"A Massacre of Algerians in Paris: Remembering October 17, 1961 in 21st Century Films"

with Anne Donadey

Thursday, June 3rd from 12-1 PM Pacific Daylight Time (PDT).

Anne Donadey will discuss a major event of the Algerian war of independence from the French and the history of its remembrance in France. On October 17, 1961, the French police violently attacked Algerian civilians who were demonstrating peacefully in Paris. The death toll remains uncertain to this day. Donadey will address the ways in which the memory of this massacre has evolved over time and the importance of literature and film in that process of re-memory. The presentation will focus on how films represent the demonstration and massacre 45-50 years later and why the Algerian war and its memory continue to be relevant in contemporary France.

Anne Donadey is Professor of French and Women's Studies at San Diego State University. Her first book, Recasting Postcolonialism: Women Writing between Worlds (Heinemann, 2001) focused in part on representations of the Algerian war of independence from the French in the novels of Assia Djebar and Leïla Sebbar. Her second book, The Algerian War in Film Fifty Years Later, 2004-2012 (Lexington, 2020), revisits issues of representation, history, and memory with a focus on twenty narrative films about that war.

Register via Zoom to attend or contact Professor Guilan Siassi (gsiassi@usc.edu) for further information.