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Accepted Paper:

Does culture enable national reconciliation? Post-Algerian civil war creative economy  
Samia Henni (Institute for the History and Theory of Architecture, ETHZ)

Paper short abstract:

Since the end of its Civil War, Algeria made a considerable effort at promoting a “national reconciliation based on Algerian culture” proclaimed by Algerian president. The cultural policy and the institutionalisation of the creative economy are being significantly restructured.

Paper long abstract:

Tlemcen, a historic town in North-western Algeria, was the capital of Islamic culture for the year 2011 nominated by the Islamic Organization for Education, Culture and Sciences (ISESCO). This event enabled Tlemcen and Algeria to rethink its national identity and cultural productions, restore and reopen its architectural Islamic heritage, and consequently to reclaim its pre-French colonial history. Furthermore, this event preannounced the nature of the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Algerian Independence launched on the 5th of July 2012.

These attempts at a "national reconciliation based on Algerian culture", announced by Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, remain decisive and valuable and need to be critically discussed, although Algerians are still endeavouring to recover from the cruelty and violence of both Algerian War of Independence (1954-1962) and Algerian Civil War (1991-2002).

In Algeria, the cultural policy is established by the state and it operates according to a centralized model inherited from France. The Ministry of Culture announces, locates, controls and finances most cultural activities and artistic productions and therefore the private sector remains considerably fragile. Nevertheless, the Ministry of Culture was asked to make special and effective efforts since 2002 to promote the Algerian "national reconciliation".

Based on a qualitative approach, this contribution offers an in-depth investigation of post-Civil War institutionalization of Algerian creative economy and its national impacts and regional integrations. It suggests that the national cultural policy will inevitably be restructured due to and thanks to the massive return of various Algerian creative actors.

Panel P052
Designing African creative cities
  Session 1