Postcolonial Popcorn: Contemporary Maghrebi-French Cinema and its Audiences

This thesis is a study of popular contemporary postcolonial cinema, through readings of three recent Maghrebi-French films. The research is comprised of the films Days of Glory (2006), Outside the Law (2010) and Free Men (2011), which narrate unfamiliar colonial stories in familiar ways. The films are a significant part of a cultural and commercial ‘shift’ toward more mainstream filmmaking in France, and therefore provide a fascinating and complex point of entry into the study of popular postcolonial cinema. By incorporating the popular into the postcolonial, the primary contribution of this thesis is that it extends the scope of postcolonial cultural criticism, in order to highlight how such an engagement functions to interrupt hegemonic imaginaries of colonial space, memory and gender. Informed by a postcolonial critique, this thesis deploys textual analysis in order to investigate how the films are textually constituted across and through different cultural frameworks, questioning what this means for conceptualising postcolonialism. Primarily investigating the ways in which the films rewrite colonial histories using the genre conventions of Hollywood, this thesis attends to issues pertinent to postcolonial France. The thesis therefore identifies some of the key relationships to space that are narrated throughout the films, in which geographies of belonging and exclusion for Maghrebi-French people are articulated through popular aesthetics. An important part of articulating place is memory, and so this thesis also examines how occluded memories are mobilised and energised at the intersection with more familiar historical imaginaries, showing how this multidirectional relationship works to situate colonial histories in ways that are disruptive of World War Two imaginaries. This thesis also makes contributions to understandings of masculinity, by offering readings of Maghrebi-French male characters through which emerge popular postcolonial masculinities that draw upon masculinist Hollywood types, to produce new hybrid types of anti-colonial gangster, infantilised colonial soldier and Muslim spy. This thesis also examines how contemporary English-speaking Western audiences engage with the films in online reception spaces, and thus what is at stake in making postcolonial film more accessible. Using discourse analysis, this thesis attends to the different ways audiences respond to, reproduce and transform the meanings of the films in particular social and political settings. In doing so, it will be seen that the films are important sites of consumption and identity contestation, particularly around issues of geopolitics, masculinity, and whiteness, and a point of encounter through which the power relations in watching and consuming foreign-language films in ‘the West’ will be scrutinised. Therefore, in the course of this study, contemporary Maghrebi-French filmmaking is framed in terms of its appeal to popular audiences, and it will be seen that it is beginning to carve out new space for itself in world cinema, with audiences playing an important role in what that space will look like in the future

Terrorism And Organized Crime: An Analytical Study From An International Law Perspective

With the spread of terrorism and its growing risks since the start of the 21st century, a wide range of reports and studies have emerged. This funding comes from a special relationship between terrorist organizations, organized crime syndicates, and their cooperation with each other, which has enabled terrorist organizations in particular to carry out recruitment efforts and operations alike. It has also fueled an international black market for smuggling and trade in drugs and arms. Under what conditions do violent terrorist groups driven by extreme Islamist ideology collaborate with organized criminal enterprises to generate the requisite resources to pursue their strategic objectives? Given that question, this thesis assessed the extent of the validity of the following hypothesis/central argument: As Islamist extremist terrorist groups’ financial needs increase, they are more likely to use collaboration with organized criminal enterprises, relative to other sources, as their principal means of funding. It has also assessed the extent of the argument through the presentation of comparative case studies on Western Europe and the Sahel of North/West Africa. The findings indicate that the lines of demarcation between terrorist groups and criminal organizations operating in both Western Europe and the Sahel are becoming increasingly blurred. It could, reasonably, be argued that terrorism in Western Europe and the Sahel of North/West Africa is a variant of serious organized crime in view of the modus operandi of Islamist extremist movements and their mode of financing

The development of the Islamist movement in Algeria.

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre-DSC:DX189178 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

A “New Man” for a New Nation: Activism and Physical Culture in Late Colonial Algeria

Während französische Entwicklungsprogramme im spätkolonialen Algerien gut erforscht sind, haben einheimische Ideen über eine Transformation der Gesellschaft während dieser Zeit deutlich weniger Aufmerksamkeit erfahren. Der Aufsatz diskutiert die Gedanken zweier prominenter Intellektueller, des islamischen Reformisten Malek Bennabi und des Marxisten Frantz Fanon, zum „Neuen Menschen.“ Für den Zeitraum der beiden letzten Jahrzehnte französischer Herrschaft in Algerien (1942–1962) werden außerdem Prozesse der Schaffung des „Neuen Menschen“ in reformistischen und nationalistischen Kreisen analysiert, besonders in der muslimischen Pfadfinderbewegung sowie in Bezug auf Sport. Schließlich wird die Generationendimension des algerischen Antikolonialismus betrachtet, die Jugendaktivismus dem Traditionalismus „alter Menschen“ gegenüber stellte.While French development schemes in late colonial Algeria are well studied, much less attention has been devoted to indigenous ideas around a transformation of society in this period. The article discusses the thought of two prominent intellectuals, the Islamic reformist Malek Bennabi and the Marxist Frantz Fanon, on the “New Man.” Looking at the last two decades of French rule in Algeria (1942–62), it also analyses processes of shaping “New Men” in reformist and nationalist circles, in particular in the Muslim scout movement and with regard to sports. Finally, it takes into consideration the generational dimension of Algerian anticolonialism, which opposed youth activism to the traditionalism of “old men.

La concòrdia civil algeriana a través de la premsa espanyola (El País i La Vanguardia)

Podeu consultar la versió en castellà a: http://hdl.handle.net/2445/68365Publicació que recull el fruit d’un projecte d’investigació que tenia com a objecte analitzar, a través de la premsa espanyola, la complexa situació de la dècada negra algeriana dels anys noranta (1992-1999) i també la polèmica qüestió de la Llei de la Concòrdia Civil i de la Reconciliació Nacional de la primera dècada del segle XXI (2000-2009). La investigació, duta a terme a la Universitat d’Orà, s’emmarca en el “Projecte Algèria Universitats”, una iniciativa conjunta de la Xarxa Vives d’Universitats (la xarxa que aplega les universitats dels territoris de llengua catalana) i la CRUO (la Conferència Regional d’Universitats de l’Oest (d’Algèria)

Impact of the “War on Terrorism” On Development of International Criminal Law

This research elucidates international terrorism by reviewing the stages of sociological analysis of terrorism, and by analyzing its theoretical framework. This research traces the historical development of the prevailing uncertainty by which it is characterized. Implications on global security leads us to study international legal development to counter international terrorism that has engulfed entire human societies. The objectives include highlighting international terrorism, and the counter-terrorism measures on part of the international community as it develops international criminal law to handle the problem

El nacionalisme algerià i la guerra d'Algèria

Treballs Finals de Grau en Història, Facultat de Geografia i Història, Universitat de Barcelona, Curs: 2015-2016, Tutor: Queralt Solé BarjauAquest treball, es presenta com un estat de la qüestió sobre el nacionalisme algerià i la guerra d’independència d’Algèria, que alhora pretén exposar aquest conflicte tan important del segle XX, que fins i tot propiciarà l’adveniment de la Vª república francesa. Volem tractar doncs, no només l’explicació històrica del conflicte, sinó el seu valor en la historiografia francesa, espanyola i algeriana, per tal d’obtenir les respostes a diverses qüestions prèviament plantejades. D’una banda constatar si hi ha una divergència historiogràfica important respecte a les diverses qüestions d’aquest conflicte. D’altra fer una breu narració –ordenada cronològicament– del propi conflicte des de l’òptica dels diversos autors treballats, per intentar resoldre els enigmes que encara estan presents respecte als diferents actors d’aquesta guerra. Això ens portarà no tan sols a observar l’aspecte bèl·lic dels fets, sinó a tractar qüestions socials, econòmiques i polítiques; que ens duran, en la mesura del possible, a causa de la limitació temporal i d’espai d’aquest treball, a entendre el conflicte d’una forma més amplia

Guns, culture and moors : racial stereotypes and the cultural impact of the Moroccan participation in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939)

The presence of tens of thousands of Moroccan soldiers in Spain during its Civil War was an encounter between two culturally different people. This thesis researches the impact of the racial stereotypes the Spaniards had about the Moroccans on how the Moroccans were treated in the Spanish Army, how their interaction with the Spanish civilian society was regulated, and how far the agency of the Moroccan soldiers themselves determined their own position within the army and within their Spanish cultural surroundings. It appears that rather than passive players in the Spanish conflict, the Moroccans did exercise no little amount of control of their own affairs and on how they interacted with the Spaniards (both military and civilian) in a way that often went beyond what Spanish stereotypes and policies allowed for. The presence of tens of thousands of Moroccan soldiers in Spain during its Civil War was an encounter between two culturally different people. This thesis researches the impact of the racial stereotypes the Spaniards had about the Moroccans on how the Moroccans were treated in the Spanish Army, how their interaction with the Spanish civilian society was regulated, and how far the agency of the Moroccan soldiers themselves determined their own position within the army and within their Spanish cultural surroundings. It appears that rather than passive players in the Spanish conflict, the Moroccans did exercise no little amount of control of their own affairs and on how they interacted with the Spaniards (both military and civilian) in a way that often went beyond what Spanish stereotypes and policies allowed for.NWO MosaicPolitical Culture and National Identit

Algerian Islamism. Analysis of Elites and Resources in Major Political Parties and Social Movements (1990-2016)

This chapter represents an analysis, from the standpoint of the sociology of power, of the resources of Islamist elites in Algeria, specifically focusing on the three most important political parties: FIS, MSP (HAMAS) and en-Nahda between 1990 and 2016. This analysis, intentionally excluding armed groups, will try to explain the fundamental differences between the former party – a true mass movement – and the other two, which are circumscribed by their grassroots support and the circular logic of their relations with power. The different origins of their elites, their grassroots supporters and above all their political strategy all throw a light on the different paths followed by these three tendencies of the Islamist movement

The Front islamique du salut and the denial of legitimacy

This work is an investigation into the recent political crisis in Algeria, with a focus on the Islamist party at its heart—the Front islamique du salut. It provides a theoretical and contextual framework by which we can understand the party's emergence and subsequent decline, arguing for greater acceptance of alternative, non-secular politics where there is a clear public appetite for such change. In particular, it emphasises the ways in which the FIS sought to establish a legitimate mandate through a blend of continuity and change. This, I argue, is evident in the party's religio-nationalist modes of expression, which built on yet offered a crucial distinction from the FLN's relationship to nationalism and Islam. It is also evident in the FIS' interaction with the state both during and after the period of its legalisation. My analysis shows how the party evolved towards political maturity and moderation, seeking to engage with rather than subvert the state institutions, albeit from an adversarial position. That this was ultimately unsuccessful is most clearly evident from the military-led campaign to rid Algeria of any real Islamist opposition, despite the legitimacy of the FIS' electoral success. My conclusion that the FIS was denied this legitimacy is based on a reading of contemporary political theory as well as an assessment of political developments on the ground