The Archeology of Becoming
Poet, essayist, and translator Samira Negrouche draws from her current book-in-progress to unearth how Algerian authors shaped the nation’s voice and character in the wake of the Algerian War of Independence (1954–1962).
If the Algerian War of Independence was a seismic event, six decades later strong aftershocks persist. That independence can be felt as spiraling shocks, each of them leading to new paths and ideals.
In the midst of a defining moment—that is at once geopolitical and local—Samira Negrouche delves into the layers of stories written by Algerian authors who constructed the Algerian character at the raging epicenter of the war. From Kateb Yacine to Assia Djebar to Mohammed Dib, she interrogates their fictional characters, invites them to a table where they discover other layers of wounds and anger, of longing and questioning: Who are we and what did we build? What can we keep and restore? Can we read the foundations as living pillars and invent new ways of rebuilding independence? Who can we allow ourselves to be?
This lecture—itself a literary object—unfolds as a dynamic dialogue, inviting us to envision the process of writing as an act of transmission and therefore of independence.
Samira Negrouche is a critically acclaimed writer, poet, and translator born in Algiers, where she continues to live and work. Author of eleven poetry collections, several artists’ books, and a collection of essays, she engages with themes of memory and transmission, lost genealogies, borders, languages, identities, and trauma. Her poetry—translated into thirty languages—has been widely published and shortlisted for the Derek Walcott Prize for Poetry and the National Translation Award in Poetry. Negrouche is also known for creating live performances and experimenting with new forms of writing in collaboration with musicians, visual artists, and choreographers. During her time at the Whitney Humanities Center as a Franke Visiting Fellow, she is working on a new project titled “Archeology of Wounds and Identities,” which explores the shadows of postcolonial Algeria and addresses the invisible remnants of war and resistance whose echoes shape today’s multiple fragmentations and violence.