The Eloquence of Silence: Algerian Women in Question

by Lazreg; Marnia

• ISBN13: 9780415907316
• ISBN10: 0415907314
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 1994-07-27
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

The Eloquence of Silenceprovides the most comprehensive analysis to date of gender relations in Algeria from the pre-colonial era to the present. By tracing the changes in women's roles, Marnia Lazreg illuminates the achievements as well as the setbacks that characterize women's lives in contemporary Africa and makes an important contribution to ongoing feminist debates about how to conceptualize the experience of women whose history, culture and nationality are "different." Using an interdisciplinary approach, the book marks a major departure from more traditional studies of Algerian women which usually examine female roles in relation to Islam. Lazreg argues that Algerian women's roles are shaped by a variety of structural and symbolic factors including colonial domination, demographic change, nationalism, socialist development policy of the 1960s and '70s, family formation and the progressive shift to a capitalist economy. Special attention is given to the rise offundamentalism and its impact on gender relations. Covering both pre-colonial and colonial eras as well as the independence period, this book focuses on the changes that took place in family structure and law, customs, education and the war of decolonization. Lazreg approaches the post-colonial era through an examination of how Algeria's model of economic development, structural adjustment policies and the rise of religious-political opposition affected women. The Eloquence of Silenceprovides valuable insight into the interface between gender, culture, politics and development. It will undoubtedly make a major contribution to the existing literature in feminist studies, sociology and provide an innovative intervention in the ongoing discussions about the question of difference.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Decolonizing Feminism

Women in Pre-Colonial Algeria

The Colonial War in Fact and Fancy

Exposing and Reconstrucing Algerian Identity

Reform and Resistance

Women's Lived Reality in and Under Colonial Society

Nationalism, Decolonization, and Gender

State, Socialism, Development and Women

Consciousness, Culture, and Change

Women's Rise to the Word

Between God and Man

Conclusion

Bibliography

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