Caroline Kelley

Women Writing War focuses on the life-writing of the moudjahidate, the women veterans of the Algerian war of independence (1954–1962). The author offers close readings of memoir, testimonial, poetry and drama by Jacqueline Guerroudj, Louisette Ighilahriz, Anna Gréki, Zhor Zerari and Myriam Ben, all of whom are documented moudjahidate and self-identify as Algerian. Reading their life-writing through the prism of theories of intertextuality, ‘minor’ literature and the dialectics of memory and trauma, the author explores the relationship between writing, resistance and political action. Since they compose their work in the first-person voice in the context of the Algerian war, this book argues that their writing operates collectively as a form of counterdiscourse, opening up a textual space where experiences that were previously silenced or marginalized might be expressed.

Taking place on 1 May 2013 at the Centre for the Study of Contemporary
Women's Writing, School of Advanced Study, University of London, this
cross-cultural colloquium will approach the text as a possible site of
resistance, where dominant paradigms of war and notions of
authenticity might be challenged.  Borrowing from structuralism, we
view the text as any object that can be « read » in a broad sense of
the term.  During the course of the colloquium, we will consider
several postcolonial texts by women, issuing from different regions,
produced in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, linking the
textual voice to constructions of gender and ethnicity.

To take the example of the Algerian Revolution (1954-1962), as the
perceived legitimacy and influence of the Front de Libération
Nationale (FLN) peaked and waned, a growing number of Algerian writers
sought to recuperate their country’s mythologized history and, in
particular, its war of independence.  This writing might be described
as a counterdiscourse—a writing in opposition—to the official history
ensconced in the popular imagination.  While the process of writing
against the state serves to delegitimize the government’s official
discourse and to complicate notions of a unified anti-colonial
struggle, a selection of this writing is hybrid and contradictory
rather than simply polemic; thus undermining the illusion of realism
and coherency that official discourse seeks to create.  As Myriam
Cooke notes in Women and the War Story (1997), «There is no one
history, no one story about war, that has a greater claim to truth...
history is made up of multiple stories... which emanate from and
reconstruct events. Each story is told by someone who experienced a
war, or by someone who saw someone who experienced a war, or by
someone who read about someone who saw someone who experienced a war,
becom[ing] part of a mosaic the many colors and shapes of which make
up the totality of that war » (4).  Considering the notion of the war
story as something that is ultimately multiple and shifting, we will
explore attempts to deconstruct – to challenge – dominant paradigms of
war.

We use the term « postcolonial » here carefully with the understanding
that it is an imprecise term and can imply an already-realized «
post-» condition free of the colonial presence thus ignoring the
reality of neocolonialism. What we want to suggest in our use of this
term, with due thanks to Françoise Lionnet, is that it might refer to
a condition that exists within the text itself, challenging and
resisting the colonial moment and its ideology of domination. For
example, as Lionnet notes, with regard to the Francophone literary
text, literary movements such as négritude and indigénisme were
arguably «postcolonial » during the historical moment of colonialism,
as were the writings of Frantz Fanon and Albert Memmi (6).

This colloquium aims to bring together a small group of scholars from
different fields whose work addresses the subject of the « war story »
through a study of the postcolonial text.  The event shall be
inclusive and so the definition of « war » will be broadly defined
much like the definition of the text.  The objective of the colloquium
is to inspire discussion and debate on this subject across different
languages and fields of scholarship and, possibly, to create
opportunities for future collaboration.

"I was preparing to leave my apartment, to make the usual commute to teach courses at a private university on the outskirts of Paris, when a text message appeared on my phone.  The message was brief.  In French, it merely said a grave incident had occurred on campus involving a professor. All classes were canceled and the campus was closed. I immediately wondered if someone I knew was hurt.  No other messages followed for the rest of the day and I was unable to reach anyone in my department by phone.  Googling the name of the school, it slowly became evident from news sources that one of my colleagues had been stabbed by a former student.  As the evening wore on, more details were made available on news sites and I realised who the victim was.  But it wasn’t until late at night that an official email was sent to university faculty about the tragedy. One of our colleagues, a fellow English professor, had been brutally murdered on the steps of the school by a former student who had failed his courses in 2017. In the following paragraph, we were informed that our classes would resume in the morning."

This paper focuses on the experiences and perceptions of gender inequality by undergraduates at a British University with strong historical traditions. Contrary to a ‘post-feminist’ rhetoric stating that gender inequalities no longer exist in higher education in the UK, or at least not at an undergraduate level, results of a questionnaire and interviews show that gender inequality does still persist in this institutional setting. However, we also found reluctance among students, particularly female students, to recognise or articulate this as discrimination. Instead, there was a tendency to downplay or deny such inequalities, and resistance to such matters being raised. Drawing on existing literature in the field, we suggest this might be a ‘coping mechanism’, as well as indicative of the ‘post-feminist’ milieu. The paper then reflects on the implications of these findings, particularly for those seeking to address gender inequalities in such an institutional environment. Drawing on identity politics theory, as well as the authors' own activist experiences, we argue that while recognising women as a discriminated group may promote gender differentiation, this may still go some way towards practically combating ‘androcentric norms’ [Fraser, Nancy (1995). From redistribution to recognition? Dilemmas of justice in a ‘post-socialist’ age, New Left Review, 212, 68–93.] and thus gender inequality in universities.

"thirdspace is a peer-reviewed journal, offering work in English and French, that aims to presents the best in scholarship on feminist theory and culture. We envision a broad definition of studies in "feminist theory and culture" which can include, but are not limited to, development and applications of feminist theory; cultures of feminism and feminist movement (including academia); and feminist cultural studies." ///

I worked as a section editor on the Journal from 2008 to 2011.

Resum Artikulu honetan, Myriam Benen Leïla, poème scénique en deux actes et un prologue (Leila, antzez poema bi ekitaldi eta sarrera batean) Sofoklesen Antigona lanaren berrinterpretaziotzat hartu dut. Aljeriar antzerkigintza, historia eta tragedia greziarraren ...

En aquest article, llegeixo Leila, poeme scenique en deux actes et un prologue de Myriam Ben com a reinterpretacio de l'Antigona de Sofocles. Sostinc que aquesta barreja de teatre algeria, historia i tragedia grega generen una varietat de «teatre menor» que es proposa soscavar les estructures dramaturgiques establertes i les narracions imperants de la historia de la Revolucio Algeriana (1954-1962). Treballant des de l'esbos d'una obra canonica, la dramaturga descentralitza la tragedia grega mitjancant una adaptacio tecnica estimulant i, alhora, refuta les ficcions que embolcallen els esdeveniments de la lluita per l'alliberament, el Front d'Alliberament Nacional (FLN) i, especialment, l'enderrocament militar del President Ahmed Ben Bella a mans del seu ministre de Defensa, Houari Boumediene, l'any 1965. Malgrat que el context es especific, la naturalesa al·legorica de l'obra dona una idea d'universalitat. Tot i que l'entorn es indubtablement l...