Books

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The Arts

June 2021

Algerian national cinema

by Guy Austin

This topical and innovative study is the first book on Algerian cinema to be published in English since the 1970s. At a time when North African and Islamic cultures are of increasing political significance, Algerian National Cinema presents a dynamic, detailed and up to date analysis of how film has represented this often misunderstood nation. Algerian National Cinema explores key films from The Battle of Algiers (1966) to Mascarades (2007). Introductions to Algerian history and to the national film industry are followed by chapters on the essential genres and themes of filmmaking in Algeria, including films of anti-colonial struggle, representations of gender, Berber cinema, and filming the 'black decade' of the 1990s. This thoughtful and timely book will appeal to all interested in world cinemas, in North African and Islamic cultures, and in the role of cinema as a vehicle for the expression of contested identities. By the author of the critically-acclaimed Contemporary French Cinema.

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Promoted Content

The Arts

January 2019

Algerian national cinema

by Guy Austin

This topical and innovative study is the first book on Algerian cinema to be published in English since the 1970s. At a time when North African and Islamic cultures are of increasing political significance, Algerian National Cinema presents a dynamic, detailed and up to date analysis of how film has represented this often misunderstood nation. Algerian National Cinema explores key films from The Battle of Algiers (1966) to Mascarades (2007). Introductions to Algerian history and to the national film industry are followed by chapters on the essential genres and themes of filmmaking in Algeria, including films of anti-colonial struggle, representations of gender, Berber cinema, and filming the 'black decade' of the 1990s. This thoughtful and timely book will appeal to all interested in world cinemas, in North African and Islamic cultures, and in the role of cinema as a vehicle for the expression of contested identities. By the author of the critically-acclaimed Contemporary French Cinema.

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March 2023

“Witness to the Mutilations of the Sky”

Fiction and testimony in the work of Mohammed Dib

by Hervé Sanson

From his earliest writings, Algerian writer Mohammed Dib (1920-2003) never gave in to the use of didactic, transparent language, nor to the expectations of so-called “commissioned” literature. It's the work of the language in its syntactic cutting, the weighing of the letter, that's important. In fact, the Dibian witness is masked: he conceals within himself what I'd like to call a literary witness, i.e. a textual device, plural in its declensions, which, going against the expected, allows for other times, (re)plays the texts in their unspoken, questions the memory of the texts, renews the very conception of the witness and asks the following question: what witness when fiction gets involved? This essay, covering fifty years of uninterrupted creation, sets out to delineate the various passages of witness that Dib's work encourages, but cannot avoid questioning the very nature of exegesis and the position of the exegete: do I become, at the end of this relay, the ultimate witness who wishes, from the depths of his heart, to pass the baton to a new guarantor? Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

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November 2022

The Doors of the Poem

Tribute to Habib Tengour

by Sagawe Regina Keil, Hervé Sanson

The twenty-seven contributions gathered here and superbly illustrated by Hamid Tibouchi - critical studies and creative texts - pay tribute to a work that is at the forefront of Algerian and, more broadly, contemporary letters, but paradoxically still little-known. On the occasion of Habib Tengour's seventy-fifth birthday, this volume is intended to open up new avenues of research into this work, and provide a more accurate understanding of the issues at stake. Tributes from his peers - poets from all over the world - give the book an affective, carnal dimension, extending the researchers' analyses with unexpected echoes. “Tengour warns us: “Only those with the right intention enter the poem! LES PORTES DU POEME thus opens on one of the most important poetic voices of his generation (Prix Dante in 2016, Prix Benjamin Fondane in 2022, Prix Dante Alighieri in 2023, for his body of work).

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The Arts

August 2016

Algerian national cinema

by Guy Austin

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Literature & Literary Studies

December 2019 - December 2024

The Classic of Mountains and Seas

by Chen Mingzhen

Shanhaijing is a book that records ancient Chinese mythology, history, geography, plants, animals, minerals, products, witchcraft, religion, medicine, folk custom and nationality. The cultural phenomena reflected in it are all inclusive. In addition to the abundant mythological materials, it also involves many academic fields, such as philosophy, aesthetics, religion, history, geography, astronomy, meteorology, medicine, animals, plants, minerals, folklore, ethnology, geology, oceanography, psychology, Anthropology Wait a moment. Under the condition of underdeveloped ancient culture, science and technology and transportation, Shanhaijing is a wonderful book with the most myths recorded in China, and also an ancient encyclopedia.

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Work-Life Balance

Malevolent Managers and Folkloric Freelancers

by Wayne Reé, Benjamin Chee

When a malevolent multinational arrives on our shores, familiar creatures like pontianaks, manananggals, rākṣasīs and ba jiao guis are forced out of their jobs. Some give in and sign up for mundane corporate life – but others would rather fight than join the broken-spirited hordes of the (desk)bound. Benjamin Chee’s comics and Wayne Rée’s prose intertwine in this collection to bring you familiar Asian mythology in an even more familiar setting: the realm of dead-end work, glass ceilings and truly hellish bosses.

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Literature & Literary Studies

April 2020

Interweaving myths in Shakespeare and his contemporaries

by Janice Valls-Russell, Agnès Lafont, Charlotte Coffin

This volume proposes new insights into the uses of classical mythology by Shakespeare and his contemporaries, focusing on interweaving processes in early modern appropriations of myth. Its 11 essays show how early modern writing intertwines diverse myths and plays with variant versions of individual myths that derive from multiple classical sources, as well as medieval, Tudor and early modern retellings and translations. Works discussed include poems and plays by William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe and others. Essays concentrate on specific plays including The Merchant of Venice and Dido Queen of Carthage, tracing interactions between myths, chronicles, the Bible and contemporary genres. Mythological figures are considered to demonstrate how the weaving together of sources deconstructs gendered representations. New meanings emerge from these readings, which open up methodological perspectives on multi-textuality, artistic appropriation and cultural hybridity.

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Children's & YA

Changeling

by Kotryna Zylė

Changeling is a rebellious novel about creativity, youth and the raging intensity of teenage emotional life. The gripping story plunges the reader into the depths of a mystical town, a haunting and haunted place, where boundaries between the real and the otherworldly become dangerously blurred. A strange and electrifying tale of teenage disenchantment, Changeling is a work of stunning emotional force that captures the twisted complexities of family relationships and friendships, first love, and the quest for self-definition. Guided by short introductions to Baltic mythology, readers will find themselves in an urban landscape steeped in pagan and post-Soviet history.

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February 2021

The Stage and the Story

by Djawad Rostom Touati

‘‘So he thought of writing a play inspired by the residents' strike, which was in full swing. He was in his fifth year of medical school and his future was directly affected by the outcome of this movement, for which he was enthusiastic. However, when he wanted to take an interest in the nuts and bolts, the details he could incorporate into his art, an indefinable discomfort overcame him, and he couldn't quite grasp the cause. The project remained at half-mast in a corner of his mind, and the end of the strike finished by gathering the dust of oblivion on it.’’ Dj. R. Touati The one is multiple, and that which unites, after the moment of egregore, becomes that which divides; irreconcilably. At a time when the failure of the intuition of diversity has never been so prevalent, so widespread, it seemed salubrious to the author to show - without seeking to demonstrate - through the painting of an aesthetic reality, that if a historical moment has given rise to debate and division within the same class, then nothing is more absurd - or more specious - than the claim to unanimity within an entire people. Against the schizophrenic false identification, attempting to grasp the totality appears to be the only way to confront totalitarianism, which is, as those who denounce it pretend to ignore in order to exonerate themselves, THE PART THAT TAKES ITSELF FOR THE WHOLE. On stage, Molière, Brecht, Kateb, Alloula and others play out history... against a backdrop of burgundy-red curtains, where a dialogue of the deaf imposes blindness on the actors in action. Far from the imposing “noise” of movement, La scène et l'histoire, like a “socio-temporal” filter, sets the historical record straight: curtain up. Theater teacher Nadji, on the lookout for the old days, Rahim and Lamia, the pretenders of a politically better future, and all the others... followers of culture, that's us..., (are) beating the floor of the present.

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October 2014

The education system in colonial Algeria (1833-1962)

Statistical and historiographical review

by Kamel Kateb

‘‘The means of dominating a people and assimilating it is to take possession of childhood and youth: this cannot be done by coercion, but the moral means are numerous and effective... The object of our efforts must be the extension of Arabic-French teaching: it is through this that we will take possession of the new generations almost from the cradle.’’ (Leroy-Beaulieu, 1887). (Leroy-Beaulieu, 1887). What is the record of French education in Algeria during the period of colonisation? After 132 years of French presence in Algeria (annexed to France in 1838), how many Algerians (French Muslims, indigenous French subjects) had a sufficient knowledge of the French language, and how many of them had learned to read and write in French? Was compulsory schooling for children aged 6 to 13, in accordance with the J. Ferry law of 1882, applied in Algeria? How many Algerian children attended state schools? How many went to lycée and university? What was the number of students at the time of the country's independence? How many doctors, engineers, primary and secondary school teachers did Algeria have at the time of its independence? What was the status of local languages (Arabic, dialectal Arabic, Berber) in the Algerian education system? As well as answering the questions listed above, this book attempts to analyse the objectives assigned to French schools in Algeria and to study the attitudes of the various populations to the objectives pursued. What role did education play in the various forms of colonial ‘confrontation’? What was the role of the elites produced by the colonial education system? And what role and place did they occupy in the struggle for Algerian independence? Were they the driving force behind the independence movement, as the Europeans in Algeria feared? Or did they mediate between colonisation and the mass of the colonised, as the enlightened ideologists of the colonial system hoped?

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History

July 2016

From empire to exile

History and memory within the pied-noir and harki communities, 1962–2012

by Series edited by Maire Cross, David Hopkin, Claire Eldridge

This book explores the commemorative afterlives of the Algerian War of Independence (1954-62), one of the world's most iconic wars of decolonisation. It focuses on the million French settlers - pieds-noirs - and the tens of thousands of harkis - the French army's native auxiliaries - who felt compelled to migrate to France when colonial rule ended. Challenging the idea that Algeria was a 'forgotten' war that only returned to French public attention in the 1990s, this study reveals a dynamic picture of memory activism undertaken continuously since 1962 by grassroots communities connected to this conflict. Reconceptualising the ways in which the Algerian War has been debated, evaluated and commemorated in the subsequent five decades, From empire to exile makes an original contribution to important discussions surrounding the contentious issues of memory, migration and empire in contemporary France that will appeal to students and scholars of history and cultural studies.

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Humanities & Social Sciences

March 2017

Guardians of Empire

The Armed Forces of the Colonial Powers, C.1700-1964

by Andrew Thompson, John M. MacKenzie, David Killingray

For imperialists, the concept of guardian is specifically to the armed forces that kept watch on the frontiers and in the heartlands of imperial territories. Large parts of Asia and Africa, and the islands of the Pacific and the Caribbean were imperial possessions. This book discusses how military requirements and North Indian military culture, shaped the cantonments and considers the problems posed by venereal diseases and alcohol, and the sanitary strategies pursued to combat them. The trans-border Pathan tribes remained an insistent problem in Indian defence between 1849 and 1947. The book examines the process by which the Dutch elite recruited military allies, and the contribution of Indonesian soldiers to the actual fighting. The idea of naval guardianship as expressed in the campaign against the South Pacific labour trade is examined. The book reveals the extent of military influence of the Schutztruppen on the political developments in the German protectorates in German South-West Africa and German East Africa. The U.S. Army, charged with defending the Pacific possessions of the Philippines and Hawaii, encountered a predicament similar to that of the mythological Cerberus. The regimentation of military families linked access to women with reliable service, and enabled the King's African Rifles to inspire a high level of discipline in its African soldiers, askaris. The book explains the political and military pressures which drove successive French governments to widen the scope of French military operations in Algeria between 1954 and 1958. It also explores gender issues and African colonial armies.

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Humanities & Social Sciences

February 2017

We are no longer in France

Communists in colonial Algeria

by Andrew Thompson, Allison Drew, John M. MacKenzie

This book recovers the lost history of colonial Algeria's communist movement. Meticulously researched - and the only English-language book on the Parti Communiste Algérien - it explores communism's complex relationship with Algerian nationalism. During international crises, such as the Popular Front and Second World War years, the PCA remained close to its French counterpart, but as the national liberation struggle intensified, the PCA's concern with political and social justice attracted growing numbers of Muslims. When the Front de Libération Nationale launched armed struggle in November 1954, the PCA maintained its organisational autonomy - despite FLN pressure. They participated fully in the national liberation war, facing the French state's wrath. Independence saw two conflicting socialist visions, with the PCA's incorporated political pluralism and class struggle on the one hand, and the FLN demand for a one-party socialist state on the other. The PCA's pluralist vision was shattered when it was banned by the one-party state in November 1962. This book is of particular interest to students and scholars of Algerian history, French colonial history and communist history.

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Trade unions

July 2013

The international dimension of the failed Algerian transition

by Francesco Cavatorta

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October 2019

The Civilization of Erzats

by Djawad Rostom Touati

“His great novel, his “immense contemporary social fresco”, his “made-in-bladi human comedy” - in the words with which he dazzles his virtual contacts - was now out of the question. To those who still asked him: “What's the status of this novel?”, he invariably replied: “Perhaps under other skies. Here, all we promote is mediocrity. And everyone would nod in agreement, wishing him well.” Djawad Rostom Touati Farid, Malia, Rami, Adib and other characters wander through ''The civilization of erzats'', the second part of the trilogy: ''the cult of It'', each equipped with their own socio-cultural baggage, some motivated to change the course of their lives, sure that the sun is much warmer elsewhere; others resigned to the idea that the world is as it is: just a two-variable equation - dominated/dominant -; and still others, self-sufficient, seeking redemption in the misfortunes of others, make their way between the strata of a society in turmoil, the victim of a frozen past, a sequestered present and a future held hostage. In La civilisation de l'ersatz, both neo-prolo-aspirants-bourgeois who don't even know they're there, replace each other between the fingers of a born writer. Everything is relativity: time, space, not to mention the mind...

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Fiction

2022

The End of the Desert

by Said Khatibi

On a nice fall day of 1988, Zakiya Zaghwani was found lying dead at the edge of the desert, giving way to a quest to discover the circumstances surrounding her death. While looking for whoever was involved in the death of the young singer, nearby residents discover bit by bit their involvement in many things other than the crime itself. ///The story takes place in a town near the desert. And as with Khatibi’s previous novels, this one is also marked by a tight plot, revolving around the murder of a singer who works in a hotel. This sets off a series of complex investigations that defy easy conclusions and invite doubt about the involvement of more than one character. /// Through the narrators of the novel, who also happen to be its protagonists, the author delves into the history of colonialism and the Algerian War of Independence and its successors, describing the circumstances of the story whose events unfold throughout the month. As such, the characters suspected of killing the singer are not only accused of a criminal offense, but are also concerned, as it appears, with the great legacy that the War of Independence left, from different aspects.///The novel looks back at a critical period in the modern history of Algeria that witnessed the largest socio-political crisis following its independence in 1988. While the story avoids the immediate circumstances of the war, it rather invokes the events leading up to it and tracks its impact on the social life, while capturing the daily life of vulnerable and marginalized groups. /// Nonetheless, those residents’ vulnerability does not necessarily mean they are innocent. As it appears, they are all involved in a crime that is laden with symbolism and hints at the status of women in a society shackled by a heavy legacy of a violent, wounded masculinity. This approach to addressing social issues reflects a longing to break loose from the stereotypical discourse that sets heroism in a pre-defined mold and reduces the truth to only one of its dimensions.

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October 2019

Impassive Rivers

by Akram El Kebir

“In any case, when you decide to try harga, it's because you no longer expect anything from life. Or that you expect a lot!” (Akram El Kebir) The summer of 2018 was particularly deadly in Oran, as the discovery of harraga corpses being fished out of the Mediterranean was commonplace. That same summer saw the commissioning of a water cab, the Rossinante II, which made the daily shuttle between Oran and the small seaside town of Aïn El Turk. A cafe owner in a small estaminet in Sidi El Houari, Zaki, at the age of 24, led a dull, boring life, with no prospects for the future other than to cherish the hope of one day attempting the harga. It was only the fear of ending up eaten by fish that dissuaded him. That said, as soon as he heard about the water cab, an absurd idea occurred to him: what if he hijacked the boat and headed for the Iberian coast? He won't be alone in this crazy adventure, as his neighborhood friends Okacha and Anis, and other outcasts, are sure to follow him. But these modern-day Don Quixotes shouldn't claim victory too soon! They'll learn the hard way that hijacking an entire ship is no picnic. They'll have to face up to the Italian crew, as well as the rest of the passengers. Passionate debates ensue, in a sort of impromptu Citizens' Assembly, where all issues affecting society are discussed. On the eve of the February 22nd Revolution, Zaki has eyes only for one of his hostages, the impetuous Nafissa...

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The Arts

January 2017

Representing ethnicity in contemporary French visual culture

by Joseph McGonagle

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December 2025

Classic of Mountains and seas

by LI MINGZHEN

"Shan Hai Jing" is the source of ancient Chinese mythology and can be called the epic of Chinese civilization. The content covers geography, history, mythology, animals, plants, minerals, medicine, religion and many other aspects. It can be said to be an encyclopedia of ancient times. It is also an extremely valuable geographical work in the early ancient times of our country, and it plays a pivotal role in our understanding and research of ancient civilization. "Shan Hai Jing" contains a lot of myths and legends, which has a profound influence on the literature, film and games of later generations. The book is equipped with 300 color illustrations, which fully show the bizarre fantasy world.

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by Guy Austin

by Guy Austin

Fiction and testimony in the work of Mohammed Dib

by Hervé Sanson

Tribute to Habib Tengour

by Sagawe Regina Keil, Hervé Sanson

by Guy Austin

by Chen Mingzhen

Malevolent Managers and Folkloric Freelancers

by Wayne Reé, Benjamin Chee

by Janice Valls-Russell, Agnès Lafont, Charlotte Coffin

by Kotryna Zylė

by Djawad Rostom Touati

Statistical and historiographical review

by Kamel Kateb

History and memory within the pied-noir and harki communities, 1962–2012

by Series edited by Maire Cross, David Hopkin, Claire Eldridge

The Armed Forces of the Colonial Powers, C.1700-1964

by Andrew Thompson, John M. MacKenzie, David Killingray

Communists in colonial Algeria

by Andrew Thompson, Allison Drew, John M. MacKenzie

by Francesco Cavatorta

by Djawad Rostom Touati

by Said Khatibi

by Akram El Kebir

by Joseph McGonagle

by LI MINGZHEN

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