Start Date
12-6-2011 9:30 AM
End Date
12-6-2011 12:00 PM
Subject Areas
Europe, Middle East, modern, colonial/imperial, family, gender, motherhood, race, war
Abstract
During the era of decolonization, Algerian women in France became eligible for a range of specialized programs that taught gender-determined skills in order to help their families ‘adapt’ to life in France. This essay explores how and why France constructed a network of welfare services that exclusively targeted Algerian families at the height of the Algerian War for Independence (1954-1962). It examines both the types of services and the attitudes social workers and administrators had about their clients. Welfare providers never doubted that their work required great patience as clients slowly made the journey to “modern life.” Framing their work in France’s civilizing mission, providers believed their task was to “penetrate” the mind of the Muslim woman and stimulate her “evolution” since “the Muslim woman knows absolutely nothing of the basic skills requisite to caring for her children, to maintaining her home, to satisfying her husband.” Yet, the same providers were pleasantly surprised by Algerian women’s tenacity-- “the Muslim woman [had] a curiosity, an extreme virtuosity, an acceptance of the effort and diligence [required] that we did not anticipate.” This essay demonstrates that the social workers believed they could undo centuries of what the experts called clan-like patriarchy. Moreover, even though most Algerian migrants during this era were men, French bureaucrats paid special attention to family migration, believing that the Algerian woman could instill her children with loyalty and reverence for French culture and create a haven that could contain her husband’s supposed self-destructive adherence to Algerian nationalism.
Keywords
France, Algerian war, women, welfare, migration, women, civilizing mission
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
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Teaching Algerians to Be Mothers: Home Economics for Migrants Families in France during the Algerian War (1954-1962)
During the era of decolonization, Algerian women in France became eligible for a range of specialized programs that taught gender-determined skills in order to help their families ‘adapt’ to life in France. This essay explores how and why France constructed a network of welfare services that exclusively targeted Algerian families at the height of the Algerian War for Independence (1954-1962). It examines both the types of services and the attitudes social workers and administrators had about their clients. Welfare providers never doubted that their work required great patience as clients slowly made the journey to “modern life.” Framing their work in France’s civilizing mission, providers believed their task was to “penetrate” the mind of the Muslim woman and stimulate her “evolution” since “the Muslim woman knows absolutely nothing of the basic skills requisite to caring for her children, to maintaining her home, to satisfying her husband.” Yet, the same providers were pleasantly surprised by Algerian women’s tenacity-- “the Muslim woman [had] a curiosity, an extreme virtuosity, an acceptance of the effort and diligence [required] that we did not anticipate.” This essay demonstrates that the social workers believed they could undo centuries of what the experts called clan-like patriarchy. Moreover, even though most Algerian migrants during this era were men, French bureaucrats paid special attention to family migration, believing that the Algerian woman could instill her children with loyalty and reverence for French culture and create a haven that could contain her husband’s supposed self-destructive adherence to Algerian nationalism.