The Harki in the Algerian War of Independence

FAIN: FT-53556-05

Vincent Crapanzano
CUNY Research Foundation, Graduate School and University Center (New York, NY 10016-4309)

This project is concerned with the Harkis, Algerians, about 200,000, who sided with the French during the Algerian War of Indpendence. Although more than 100,000 Harkis were slaughtered at Indpendence, about 20,000 families escaped to France where they were housed in camps for as long as 16 years. My research focuses on constitution of a mnemonic community. I focus on the role of oral and written literature, much of which centers on trauma, betrayal, and abandonment in defining that communiy.