Mediating Gender, Mediating Race: Women Writers in Colonial Algeria

Until recently women's roles in the French colonies received little or no attention although they, like men, played a significant part in the construction of the colonial identity. In colonial Algeria (1830–1962), gendered and racial structures were already in place when, after the civilian takeover in 1871, women emerged as players on the colonial scene. Women writers responded to colonial social structures in a number of ways. This article will explore the ambiguities and paradoxes of their situation in the colony and the ways in which they assumed the role of mediators of gender and race, to further their agendas.