"Violence causes harm and extends power in many different ways. Best known is physical violence, meaning the wounds and deaths that weapons inflict upon living bodies. However, violence also exists in symbolic forms, such as language, individual words, and beliefs, all of which can do harm and even kill. The Colonization of Names focuses on one modality of symbolic violence-the forced imposition of new personal names by colonial authorities-and uses it to examine France's colonization of Algeria. While most of the violence of this renaming was invisible, it did not go unfelt. In as much as a personal name decides one's sense of self and place in society, imposing new names distorted and even destroyed Algerian identities and social institutions. Upon this destruction the French state extended its power, interpellating colonized subjects by their new names before its laws and commands. Focusing on the nineteenth century, this book draws upon previously unstudied records in the colonial archive, along withpublished historical documents and specialized studies, which together provide insights on four different northwest African naming traditions, Arabo-Islamic, Berber (Amazigh), Judeo-Arab, and modern French names. With the aid of literary and critical theory, author Benjamin Brower shares new insight into the name and its relationship to power and subjectivity. The result is an exploration of the many unseen forms of colonial violence that still persist to this day"-- Provided by publisher.
This groundbreaking history of personal names in nineteenth-century Algeria sheds new light on the symbolic violence of renaming and the relationship between language and colonialism.
French colonization dismantled Algerian names. Under the occupation that began in 1830, not only were Algerian towns and streets renamed in honor of French figures, but personal names were forced to follow French conventions and norms. Colonial authorities simplified and transformed Algerian names to suit their administrative and legal purposes, crudely transcribing and transliterating Arabic and Berber. They imposed a two-part name and surname model that stripped away the extended family ties and social context inherent to precolonial naming practices.
This groundbreaking history of personal names in nineteenth-century Algeria sheds new light on the symbolic violence of renaming and the relationship between language and colonialism. Benjamin Claude Brower traces the changes Algerians’ personal names suffered during the colonial era and the consequences for individuals and society. France’s imposition of new names, he argues, destabilized Algerians’ sense of self and place in the community, distorted local identities, and compromised institutions such as the family. Drawing on previously unstudied records, Brower examines different northwestern African naming traditions and how colonialism changed them. With the aid of literary and critical theory, he develops new insights into the name and its relationship to power and subjectivity. A rigorous theoretical and historical account of symbolic violence, The Colonization of Names unveils many unseen forms of harm under colonial rule.
