Amid controversy and fanfare, the year 2003 was declared Djazaïr or Year of Algeria in France. Not surprisingly, Algerian and French organizers and artists alike faced the challenge of determining how to commemorate a long and contentious colonial and post-colonial history set in the more recent context of a brutal civil war which raged between security forces and armed Islamic groups from 1992–1998. In addition, Algeria's Berber population, with its long history of resistance to repressive governmental policies. organized protests and a boycott against the government's sanctioned role as "official" purveyor of Algerian culture in the context of the 2003 program. Deeply rooted in a pre-Islamic identity layer, this vocal community has long represented the voice of the pluralistic cultural heritage of the "other" more essential and democratic Algeria. This latest controversy is another reminder of the Algerian nation's long and arduous struggle toward self-definition, as played out both within and outside of its borders. For Algerian playwrights and performers living in Paris, the past, both distant and recent, asserts itself as an omnipresent and seemingly inescapable backdrop against which the creative process takes place. This paper briefly outlines that backdrop before exploring the various ways that Algerian playwrights have articulated exile over the past thirty years.
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