From Colony to Camp, From Camp to Colony: First World War Captivity in Ahmed Ben Mostapha, goumier by Mohammed Bencherif

Abstract

This article offers an analysis of the representation of captivity in Ahmed Ben Mostapha, goumier. The novel, published by Algerian writer Mohammed Bencherif in 1920, was partly inspired by his own experience as a prisoner of war during the First World War. Relying on historical, sociological and anthropological sources, the article focuses on the protagonist’s experience as a POW in German camps and in Switzerland. It also proposes a metaphorical interpretation of captivity in the colonial context, reading Ben Mostapha as a “conscript of modernity,” conditioned by French republican ideals. Finally, it examines thought-provoking analogies between colony and camp in Bencherif’s novel.

Keywords

• first world war
• algeria
• pow camp
• halbmondlager
• conscript of modernity
• mohammed bencherif
• french colonial ideology