Algeria Cuts ─ Women and Representation, 1830 to the Present

Khanna (English and women's studies, Duke U.) analyzes the representation of Algerian women in literature, the arts, film, colonial and legal policy, manifestos, prose fiction, and in theoretical and philosophical texts about the relationship between France and Algeria. In both colonial and post-colonial Algeria--the period of French colonialism, the Algerian Revolutionary War of Independence, and the contemporary period in which feminists have been singled out--she examines how these portrayals fight against past nationalist constructions. She considers the concept of identification, and in each chapter, the notions of injustice and achieving justice, with the objective of understanding the relationship between culture and national history. Texts considered include Delacroix's Femme d'Algiers dans leur appartement, Breton's Manifeste des 121, the First Surrealist Manifesto paintings by Baya and Picasso, Pontecorvo's film The Battle of Algiers, and the work of Assia Djebar. Annotation c2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)