Algerian Colonialism

Modern History of M.E – Presentation Notes

Why did the French Attempt to Surpress the Religious-Language Element in Algeria?

* An element of the French colonial project which deserves close scrutiny is the linguistic and cultural policies as these still affect present day Algeria.

Why is the language important to suppress in this topic?

* Algeria's post colonial history is series of attempts to deal with colonial past. -Mainly to do with culture.

* At time of French conquest, Algeria had an extensive infrastructure of Quranic schools and Madrassas. – These were taught in Arabic & were traditional in the sense that they taught religious, legal & philological studies.

* Though it needed modernising, literacy rates in Algeria were as high in France & other agrarian societies of the time.

* The French military conquest affected Algeria's cultural resources causing deaths and permanent exiles of a large number of Algeria's educated elite.

* Between 1850 & 1870, thousands of traditional schools were closed, leading to a catastrophic fall in literacy rates.

* Expropriation of land undermined the economic and social bases of societies as well as cultural and linguistic foundations. Effectively leading to the shutting down of schools.

* Land...