Une drôle de mémoire: relations franco-algériennes et mémoire comique, 1954-2012.
Open Access
- Author:
- Rousseau, Sandra Emilie
- Graduate Program:
- French
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- March 19, 2015
- Committee Members:
- Jennifer Boittin, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Jennifer Boittin, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Thomas Oliver Beebee, Committee Member
Jean Claude Vuillemin, Committee Member
Jonathan Eran Abel, Committee Member
Richard S Fogarty, Special Member - Keywords:
- Memory
Humor
Algeria
France
Popular culture - Abstract:
- My dissertation coins and develops the concept of “comic memory,” which contends that communities organize and communicate representations of their past through humor. Franco-Algerian relations are historically colored by violent colonial, racial and cultural discrimination that seems to preclude any comical practices, yet humor has infiltrated most realms of discourse on both sides of the Mediterranean. My work explores multiple case studies of the many ways humorous cultural productions have participated in memorial discourses of both Algeria and France from the beginning of the Algerian War of Liberation (1954) to the fiftieth anniversary of Algeria’s independence from France (2012). I argue that denying the many ways historically antagonistic communities use humor to laugh at (or with) each other keeps us from recognizing a central aspect of how cultural identities are shaped, and could even lead to dangerous misunderstandings. The case-study model I have chosen for my work illustrates various forms of comic memory. My chapters are anchored on performances, caricatures, comic strips and stand-up comedies because each illuminates Franco-Algerian relations in a different way. My discussion of comic novels, press cartoons and stand-up comedies all reveal that while the media of humor may vary Algerian artists have constantly resorted to humor when discussing Franco-Algerian relations.