| Abstract: | When riots broke out in the Bias Camp east of Bordeaux in May1975, few in France had heard of the harkis, the Algerian auxiliarieswho fought for the French during the Algerian War of Independence(1954–62). This began to change, however, as the rapidlyspreading protests instigated by their children garnered increasingmedia coverage. Seeking to end their status as les oubliésde l'histoire, the children of the harkis sought recognitionfor the history of their parents, particularly the sacrificesthey had made for France and the suffering endured as a consequence.What is particularly interesting about this campaign is thatthe children of the harkis were not alone in this desire andin fact were relative latecomers to the harki activist scene.The years since the end of the Algerian War had witnessed arange of representations offered by a series of self-appointedspokespersons who, in the absence of direct testimony from withinthe harki community, and often serving their own objectives,took it upon themselves to speak on behalf of the harkis. Thisarticle seeks to analyse the relationship between these externalnarratives, put forward by actors including the Algerian andFrench governments, the former Muslim elite of colonial Algeria,French veterans and the pied-noir community and those offeredby the children of the harkis in order to illustrate some ofthe issues pertaining to the mobilization and transmission ofFrance's colonial past in a postcolonial context. |
