"Letter to my coloniser" for Bad Form's Crime issue

ABSTRACT:

Being French of Algerian descent comes with its turmoils., especially when aware of the colonial past and neo-colonial present that bounds the two countries. Since a big lump of that history is partly unaddressed and remains taboo, I wanted to educate myself on the matter. Inevitably, I came to read about the numerous crimes (rape, mass murder, obstruction of the justice system, etc) that France committed during the colonisation. Among a sea of horror, a particular piece stuck with me, called “Transgressing Boundaries: Gender, Race, Religion, and “Françaises Musulmanes” during the Algerian War of Independence” by Natalya Vince. At the time I was reading it, it vividly echoed the current and pervasive climate of islamophobia in France, where women were constantly attacked on national TV for wearing the hijab and not looking “civilised” enough. Feeling alienated in my homeland, I felt compelled to put into words and imageries a response to the present ramifications of a colonial past.