午夜剧场

While enrolled in the Faculty of Law, I studied international criminal law in the Philippe Osten Seminar and became interested in war crimes and crimes against humanity. This was because, even today, the unspeakable large-scale acts of violence of the past continue to leave deep scars between ethnic groups and nations. In graduate school, I specialized in French politics and international relations, and since my Doctoral Programs, I have focused on the so-called "historical recognition issues" between France and its former colony, Algeria.

In this book, partly due to a chance meeting with editor Yoshiro Hamasaki, who is also a 午夜剧场 alumni, I took the history of French-ruled Algeria (1830-1962) as my main theme. This book primarily focuses on the French people born in Algeria under French rule. They are known as "Pieds-Noirs," meaning "black feet." When the Algerian War of Independence broke out in 1954, Algeria became a stage for fierce violence. From the year before the war ended in 1962, many descendants of European settlers and descendants of Jews who had lived in Algeria since before French rule crossed the Mediterranean and repatriated to mainland France.

I wanted to depict the French colonial rule of Algeria through the format of 111 biographies, interspersed with columns on culture and history. By doing so, I hoped to revise the commonly circulated image of France and the French people. Nicole Garcia is a leading actress and film director in the French film industry, but she was born in Algeria, and her views on Algeria conflicted with those of her relatives on the mainland. Her connection to her birthplace influenced her career as a filmmaker. Therefore, simply introducing Garcia as a "French actress and film director" would inevitably feel out of place.

Other figures born in Algeria include the writer Albert Camus, the designer Yves Saint Laurent, and the philosopher Jacques Derrida. Many artists and politicians have also emerged from there, and what we consider "French" is often more closely related to the African continent than one might expect.

I hope this book serves as a stepping stone to deepening the understanding of the harshness of colonial rule and war, as well as the modern French society where diverse roots are intermingled.

Eriko Oshima (Author)

Publib

288 pages, 2,300 yen (excluding tax)

*Affiliations and titles are as of the time of writing.