Memory Work: Narratives by the Descendants of Algerian Immigration to France

Résumé :

In the narratives written by the descendants of Algerian immigration to France, the same pattern is constantly repeated: the silence of the parents, a silence that undermines the transmission of family history. For their sons and daughters, this repressed speech constitutes a heavy legacy that has to be overcome. Therefore, they shoulder the function of legatee writer, an heir who, “becoming the scribe of the silenced ones who haunts him, […] tells their story and, doing so, the story of the world which made them dumb” (Janine Altounian, L’Intraduisible. Deuil, mémoire, transmission, Dunod, 2005, p. 72). This way, a minority memory emerges in France through a choir of voices (narratives by Tassadit Imache, Azouz Begag, Zahia Rahmani, Dalila Kerchouche, Ali Magoudi and Nina Hayat will be examined) and makes its way within the French national memory.