Feminism in Algeria at the documenta

In addition to the linguistic peculiarities, for example that les archives in the plural means the German archive, while l'archive in the singular means the archival, the female students who participated in this event learned about the difficulties of building this archive: After the end of the Algerian war, the literacy rate among Algerian women was less than five percent, which is why there are no archival records before that time. Although feminist movements existed in the 1960s and 1970s, these movements were almost completely unknown to the younger generation, which is why Awl Haouati, daughter of a feminist activist, founded this archive. In the beginning, the process of building up the archive took place mainly through personal contacts, such as those with her own mother and her friends, but as the archive grew in popularity, so did its purely digital holdings. This archive is particularly interesting for students of Romance studies in that it is a French-language archive and can be accessed online.

But this archive can not only be used in the academic field, as the artist Sofiane Zouggar presented afterwards: The archival documents can be carried into the public space through art. His art lets the archives step out of the digital realm and creates art and history to touch. This presentation encouraged the participating students to look at Zouggar's art (again) and to talk with the panelists as well as individuals from the audience after the event concluded.

(Céline Wieders-Lohéac)