Des Kabyles « perdus » en région parisienne

Abstract

Between the two world wars, emigration from colonized Algeria was characterized by a noria phenomenon that encouraged the perpetuation of a rural peasantry then heading for deconstruction. Emigration was also intensified by a concomitant break by individual men leaving their home communities, sometimes for years or even permanently. Through new sources, this article proposes, a re-reading of the emigrant amjah figure originally delineated by Abdelmalek Sayad. A review of missing persons claims filed by abandoned or worried families with colonial administrators permit a reassessment of these immigrants, many of whom, far from being ‘lost’ in the Paris area, joined the labor force and rebuilt their lives with their French or immigrant wives.

Keywords

• migrations
• colonization
• Algeria
• administrations
• requests
• pleas