Feminism in Algeria at the documenta

In addition to the linguistic peculiarities, e.g. les archives in the plural refers to the German archive, while l'archive in the singular refers to the archivalie, the female students who took part in this event learned about the difficulties of setting up 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 there were already feminist movements in the 1960s and 1970s, these movements were almost completely unknown to the younger generation, which is why Awl Haouati, the daughter of a feminist activist, founded this archive. In the beginning, the process of building up the archive was mainly based on personal contacts, such as those with her own mother and her friends, but as the archive grew in popularity, so did the purely digital collection. This archive is particularly interesting for students of Romance studies in that it is a French-language archive and can be accessed online.

However, this archive can be used not only in the academic field, as the artist Sofiane Zouggar then presented: the archives can be brought into the public space through art. His art takes the archives out of the digital realm and creates art and history you can touch. This presentation encouraged the participating students to look at Zouggar's art (again) and to talk to the panel participants and individuals from the audience after the event.

(Céline Wieders-Lohéac)