Assimilation in the French colony: Nadia Zerrouk, ‘French assimilation in Algeria: Between its logical aspects and the racism of colonialism’, Art Law and Accounting Reporter, 44, 2, 2025, pp. 201-212 | settler colonial studies blog

Assimilation in the French colony: Nadia Zerrouk, ‘French assimilation in Algeria: Between its logical aspects and the racism of colonialism’, Art Law and Accounting Reporter, 44, 2, 2025, pp. 201-212

19Dec25

Abstract: This study aims to examine the reality of French assimilation policy in Algeria—between its purportedly logical justifications and the inherent racism of colonialism. Through this research, we seek to address the main issues related to the attitudes of Muslim Algerians toward France, the extent to which they were influenced by its civilization, and their attachment to their own identity and Islamic civilization. We also aim to provide a clear picture of the assimilation policy and to show how it represented a major dilemma for the colonial authorities, whether in terms of its partial or total application, or whether it was merely an abstract concept devoid of any real political or legal implementation. The study further highlights the positions taken by the French Parliament regarding this policy. Methodologically, we rely on a historical-critical approach to analyze the gap between the assimilationist French discourse and the actual political and legal practices in Algeria, drawing on important French sources. The study reveals that the colonial authorities were not genuinely willing to implement an assimilationist policy toward the Muslim Algerian population, because their objective was not to produce a society similar to French society in language, religion, customs, traditions, or ways of thinking. Nor was their goal to create French citizens with the same rights enjoyed by native Frenchmen. Instead of true assimilation, the colonial administration pursued partial and limited forms of integration—such as the teaching of the Christian religion to undermine Islamic identity, recruitment into the colonial army, the employment of a small number of Algerians, mixed marriages, and migration to France. These measures aimed to produce a society stripped of inherited traditions, foundations, balance, and identity, in order to weaken its spirit of resistance. However, Algerians fully understood France’s intentions in their country: to spread fear and death, dispossess them of their lands and property, and reduce them to servitude. Thus, they rejected French “civilization,” being aware of its true meaning—namely, the eradication of their Islamic identity, to which they steadfastly clung. Ultimately, they demonstrated to France that its presence in Algeria was destined to come to an end.

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