Algerian heritage associations: national identity and rediscovering the past

Algerian heritage associations: national identity and rediscovering the past Jessica Ayesha Northey Introduction State-society relations with respect to cultural heritage have always been sensitive and complex domains for Algerian non-state actors to navigate. After the painful anti-colonial struggle, establishing the new nation-state’s cultural identity was one of the key challenges of the post-colonial era. The construction of a national cultural identity was both a physical and psychological task, given the destruction of cultural institutions during the war of independence and the suppression of Arab-Muslim culture under colonialism. In the initial years after independence, the Soviet inspired, nationalist model of cultural policy promoted Arab-Muslim cultural identity as a unifying force for the nation (Kessab, 2014). The rewriting of Algerian history in line with a new nationalist perspective was seen as an important tool by which to tackle the previous injustices of colonialism and denial of cultural identity (Scheele, 2009: 32). So vital was this process that the newly formed Algerian state was reluctant to allow any independent actors, potentially divisive forces, to intervene. As Lahouari Addi writes, the populist project needed Algeria to be united: ‘une famille nationale unie par la mémoire des ancêtres et des martyrs’ (Bozzo, 2011: 376).1 In this context, Arabization became a ‘matter of cultural decolonization and social equity’ (Berger, 2002: 2) in that it was to open up education, political life and full access to basic social services to the predominantly Arabophone population which had, under colonization, been denied such rights through linguistic barriers, as well as through forms of segregation that were administrative or cultural. The accompanying cultural and historical ‘rewriting has entailed ‘A national family united by the memory of its ancestors and martyrs.’ This and all subsequent translated quotations were translated by the author of this chapter. 1 1 what most Algerians see as the fully legitimate necessity of eradicating French colonial discourse, ideological structures, and imperialist constructions aimed at destroying the collective memory of Algerians’ (Gafaiti, 2002: 28). However, during the 1980s, resentment over the denial of the ‘ethnic and linguistic differences and other expressions of a multicultural community’ (Gafaiti, 2002: 28), in particular for Algeria’s significant Berber population, was exacerbated by general frustration over the lack of opportunities, jobs and social welfare. This fed into different riots across Algeria in the 1980s, from Constantine to Kabylia, culminating in the October riots of 1988, and fuelled the desire to promote wider, more inclusive cultural heritage, identity and linguistic policies. With the subsequent constitutional and legal reforms in 1990, which opened up the associational sphere in Algeria, thousands of independent organizations were established across the country. By 2012, 93,000 associations were registered with the Ministry of the Interior, and ten thousand of these identified themselves to the ministry as cultural heritage associations. Against the backdrop of violent conflict throughout the 1990s, and a relative abandoning of the cultural sector by the state, these courageous, new associations saw their purpose as being to protect and promote a wide array of Algerian cultural heritage. They carried out their mission under the daily threat of violence from the extremist insurgency and under the watchful eyes of increasingly paranoid state structures. Yet, in response to their demands, during the 1990s, the Algerian state did assign them a role. The law for the protection of cultural heritage (Loi-98-04 of 1998) identifies as national heritage all tangible and intangible artifacts, buildings, monuments and traditions, upon and in the Algerian soil, from pre-history to the current day. Article 4 of this law allows that such goods be managed by associations, regulated under the terms of the law on associations. With the end of the conflict at the end of the nineties, and the appointment of a new minister of culture under President Bouteflika, a national cultural policy was re-launched. 2 During this phase of revived control by the Ministry of Culture — whose minister was Khalida Toumi from 2002 to 2014 — the national culture budget grew from $64 million, to over $300 million annually.2 This was funded by the significant rise in gas and oil revenues as the price of the barrel rose from $37 to $147 between 2002 and 2008 (Martinez, 2010), leading to similar excesses in spending that oil rich states had experienced in the 1970s (Martinez, 2012). The culture budget remained roughly 0.5 % of the national budget throughout this period. Through it, the state set out to monopolize many aspects of cultural life, with the result that national institutions and large scale state organized festivals consumed most of the budget. Lack of transparency and opaque management fuelled increasing frustration. Algerian cultural policy was seen as being mainly limited to funding grandiose events such as the Pan African Music Festival, or launching huge infrastructure projects, such as the new Chinese funded Algiers Opera House, the Arab-South American Library, the Arab Archaeological Centre or the Museum of Modern Art in Oran, which, after a series of major delays, failed to materialize (Kessab, 2014). Very little funding was given to civil society, independent organizations or the private sector. Cultural organizations and the independent sector received in fact only 0.2% of the significant culture budget. This distrust and state monopoly further aggravated what Frédéric Volpi describes as the ‘implicit antagonism’ between the Algerian state and its civil society generally (2003: 99). Within this challenging context, I want to examine cultural heritage associations from the perspective of state-society relationships in further detail. What has been the role of these cultural heritage associations and have they played any part in rethinking Algerian national and cultural identity since the 2000s against the backdrop of this renewed state hegemony within the cultural sector? The chapter will initially explore the place of heritage associations in Algeria and in the subsequent sections analyze the work of a number of associations 2 http://www.medculture.eu/country/algeria/structure/865 last accessed 16/11/2015. 3 examining how they work to protect historic buildings in cities, to preserve archeological sites and to promote different forms of religious identity through, for example, the restoration of historical manuscripts. Case studies of specific associations will highlight how they cooperate, challenge, and come into conflict with, but also support, the Algerian state in its task of preserving the country’s cultural heritage. It will conclude with a reflection on how contested identities are dealt with by associations on the ground, and on the role associations can play as intermediaries between the state, international actors and the population, negotiating new and more inclusive conceptions of the past. Heritage associations in Algeria Since the 1990 law on associations, and the subsequent 1998 law for the protection of cultural heritage, thousands of Algerian associations have been created across the country to protect Algeria’s cultural heritage and to use it as an educational resource. These associations have had varying results and have also varied in duration. Statistics published by the Ministry of the Interior in 2012, on the numbers and sectors of registered associations, show that cultural associations represent over ten per cent of regional associations, and sixteen per cent of national ones. According to Omar Derras’s 2008 study of active associations, the figure is higher, with almost a third of active associations working in the cultural heritage sector. The regions of the country where cultural associations appear most prominent are in the south. The wilayas (provincial governorates) of Illizi and Adrar in the Sahara have the highest number of cultural associations for their populations, according to the ministry’s figures. The northern Berber wilayas of Tizi Ouzou and Bejaia in Kabylia also have high numbers. The following table demonstrates the figures for cultural associations by wilaya in Algeria. 4 Cultural associations in Algeria – ten densest wilayas3 Number of Culture & Population in heritage associations thousands 96 52 498 399 1 2 Wilaya Illizi Adrar 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Tamanrasset Béchar Ghardaïa El Bayadh Tindouf Tizi Ouzou Béjaïa Naama 206 311 401 191 39 801 513 89 Associations per 100,000 inhabitants 183 125 177 270 364 229 49 1 128 913 193 117 115 110 84 79 71 56 46 These figures can also be visualized in the following diagram: Wilayas with the highest density of cultural associations in Algeria (associations per 100,000 inhabitants ) 200 180 160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 3 Figures taken from the Ministry of the Interior website dated 31/12/2011 (consulted on 29/10/2015). For most recent figures see http://www.interieur.gov.dz/images/pdf/Thematiquedesassociations.pdf 5 The wilayas with the lowest densities of cultural associations are the northern ones of Chlef, Oran, Annaba, Tarf and Relizane, although vibrant organizations exist in the main cities of these wilayas. Derras’s study also confirms that the southern wilayas (Tamanrasset and Adrar) are the densest in terms of cultural associations. While these associations, he suggests, are mainly artistic with limited ambitions, such as organizing traditional music for local festivities, they represent ‘associations de quartiers qui se chargent des problèmes de la quotidienneté, de solidarité et de préservation du lien communautaire et social’ (Derras, 2007: 41).4 Regional, rather than national, associations make up the vast majority of Algerian associations, and these mainly focus on their immediate environment, or one particular form of cultural expression. However, networks also enable organizations to interact at national level. Thirty per cent of associations interviewed in Derras’s study maintain relations and networks with other associations (2007: 85). On the actors’ motivation for joining an association, Derras reports that this comes from the desire to find a framework within which to defend certain values, to contribute to the construction of the country, to protect religion or national heritage or to defend a certain identity (2007: 82-83). A heritage association such as Association Abou Ishak Ibrahim Tefayech pour le Service du Patrimoine, which will be discussed later in the chapter, is a clear example of such a desire. As a religiously inspired organisation, set up to commemorate the works and manuscripts of the Ibadite Sheikh Tefayech, the association’s goal is one of preserving the heritage of the M’zab region of Algeria, and the organisation is actively engaged in activities to improve civic education and knowledge about the past.5 ‘local community associations which deal with everyday problems, social solidarity and preserving communitarian and social links’ 5 Interview with Mohamed Hamouda, Regional facilitator with the EU support programme to Algerian associations, 02/11/2011 in Ghardaia. 4 6 Aharon Layish (2002) has argued that across the Muslim world traditional religious authorities saw an incremental loss of their independence over a long period, as they became increasingly incorporated into the state establishment — whether under colonial rule or through nationalist projects — and that as a result of this process ‘contemporary Muslim society has lost a vital element of civil society’. As a result of this loss of independence the societal role they played may, in some ways, ‘have been taken over by secular intellectuals and other associations’ (Layish, 2002: 84). Yet it is also true that religious associations during the 1980s grew in importance, particularly in the social sectors, providing grassroots social support to communities neglected, or inadequately supported, by the Algerian state through most of that decade. They also took on the protection of Algeria’s cultural heritage, such as the protection of religious texts as exemplified by the Association Abou Ishak Ibrahim Tefayech pour le Service du Patrimoine. Since the end of the violence of the 1990s, and with the renewal of Sufi brotherhoods (the zawiyas), many religious associations have been created, or revived, as associations whose goal is to preserve this religious heritage. The success of Sheikh Khaled Bentounes in setting up numerous associations in Algeria, and in France, is one clear example of their reach. With Bentounes able to mobilise tens of thousands within Algeria, he is also influencing policy making nationally, in France and in Algeria, and also internationally, working with UN institutions.6 With continued weaknesses in Algeria’s democratic institutions, associations have been increasingly recognized as important spheres in which politics happens (Ben Nefissa, 2002; Cavatorta and Elananza, 2008), and associations across all sectors have become a focus of attention in Algeria, as they have in North Africa, the Middle East and further afield. The role cultural associations played within the short lived Coordination nationale pour le changement et la démocratie (CNCD), a platform set up in 2011, in the context of the Arab 6 http://aisa-net.com/la_voie_soufie_alawiyya/cheikh-khaled-bentounes/ 7 revolutions, highlights the interlinking of their desire to impact upon the whole of Algerian society; to preserve its culture but to also improve its political life and governance.7 How then have the actors of these new Algerian associations contributed to public debate in the cultural sector, about identity, national heritage, history and religion, at the local level, across Algeria over the last twenty years? And what is the impact of interventions of foreign donors, such as the EU announcing its multi-million euro investments in the cultural sector,8 upon this already strained relationship between associations and the state? The following examples will explore these developments, their impact upon the associations themselves, and also on the state. The information comes from interviews and discussions with heritage associations from different towns across Algeria between 2007 and 2012. The associations represented here have all received limited support from external actors, including from the European Union; they come from a variety of regions including Oran, Tiaret and Ghardaia; and the experiences they share mirror those of similar cultural heritage organizations the author has met with across the country. Associations and urban history In involving themselves in the protection and promotion of Algeria’s historical monuments and the architecture of its cities, associations face a number of difficulties in terms of organization, regional state actors and public response. Most also suffer from poor infrastructure as well as limited resources and technical capacity. One of the most successful organizations in overcoming such constraints, and developing its activities and reach, is the association ‘Bel Horizon’ based in Oran. This association was created in 2001 in the context of the celebrations commemorating 1100 years since the foundation of the city by 7 The following article indicates the different associations (including cultural ones) of the CNCD http://www.lesoirdalgerie.com/articles/2011/02/24/article.php?sid=113362&cid=2 last accessed 20/11/2015. 8 See http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-11-965_fr.htm last accessed 20/11/2015. 8 Andalousian merchants in 901-02. One of the association’s first projects was to restore the sixteenth-century Spanish Santa Cruz Fort in Oran. This project was significant, firstly, as renovating a Spanish vestige clearly diverged from the state’s priorities in terms of primarily preserving Algeria’s Arab-Muslim heritage, and therefore conflicted with the state’s vision of which parts of history should be primarily ‘remembered’. Secondly, the restoration involved the securitizing of a whole area of the city: the mountain up to the Santa Cruz Fort had been off limits during the 1990s when Islamist insurgent groups occupied it. The returning of this space to the population was highly symbolic. The Bel Horizon association, through its negotiations with local people, the authorities and with the police, as well as its engagement with the historical truths of colonialism and the more recent history of violence, managed at the same time to both challenge and cooperate with the state. Bel Horizon organizes regular cultural activities, music festivals, and an annual heritage walk. This walk takes the population, in its thousands, through the different historical areas of the city and up to the Spanish Fort, thus publically reclaiming this space for Oran’s citizens. In 2011 this attracted over 20,000 people, highlighting the popular interest in cultural heritage, but also the capacity of the association to inspire both its members and the public.9 Despite this success — perhaps because of it — relations with the authorities have never been straightforward. Defining heritage has national implications; but it can also question local urbanization policies as well as the authorities’ capacity to manage development and protect historical buildings. A number of conflicts have emerged, particularly concerning the status of colonial and Jewish buildings, and over how best to preserve Oran’s heritage. In interviews, the president of the association, Metair Kouidair, reaffirmed its priority to promote all Algeria’s heritage: including the Arab, Muslim, Berber, 9 https://youtu.be/Am0tltpjhxU records the Heritage Walk of 2013. Given such significant numbers, since 2011 the association has had to abandon the group walk and to organize instead cultural events across the city that now involve artists from Belgium and France. Each year the events are filmed and made available at http://www.oran-belhorizon.com/. 9 Roman, Jewish, Ottoman and European cultural heritage of the country, and criticized the authorities’ lack of interest in doing the same.10 In an interview with El Watan newspaper, the president of Bel Horizon explained the association’s motivations for its book publications — such as Oran, Une Ville de Fortifications (2012), Oran, la mémoire, (2004) and Oran, études de géographie et d’histoire urbaines (2003) — were based on the desire to both document and celebrate the diversity of the city’s local heritage. He argued that whereas in Europe many books had been published about Oran only two had been published in Algeria and that this demonstrated the lack of interest on the part of state institutions and the distance between the inhabitants and their elected leaders in the city.11 The president also gave his views on what he saw as the state’s ideological reasons for its denial of local cultural narratives across Algeria and particularly in Oran and how the city’s distinct cultural identity, its local elites and its narrative history have suffered due to the homogenous identity imposed since independence: Dans l’imaginaire d’un pouvoir conservateur dans le domaine culturel, Oran était le mauvais exemple. La ville est taxée tantôt d’espagnole, tantôt de ville coloniale : n’était-ce pas la ville la plus européenne d’Algérie? Par conséquent une ville qui charrie des valeurs qui dérangent. Depuis, une politique de culpabilisation fut mise en œuvre, prétextant une participation tiède à la guerre de libération et une prétendue large permissivité morale. Les élites locales et autres notabilités oranaises ont été complexées et, dans une large mesure, neutralisées.12 Such claims are echoed by many cultural associations across Algeria. Many associations challenge the state’s refusal to accept certain narratives of local or regional identity (along with the linguistic issues that these raise) and seek to overcome this rejection through actively 10 Interview with the President of Bel Horizon, Kouider Metair, 23/10/2011. Taken from an interview with El Watan newspaper, 14/04/2005, quoted in the special edition of Bel Horizon’s bulletin 10 ans au service du patrimoine: p. 12, available at http://www.oran-belhorizon.com/revuebelhorizon.pdf (consulted on 31/10/2015). 12 [In the minds of a conservative authority within the cultural domaine Oran was a bad example. At times accused of being Spanish, at other times colonial, wasn’t it the most European Algerian city? As a result it represented unsettling values. A policy of blame has been put in place which claims that Oran’s participation in the war of liberation was only lukewarm that its moral values were permissive. As a result, local elites and leading figures became more circumspect and have largely been neutralized.] 11 10 preserving the past.13 They also sometimes go further by standing for local government, in order to have a direct impact on the decisions relating to the city and its heritage. Members of Bel Horizon and the Santé Sidi el Houari, another active cultural association in Oran, have seen their leaders go on to be elected members of local government at the Communal Council (APC) level. Through this transition from civic to political activism associative actors have been able to gain experience of local politics as well as access to information and a better understanding of local government. As a predominantly francophone organization, language is another challenge for Bel Horizon. French remains the working language of most of its meetings as well as that of its formal documents and publications. This goes against the policy preferences of the state, and even the law on associations itself which, until revised in 2012, required all associations to publish their main publication in Arabic14 (although this was largely ignored). During a planning meeting in Oran, one of the younger activists passionately asserted — in reaction to negative responses from the authorities and the accusation that they were protecting colonial vestiges — that Oran was ‘our city’ and was formed of different external influences. He pointed out the contradiction that the authorities (like much of the population of Oran) spoke the language of colonization, while simultaneously rejecting it. Why should they not value all the different cultures, he asked, which make up the richness of the city?15 As a francophone organization, moreover, the association has enjoyed easier access to international funding from the EU and other donors, such as the French Embassy and the Cervantes Institute, who predominantly issue their funding call in French and who have been increasingly targeting 13 Association APPAT in Tiaret (promoting archeological history), Association Santé Sidi El Houari in Oran (protection of the Sidi El Houari quarter), Association Castellum in Chleff (archiving of Roman ruins) and Association Archeologique of Tenes (protection of Phoenician heritage) all reported this to be one of the motivations for their activism - to protect their local heritage whether it be Phoenician, Roman or European monuments, which state institutions had allowed to fall into ruins. 14 Article 19 of the 1990 Law states ‘Le bulletin principal doit être édité en langue arabe.’ [The main bulletin must be written in Arabic]. 15 Interview and discussions with Bel Horizon members, 23/10/2011. 11 the heritage sector. This is much less the case for predominantly Arabophone associations further south, such as the Association Rostomid Artisanat or the Association Salaam el Akbar both in Tiaret16 which, given the challenges of writing or translating all documents in to French for an international donor, felt this was unrealistic and as such needed to look for small grants from regional state institutions. Bel Horizon manages to network with other heritage associations around the Mediterranean, including exchanges with organizations from Spain and France such as members of the French funded Programme Concerté Pluri-Acteurs (PCPA) network.17 Funding from EU programmes has enabled the association to professionalize, purchase technical equipment and material and widen their funding sources. Whilst EU funding does not unduly influence their choice of cultural action as the funding calls had been wide in their remit, members did complain about the bureaucratic requirements of funding applications. Concerning the new 21 million euro EU investment in the heritage sector announced in 201118 few associations I met with in 2013 had seen any concrete information about this scheme two years on, although newspaper reports indicated it would be launched in 2014.19 Formal and informal networks exist, bringing associations working in the heritage sector together, primarily from neighbouring wilayas. Bel Horizon is a lead actor in these networks, encouraging other heritage associations to take ownership of historical narratives which help to define Algeria. The organization and its members challenge state narratives, participate in local government and encourage young people to engage in a more constructive political debate. Promoting more inclusive, open identities, Bel Horizon seeks recognition of the country’s cultural diversity through promoting a much wider conception of the country’s past. McDougall describes the need, in twenty-first century Algeria, for a space ‘creating 16 Interviewed 30/10/2011 and 31/10/2011 respectively. http://www.pcpalgerie.org/?-Associations-Francaises-et- (consulted on 16/11/2015). 18 http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-11-965_fr.htm (consulted on 20/11/2015). 19 http://www.elmoudjahid.com/fr/flash-actu/11922 (consulted on 20/11/2015). 17 12 new, and freer, histories’ (McDougall, 2006: 238). Through their daily activities, heritage associations such as Bel Horizon, and APPAT, assessed below, aim to create such a space, for reflection on history, and the state’s, and society’s, role in preserving it and incorporating it into enabling narratives of identity. Bel Horizon, through its significant public support and legitimacy, appears to have secured this space, at least in the short term and within the city of Oran. Algeria’s archaeological past The wealth of Algeria’s archeological past, from pre-history, to entirely preserved Roman sites and cities, such as Tipasa and Djemila, has been widely acknowledged to be unique in the region and in terms of world heritage. The steppe region of Tiaret, whose main city is Tiaret, is known for its numerous heritage sites, including a necropole dating back six millennia. The ancient tombs of the thirteen impressive ‘Djeddar’ monuments date back two millennia to the rule of the Berber Kings of North Africa. Near to the city of Tiaret, the neighbouring town of Frenda is the location of the cave used by the philosopher Ibn Khaldoun to write one of social sciences’ most important historic works, The Muqaddimah, An Introduction to History, in the fourteenth century. The region also hosts the site of Tihert, from which the Rostimid dynasty ruled from 761. Tihert became the capital of the most important kingdom in the Maghreb. The site of Tagdempt, another state capital, under the Emir Abdelkader in the nineteenth century, was the military, political, economic and cultural capital of Algeria for seven years from 1835 and 1841 (Kiser, 2008). As one of the most important protagonists of the resistance struggle against the colonial invasion, the Emir has particular symbolic importance for Algerian nationalist history. The ruins of the Emir’s house are still visible, as are the sites where gunpowder was made and the first coins of the Algerian state were minted. More recent is the Jumenterie, the largest stud farm in North Africa, dating 13 from the mid-19th century, the colonial period, and still an important site for the breeding of horses today. The 1990s were difficult for the citizens of the region of Tiaret. This was particularly so in the rural areas which were the targets of extreme violence by Islamist insurgents and resulted in a mass exodus towards the main city. Kidnappings, bomb explosions, false police barricades, executions, and requisitioning of farms and produce were regular occurrences. Far from the capital, with imposed curfews and weakened state security structures, the citizens of the region suffered intensely. To leave one’s house was seen as an act bravery, to venture into the surrounding country side to explore abandoned ruins in an effort to protect the Algerian heritage and culture, which many felt was under direct threat from the obscurantist extremist ideology, was both a political and personal act of genuine courage. Working to protect and value all of the sites described above a local heritage association, the Association pour la protection du patrimoine archéologique de Tiaret (APPAT),20 was created in 1992 thanks to the will and dynamism of a now retired teacher, who is president of the association. The APPAT organization is registered as a regional association with the wilaya of Tiaret. Over the last twenty years APPAT has sought to identify and list all the archaeological sites of the region. 452 monuments are listed of which five are now classified by the Algerian state as national heritage.21 The members of APPAT are passionate about the heritage of their region, but feel that knowledge about the importance of these sites is insufficient amongst the local population and amongst Algerians generally. This is also the case, it seems, for the state, as even the sites of symbolic importance to the Algerian state are left unpreserved. Weaknesses in state structures, the years of violence and limited awareness at all levels of society, have led to many of the sites being neglected. The association carries out civic education amongst the population, visitors 20 Association for the protection of the archaeological heritage of Tiaret See www.djazairess.com/fr/lqo/5144675 and www.djazairess.com/fr/elwatan/299284 last accessed 30/10/2015. 21 14 to the region, and in schools and trains local guides to ensure these sites gain the necessary protection and be accorded a place within Algeria’s national heritage.22 With a small grant from the European Union in 2008, APPAT launched a regional network of heritage actors to co-ordinate approaches and to develop joint training programmes with other associations on legislation relating to, and methods of identifying and preserving, historic sites. They initiated a new training programme for university students seeking to work in the tourism, heritage and archaeological sectors. Trained as heritage guides, and in methods of conservation, the trainees were sent to different sites across the region, to learn about their history and guiding techniques. With help from a former director from the Ministry of Culture, the association worked with other heritage organizations in the west of Algeria to complete a common database of the various sites around the region, from prehistory to the present day. In collaboration with the chamber of commerce, discussions were launched with a view to developing a comprehensive distance learning diploma for young people. Concerning relations with the regional government authorities, when interviewed in 2011 the president of the association, Ahmed Daoud, felt these to be positive. The authorities maintained regular contact with the association and if any ruins or archaeological sites were discovered they were the first organization to be consulted. Relations with the local authorities were generally good, thanks above all to personal support from the director of the chamber of commerce who had given up much of his personal time and commitment to helping this association and others. Clearly personal relations matter but funding, he noted, is still an issue.23 The association has been lobbying local government authorities for a museum to promote the history and archaeological wealth of the region. This request has so far been 22 23 Interview with the President of APPAT, Ahmed Daoud, 31/10/11. Interview with the President of APPAT, Ahmed Daoud, 31/10/11. 15 turned down though the region recently inaugurated a museum commemorating the Moudjahid and the history of the Algerian war of independence. As in Oran, there is a sensitive debate between the state and associations concerning the representation of history and national heritage. That said, the state narratives of national identity are not necessarily always even in conflict with those of the individuals and associations who seek to promote their histories, monuments and traditions. In Tiaret, the state’s neglect is of all heritage sites, including those which would seem to be of key importance to its own perception of Algeria’s national identity. For example, the association is keen to protect sites of importance to the nationalist struggle, including the site from which the Emir Abdelkader launched the rebellion against the colonial invasion in the nineteenth century. The state’s antagonistic response might be a result of its recognition that it had failed to recognize the importance of protecting a site marking a key moment in the history of anti-colonial resistance or its inability to do so in a context of violence and insecurity, or that it resented a small association willing and brave enough to take up that challenge. Indeed, state heritage services, at regional level, have themselves been frustrated by a lack of training, a lack of security, a lack of direction from the Ministry of Culture, and rigid hierarchical decision-making structures. These factors have been compounded by the traumas of the 1990s. As a result, regional state agencies have been abandoned by actors such as the EU who seek instead to support, promote and fund local civil society associations. 24. Associations such as APPAT have been filling such gaps, providing new solutions to promote Algeria’s heritage, insisting on broader historical narratives to include all the periods which have played a part in the wilaya’s history. This includes the nationalist struggle and Islamic heritage but also pre-history and colonial history, a recognition of which could enrich the life of the city of Tiaret and its citizens. APPAT has managed to achieve the first steps 24 Interview with Assia Ferial Selhab, PCPA support programme funded by the French Embassy, 19/10/2011 16 towards recognition of this broader more inclusive history by taking a constructive approach rather than an oppositional one. With limited means, the organization has received popular support and been recognized by state institutions for its work on the region’s heritage. However, at the time of writing (November 2015) the association is now suffering from a complete breakdown in relations with the regional authorities. Banned from holding a high level conference on Berber history at the Ibn Khaldun University in Tiaret in 2013 with guest speaker Jean Pierre Laporte — an expert on North African history — the association has since been targeted by the authorities and prevented from working on many occasions through accusations and administrative obstacles for no apparent or communicated reason.25 Not dissimilar to the experiences of other previously successful associations across the country, the debate about history, access to the public sphere and the capacity to speak about, and represent, Algerians and their history, remain highly contested domains and often difficult ones for associations. The association’s future remains unclear as does that of the detailed work of restoration and classification of the region’s archeological heritage that it undertakes. Equally unclear is the future of associational autonomy and the limits within which the state will allow associations to function and act as ambassadors for Algerian heritage. Religious heritage and traditions What is now Algeria has traditionally been a crossroads for intellectual life, ideas and learning in North Africa. This explains the abundance of important religious manuscripts held in Algeria today by state institutions, such as the National Library in Algiers, and in private and family collections across the country26 although the existence of the latter manuscripts is little known both inside and outside of Algeria (Scheele, 2010). Across the Muslim world in 25 http://www.lesoirdalgerie.com/articles/2015/10/11/article.php?sid=185478&cid=4 (consulted on 31/10/2015). Scheele quotes newspaper figures of 35,000 manuscripts of which 4,000 are held by the National Library (2010: 294). 26 17 the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the growing Sufi brotherhoods, the zawiyas, had sought to communicate with remote, rural, often illiterate communities. The vernacular, darija, was used to take Islam and its spirituality to the countryside, mainly through mystical poems written in a language they could understand. Levtzion writes how The need to write down oral mystical poetry in folk idioms arose also with the growth in scale of the brotherhoods, whose leaders sought to communicate with affiliates living in remote communities. Poems in the vernaculars, which had earlier been transmitted and recited orally, were committed to writing in the Arabic script, and copies of the written texts were sent out to the literate representatives of the shaykh in different localities who then recited these texts to an illiterate audience. (Levtzion, 2002: 115) In her detailed ethnographic research carried out in two regions of Algeria, Scheele (2010) describes the complex processes involved in the current desire to conserve and to promote the value of these manuscripts across Algeria and the resulting tensions between different groups, associations, families and the state that result from this process. She explores the work of two heritage associations in Kabylia (Groupe d’études sur l’histoire des mathématiques à Béjaïa – GEHIMAB) and Adrar (Association des recherches et études historiques de la region d’Adrar) concerned with protecting religious manuscripts and the difficulties associated with this. She describes how the protection of this particular religious heritage stirs up conflicts over political and social legitimacy. She writes, The sudden revival of interest in manuscript collections that occurred from the mid1990s onwards was thus not an isolated occurrence, but part of a larger ‘rediscovery’ of Algeria’s long-neglected intellectual and religious heritage, and of ongoing conflicts over social and political legitimacy between central government and local actors (Scheele, 2010: 300). Scheele feels the challenges around the conservation of these manuscripts relate not to technical capacity, nor to the colonial destruction of Algerian culture, but more to the ‘problematic relationship that many contemporary Algerians maintain with their history and with local traditions of knowledge and scholarship’ (2010: 292). Written in the vernacular Arabic, rather than classical Arabic, it is the language of these texts that raised problems for 18 both organizations that Scheele explores, given the strong focus primarily on Berber identity and language in Kabylia and the devalued place of Algerian Arabic in much of the country.27 In the Kabyle case, the GEHIMAB association was able to use external support from the Canadian Embassy to gain local legitimacy and it avoided conflicts by maintaining the manuscripts in the local vicinity. In southern Algeria, the case of the historical research association of Adrar was more complex. Their ambitious project to create a centre for the conservation of manuscripts, involving state funding and an institutional structure, thus added to local conflicts, mistrust and insecurity over the value and rightful place of that heritage. The history of the Sufi brotherhoods in Algeria, and the double attack on them first by colonialism and later by reformist orthodox Islam of the nationalist movement, meant the legitimacy of many of the families who were descendants of the sheikhs and scholars who wrote the manuscripts had been damaged. Local Islam as represented by the zawiyas, came to be seen as ‘morally tainted’ and inferior to the orthodox Islam of the Middle East although the strength of such discourses still varies across regions of Algeria (Scheele, 2010). Direct attacks, both physical and verbal, on the zawiyas during the violence of the 1990s presented a further barrier to the valuing of the heritage they reclaimed and actively preserved. Yet, increasingly, certain associations have managed to overcome these multiple obstacles to conserving these manuscripts. With the place of the zawiyas increasingly recognised in the political sphere, and the current president’s known affinity with them, practical solutions have been drawn up by associations, perhaps more successfully than those of the state institutions. Ignoring divisions and problems of language or identity, some associations have sought simply to conserve the manuscripts and explain their importance in the public sphere. One such association in the M’Zab, Ibadite region of Algeria, is the Association Abou Ishak Ibrahim Tefayech pour le Service du Patrimoine. Over the last 27 See also Taleb-Ibrahimi, 1995. 19 decade this local association has been involved in a technical project, working with three local libraries to digitalize and conserve over a thousand manuscripts as part of a larger project to protect all religious manuscripts in the M’Zab region of the country. Funded initially by a small grant from the European Union and local contributions, their project honours primarily the memory of the Ibadite Sheikh M’Hammed Ben Youcef Ben Aïssa Tefayech who was born in Ghardaia in 1821 and died in 1914 in Beni Isguen.28 Self-taught, he acquired and transcribed many religious manuscripts, purchased whole libraries, and dedicated much of his life to the education of others, receiving students from across the region and authoring over 300 manuscripts. In addition, the partner libraries also hold manuscripts from religious scholars coming from different sects and ethnic groups, including Ibadite and non-Ibadite sheikhs. At present, the association has managed to successfully conserve all these manuscripts in an inclusive manner, compiling them in a digital format. It has trained young people from the region in conservation techniques as well as launching a discussion on the intrinsic value of the documents themselves. As such, the association has managed to avoid conflicts both within the community, and with the state structures, by presenting a predominantly technical project that is also an inclusive one aimed at preserving one part of a common, traditional, religious heritage of Algeria. Conclusion With reference to tangible historical monuments and objects, and also the intangible heritage enshrined in living cultural expressions and traditions, the chapter has explored how heritage associations (such as those detailed above) have had to deal with questions of identity, language, moral convictions, as well as to mediate state-society relations and to discuss and conserve Algeria’s national history, involving the Arab, Muslim, Berber, Roman, Jewish, 28 http://www.djazairess.com/fr/latribune/18269 Last accessed 20/11/2015. 20 Ottoman and European cultural heritage of the country. Conflicts in this sector seem to emanate, however, less from a contested identity of the Algerian nation, and more from competition between state actors and civil society organizations over who has the right and the skills to represent, to conserve and to provide a voice for an increasingly inclusive, rich and less contested Algerian memory. Lloyd writes that the concept of civil society itself needs to be wide enough to encompass such conflicts, not only with the state but also with regard to religion, gender and ideological power structures (1999). She laments that too much focus on violence and conflict has ‘obscured the courageous resistances involved in Algerian civil society’ (Lloyd, 1999: 488). McDougall also challenges the endless clichés of ‘fury’ and ‘revenge’ (2006) arguing for ‘a critical exploration of the relationship between forms of historical self-perception, Islamic culture, and the nationalist struggle in colonial Algeria’ (2006:18). Lloyd further argues that it is through associative networks, such as those maintained by Bel Horizon in Algeria and across the Mediterranean, and their resources, that social actors can resist oppression ‘and formulate new social visions’ (Lloyd,1999: 488). In the Algerian case in particular, with relation to migration and the significant exiles, after the war of independence, and more recently during the 1990s, the boundaries of the nation state have become increasingly blurred (Lloyd: 489). With the changing profile of migrants in recent decades, Collyer (2006) details the increasing capacity of Algerian associational activism to operate beyond the borders, and the power and potential of Algerian associations in France to contribute to the debate within Algeria. With the immense disparities in the means available to conserve, revive and restore Algerian culture and heritage, civil society actors have had to negotiate with external actors, such as the EU, to gain moral and financial support and are increasingly Mediterranean and transnational in their outlook (Lloyd, 1999: 487). They are also more strongly connected with local populations, who are keen to provide hard working 21 associations with financial support if they see results from their investments. This contrasts starkly with the immense means of the state, gained from the windfall oil wealth over the last decade, and its limited capacities to manage such budgets and to connect with the Algerian population. As such, both internally and externally, associations continue to play an important if sensitive role in Algeria, as intermediaries between the state, international actors and the population, for the protection of Algeria’s heritage. 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