Training the national elites in Colonial Algeria 1920-1954

Abstract

'When dealing with the question of Algerian 'elites' - a term which, by the way, is never used locally - a basic contradiction will become apparent. 'National' they were indeed, those new social categories (doctors, engineers, teachers, lawyers, and so on) that the Colonial presence created, either directly or indirectly, among the French or the Arab population. But they became 'nationalistic', meaning that they sought to break completely with the Colonial power, only much later, when the guerilla warfare began in 1954. Focusing on the period between 1920 and 1954, and using archives and interviews, I will try to show today the essential role played by education, particularly by the 'Colonial system of education'. That system was a 'structuring machine' which irresistibly and lastingly contributed to reshaping society from top to bottom as well as the relationship between the two languages. And though the 1954 Revolution denied it, that structure is still alive and functioning today.' (author's abstract)|