Colonial Histories, Postcolonial Memories

237 Pages·2001·3.815 MB·English

by  Abdelmajid Hannoum

Studies in African Literature
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Colonial Histories, Post-Colonial Memories
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Colonial Histories
Post-Colonial Memories
The Legend of the Kahina,
A North African Heroine
Abdelmajid Hannoum
HEINEMANN
Portsmouth, NH
Heinemann
A division of Reed Elsevier Inc.
361 Hanover Street
Portsmouth, NH 03801-3912
www.heinemann.com
© 2001 by Abdelmajid Hannoum
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced
in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means,
including information storage and retrieval systems, without
permission in writing from the publisher, except by a
reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.
ISBN 0-325-00253-3 (Heinemann cloth)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hannoum, Abdelmajid, 1960-
Colonial histories, post-colonial memories : the legend of the Kahina, a North
African heroine / Abdelmajid Hannoum.
p. cm.—(Studies in African literature, ISSN 1351-5713)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-325-00253-3 (alk. paper)
1. Klhina, Queen of the Berbers, 7th cent.—Legends. 2. Berbers—Africa,
North—Folklore. 3. Folklore—Africa, North. 4. Arabs—Africa, North—
Folklore. I. Title. II. Series.
GR353.B43 H36 2001
398.2'089'933—dc21 00-063249
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available.
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper.
05 04 03 02 01 SB 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Copyright Acknowledgments
The author and publisher gratefully acknowledge permission to reproduce the fol­
lowing material:
A French version of chapter 1 appeared as "Historiographie et légende au Maghreb:
La Kahina ou la production d’une mémoire” in Annales: Histoire et Sciences Sociales
(May-June 1999), pp. 667-686. Reprinted by permission.
Chapter 2 includes excerpts from Abdelmajid Hannoum, "Myth and Mythmaking
in French Historiography of North Africa,” Hespiris-Tamuday no. 34 (1996), pp.
131-138. Reprinted by permission.
Chapter 4 is a revised version of Abdelmajid Hannoum, "Historiography, Mythol­
ogy, and Memory in North Africa,” Studia Islámica (February 1997), pp. 85-130.
Reprinted by permission.
Every reasonable effort has been made to trace the owners of copyright materials
in this book, but in some instances this has proven impossible. The author and
publisher will be glad to receive information leading to more complete acknowl­
edgments in subsequent printings of the book and in the meantime extend their
apologies for any omissions.

Once again, to my brother, Abdelkrim

Historical knowledge is the answer to definite questions, an answer
which must be given by the past; but the questions themselves are
put and dictated by the present.
—Ernest Cassirer
Memory is not only the constituting consciousness of the past, but
an effort to reopen time on the basis of the implications contained
in the present.
—Maurice Merleau-Ponty