The Wound that Never Heals

Abstract

This article discusses the Harki reaction to Masaoud Benyoucef’s play Le nom du père . Harkis are Algerians who sided with the French during the Algerian War of Independence, tens of thousands of whom were massacred at the war’s end by their compatriots. Those who managed to escape to France were incarcerated in camps, some for sixteen years. They considered the play a slur on their identity and attempted, unsuccessfully, to stop its performance. They objected to the portrayal of the protagonist, the son of a Harki, who, entrapped by his father’s fateful decision, has lost his bearings and is manipulated by the Algerian military, the Islamists, and the French.