1906, pp. 60–2.Google Scholar

Page 70 note 2 Benhabiles, op. cit. pp. 109–10. The authors of the Algerian Manifesto of 1943 estimated the élite at 1,655 people classified as follows: 1,000 specialised workers, 45 doctors, 22 pharmacists, 9 dentists, 3 engineers, 7 lawyers, 10 high school teachers, and 500 instructors. See Sarrasin, Paul-Emile, La Crise algérienne (Paris, 1949), p. 184.Google Scholar

Page 70 note 3 Quoted by Depont, Octave, ‘Les Berbéres en France’, in L'Afrique fratsçaise—supplément (Paris), 09 1925, p. 444.Google Scholar

Page 70 note 4 Cited by Benhabiles, pp. 108–9.

Page 70 note 5 Sarrasin, op. cit. p. 184, from the text of the Algerian Manifesto of 1943.

Page 71 note 1 See Abbas, Ferhat, La Nuit coloniale (Paris, 1962), p. 110.Google Scholar

Page 71 note 2 This campaign was extended even to those Frenchmen who tried to maintain Algerian customs, such as Napoleon III, whom the élite denounced for his doctrine of ‘absolute respect for the Algerian mentality and customs’. Benhabiles, op. cit. p. 105.

Page 72 note 1 See full text of this note in Benhabiles, op. cit. pp. 117–21.

Page 72 note 2 Ibid. pp. 7 and 10 ff. See also Hamet, Ismael (Hamid), Les Musulmans français du nord de l'Afrique (Paris, 1906).Google Scholar

Page 73 note 1 Benhabiles, op. cit. pp. 103–4. It is understood that this appeal was directed to the young people of the Algerian aristocracy or great families, who had money, but neglected education.

Page 74 note 1 Ibid. pp. 75 ff.

Page 74 note 2 See L'Afriquefrançaise—supplément, 08 1906, pp. 267–8.Google Scholar

Page 74 note 3 Benhabiles, op. cit. pp. 83–4. Most of the conservatives used to wear burnous and huge white turbans.

Page 74 note 4 Ibid. pp. 122–3.

Page 75 note 1 See Leroy-Beaulieu, , Revue des deux mondes, 1906, p. 60.Google Scholar

Page 76 note 1 de Billy, Edouard, ‘Notes sur la politique indigène’, in L'Afrique française—supplement, 03 1914, pp. 90–1.Google Scholar

Page 76 note 2 Ibid. p. 97. See also Millet, Philippe, ‘France and her Algerian Problem’, in The Nineteenth Century (London), LXXIII, 1913. p. 729.Google Scholar

Page 76 note 3 Fekar, Benali (Fakhar), ‘La Representation des musulmans algériens’. in Revue du monde musulman (Tangier), 1909, pp. 17–18.Google Scholar