From the Mediterranean Sea to the Pacific Ocean, the exile of Algerian prisoners in the penal colony of New Caledonia. An analysis of their descendants’ identity processes
Abstract
In this article, we propose to consider the exile experience through the case of Algerian descendants in New Caledonia. The first Algerians to arrive in this territory were sentenced by the French colonial administration, in the 19th and early 20th centuries, to sentences they had to serve in New Caledonia. Most of them will never be able to go back to their home country.
Our qualitative research based on semi-structured interviews with nine of their descendants in New Caledonia enabled us to analyze how the descendants of these deportees define themselves in the contemporary political situation of New Caledonia where a consultation process for independence is currently underway.
The results show that the various generations of descendants did experience different relations with their Mediterranean origins and their settlement 20.000 km away in the Pacific Ocean. While the first generation lived and mingled with the deported Algerians but did not get much of the cultural background, the next generations found themselves in a period of silence and taboo of the origins, which made it difficult for them to trace their family history. By the end of the 20th century, the opening of historical archives, the development of communication technologies and the New Caledonia’s political situation (independence process under current consultation) did open the way to an identity reappropriation process
Our article proposes to highlight the current impact of this forced exile on the Algerian descendants in New Caledonia but also at the Mediterranean area level through the way this historical fact is dealt with by both France and Algeria in the contemporary period.
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