What is it about?
This article is about Cixous' early life history and her intellectual development--as a writer of gendered and then ethnic difference in Paris--the relationships she garnered with Algerian women in the 1990s, as well as her subsequent return travels to Algeria, and how this history and Cixous' development relate to Algerian, French and Jewish nationalisms. I engage with the ambiguities and tensions of Hélène Cixous’ experience of and writing about Algeria, combining close analysis of her literary production with her personal reflections from our meetings in her Parisian home.
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Why is it important?
The article is important because It combines personal interviews with Cixous' literature on Algeria which has not been done before i.e. I bring anthropology and literature into contact. The article also brings together three central tensions around belonging in Europe today: migration, religion, and populism, in relation to the life and works of Hélène Cixous. While there are many publications on Cixous and Algeria none bring into dialogue with as much focus these three tensions.
Perspectives
During this time, in which there is much scholarly focus on reactionary tendencies among French Jewish public intellectuals it is important to remind ourselves of inspiring voices that sought to bring people together. My aim in writing this paper was to show that thinking differently and with complexity about self and circumstance in an age where dumbing down and crude identities are de rigueur can bring an abundance of personal and philosophical riches.
Dr Sami Everett
University of Cambridge
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: The Algerian Works of Hélène Cixous: at the Triple Intersection of European, North African and Religious Nationalisms, International Journal of Politics Culture and Society, February 2017, Springer Science + Business Media,
DOI: 10.1007/s10767-017-9256-8.
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