Looking back on a nation’s struggle: women’s reflections on the Algerian War of liberation

ABSTRACT This article examines the memoirs of three former militants who, in the later years of their lives, reflect on the significance of their participation in the anticolonial struggle: Louisette Ighilahriz at 64, Zohra Drif at 79, Yamina Cherrad Bennaceur at 81. I choose these three memoirs because each recounts a remarkable journey to empowerment and when brought together they emphasize the collective nature of the liberation struggle. Drif played a prominent role in the war as a ‘poseuse de bombes’ during the Battle of Algiers, Ighilahriz was a courier for the FLN, Bennaceur a nurse in the maquis. My intent in this article is to study their memoirs as historical artefacts that depict a collective anticolonial struggle and as chronicles of personal struggle in time of war. I test the premise that the three chroniclers looking back on the past confirm that their participation in the liberation struggle was transformative. Their courage and resilience tested, the young women emerged empowered. Yet, the war experience was traumatic, and each memoir reveals the trauma endured, and by articulating that trauma, hopefully helps heal psychological wounds.