Graduation Year

2025

Document Type

Campus Only Senior Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Politics and International Relations

Second Department

French Studies

Reader 1

Sumita Pahwa

Reader 2

Fazia Aïtel

Terms of Use & License Information

Terms of Use for work posted in Scholarship@Claremont.

Abstract

Algeria gained its independence from France in 1962, following the brutality of colonial rule and the Algerian War, made all the more so as a result of Algeria’s departmentalization ; unlike other French colonies, Algeria was officially considered a part of mainland France. Post-independence, FLN leadership pursued a monolithic project of national unification through Arabization-at-all-Costs, a state language policy which made Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) the sole official language of government and schools. This policy has since been in place, at the expense of the other languages present in Algerian society – primarily Darija, Tamazigh, and French – until 2022, when Algerian President Tebboune announced an Anglicization policy, making English a primary language of education along with MSA. This paper investigates possible causes for the sudden shift in state language policy, examining this question from nationalist, de-colonial, economic, sociolinguistic, and comparative lenses. This shift belongs to a broader phenomenon of Anglicization among other post-colonial nations. The paper argues English has been embraced in Algeria as a result of its French colonial past and its consequent anti-colonial de-Frenchification. The policy of Anglicization functions as a strategic economic move, intended to open its economy, attract Anglophones business partners, improve employment opportunities, and adopt the new “global lingua franca,” a utilitarian, international language. Finally, the paper asserts English is perceived by Algerians as a politically neutral language, enabling its dissociation from colonialism and the nations’ pan-Arabist rejection of the West.

Download

This thesis is restricted to the Claremont Colleges current faculty, students, and staff.

Share

COinS