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About Me

I specialise in the social and cultural history of France and the French Empire. My research explores the interplay between empire, memory and migration, particularly in the context of the historical relationship between France and Algeria. I have focused extensively on the construction and transmission of memories within the pied-noir and harki communities following their mass migration to France when Algeria gained independence in 1962. Exploring memory activism within both groups as they sought to process their experiences of the Algerian War of Independence (1954-1962) and to deal with the legacies of this conflict, my work seeks to historicise the current ‘memory wars’ phenomenon whereby different groups in France are seen to be ‘fighting’ for control of the public representation of this contentious past. This reflects my broader interest in how European societies negotiate competing claims on their national histories and memories in the public arena, particularly with respect to divisive and violent pasts.

My latest research explores the history of settlers from colonial Algeria who served in the French military during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This project will begin by investigating the impact military service during the First World War had upon the identities of these ‘settler soldiers’ and on their relationships with the metropolitan and indigenous colonial troops they fought alongside.

Recent Publications

Monograph

Eldridge C (2016) From empire to exile: History and memory within the pied-noir and harki communities. Manchester: Manchester University Press.

Edited Collection

Aissaoui R; Eldridge C (2017) Algeria Revisited History, Culture and Identity. Bloomsbury Publishing.

Journal Articles

Eldridge, (2013) ‘Returning to the “Return”: Pied-Noir Memories of 1962’. Revue Europeenne des Migrations Internationales, , pp. 121-140.

Eldridge C (2012) ‘Remembering the Other: Postcolonial Perspectives on Relationships between Jews and Muslims in French Algeria’. Journal of Modern Jewish Studies, , pp. 1-19.

Eldridge C (2010) Blurring the Boundaries Between Perpetrators and Victims: Pied-Noir Memories and the Harki Community. Memory Studies, , pp. 123-136.

Eldridge C (2009) ‘“We’ve never had a voice”. Memory Construction and the Children of the Harkis, 1962-1991’. French History, 23 (1), pp. 88-107.

Book Chapters

Eldridge C (2017) Passing the Torch: Memory Activism within the Pied-Noir Community Fifty Years after Independence. Algeria Revisited: History, Culture and Identity, London: Bloomsbury, pp. 212-234.

Eldridge C; Aissaoui R (2017) Revisiting Algeria. Algeria Revisited History, Culture and Identity, Bloomsbury Publishing, pp. 1-16.

Eldridge C (2016) Unity above all? Relationships and Rivalries within the Pied-Noir Community. In: Borutta M; Jansen JC eds. Vertriebene and Pieds-Noirs in Postwar Germany and France, Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 133-150.

Eldridge C (2013) ‘The Pied-Noir Community and the Complexity of “Coming Home” to Algeria’. In: Soo S; Gemie S eds. Coming Home? Vol. 2: Conflict and Postcolonial Return Migration in the Context of France and North Africa, 1962-2009, Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, pp. 12-32.

Eldridge C (2011) ‘Le symbole de l’Afrique perdue: Carnoux-en-Provence and the Pied-Noir Community’. In: Marsh K; Frith N eds. France’s Lost Empires: Fragmentation, Loss and la fracture coloniale, Lanham, MD: Lexington, pp. 125-136.

Media Coverage

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@eldrclaire

Country Focus

Expertise by Geography

France

Expertise by Chronology

20th century, 21st century

Expertise by Topic

Colonialism, Military, Race