After a violent French invasion, Algeria became a French colony in 1830; due to “scorched earth” tactics used to eliminate local power structures and resistance to French rule, between 500,000 and one million Algerians (out of an initial population of three million) died in the first three decades of French rule. Between 1954 and 1962, the Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN) fought a guerilla war against the French regime; although both sides committed atrocities during the war, French use of torture and violent tactics harmed its reputation abroad and generated international support for Algerian independence, which was eventually guaranteed by the Évian Accords in 1962. After the war ended, the FLN quickly proved hostile to political opposition and eventually banned other parties in order to consolidate its own power. Algeria remained a stable country until the 1990s, when a civil war broke out between the government and various Islamist factions. Journalist and historians have noted that these rebel groups mimicked the ruthless and brutal tactics originally developed by the FLN to defeat the French.
<aside> ⭕ Born in 1970 in Mostaganem Algeria, Kamel Daoud was the eldest of 6 children and was raised in an Arabic-speaking muslim family.
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Its important to remeber that apart of Daoud’s context is the fact that he read Camus’ ‘The Stranger’. In his process, he felt as though his heritage and culture was disregarded by Camus’ representation of the ‘arab’ and was frusterated by the silence of western readers that continued to endorse his misrepresnation across time. This was his primary source of motivation to create the Meursault investigation.
Key Events:
<aside> 🌍 Scramble for Africa (1880-1914): The European countries colonial advance throughout Africa which nearly brough the entire continent under their control. This led to artifical drawings of national boarders and the repression of native African culture in favour of a Eurocentric values.
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<aside> 🔥 French Imperial Scorched Earth Policy: A military strategy that aims to destroy anything that might be useful to the enemy. This was used by the french after colonising nations and led to the destruction of native land, culture and features.
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