The Civilizing Mission In The Metropole: Algerian Immigrants In France And The Politics Of Adaptation During Decolonization

This essay explores the development of specialized welfare services created just before and during the Algerian War for Independence (1954-1962) for Algerian migrants in France. Algerians possessed French citizenship making them eligible for all welfare benefits available to citizens. Moreover, both private charitable institutions and governmental agencies constructed supplemental services that simultaneously attempted to help this marginalized group adapt to life in France and to undermine support for the National Liberation Front (FLN), the leading Algerian nationalist organization. Social welfare services, which exclusively targeted Algerian migrants, became an essential part of efforts to re-conceptualize France\u27s civilizing mission after World War II. While these services took various forms, this essay highlights those established for Algerian women and families. Only after Algerian independence did France abandon its interest in Algerian families, re-orienting the system of welfare toward immigrants from other places. As a result, this welfare network became, after 1962, the foundation for all immigrant social welfare in France through the end of the twentieth century. © Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 2006