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Making an Arab-Muslim Elite in Paris: The Pan-Maghrib Student Movement of the 1930s
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 August 2021
Abstract
This paper aims to clarify the scope and limitations of the ideals of Pan-Maghrib nationalism as developed by the Association of North African Muslim Students in France (AEMNAF) in the 1930s. The AEMNAF members’ inclination toward sciences and technology and their emphasis on conserving their mother culture made them consider Arabism and Islam their most important identity markers. Moreover, the AEMNAF created a sense of solidarity among Maghribi students in France and extended its social influence by cooperating with French and Mashriqi opinion leaders in Europe. However, the AEMNAF's narrow definition of Muslim-ness and its elitist nature led to the exclusion of Maghribis with French citizenship from the organization. The dualistic view of technology and culture in Maghribi nationalist thought also contributed to prioritizing Francophones over Arabophones, Muslims over non-Muslims, men over women, and students in the sciences over those in humanities.
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References
1 Founded in France as the Association des Étudiants Musulmans Nord-Africains, the association added “en France” to its name officially in 1937. See Ageron, Charles-Robert, “L'Association des Étudiants Musulmans Nord-africains en France durant l'entre-deux-guerres. Contribution à l’étude des nationalismes maghrébins,” Revue française d'histoire d'outre-mer 70, no. 258/259 (1983): 25CrossRefGoogle Scholar. In this paper, the association is abbreviated as AEMNAF, even for the period prior to 1937.
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9 Ageron, “L'Association,” 27.
10 Ibid., 46.
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12 When the AEMNAF resumed its activities after the war, its nature was altered from that of a spontaneous student movement to that of a satellite organization of Maghribi political parties. See Mohammed Harbi, Une vie debout: Mémoires politiques, vol. 1, 1945–1962 (Paris: La Découverte, 2001), 98–104.
13 AEMNAF, al-Nashriyya al-Sanawiyya, 1928–1929 (Tunis: al-Matbaʿa al-Tunisiyya, 1929), French, 3; Goebel, Anti-Imperial Metropolis, 136–48.
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22 Ibid., 138–50.
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24 AEMNAF, al-Nashra al-Sanawiyya 1929–1930 (Tétouan: al-Matbaʿa al-Mahdiyya, 1930), Arabic, 7–8.
25 AEMNAF, Nashrat Aʿmal al-Muʾtamar al-Thalith, 114–16. In the original wording, Thamir stated “his [the student's] language (lughat-hu)” to mean al-fuṣḥā.
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29 The reason for the scarcity of Algerian students in France was the very limited availability of scholarships for Algerian Muslims, based on the pretext of the existence of Algiers university. See AEMNAF, Nashrat Aʿmal al-Muʾtamar al-Thalith, 121; AEMNAF, Nashrat al-Muʾtamar al-Khamis, 17–18.
30 Ben Sliman, Souvenirs, 48–49. Al-Sadiqi school was a modern school for secondary education established in 1875 in Tunisia. Although students from Tunis and the Sahel, the country's wealthiest regions, comprised the majority of al-Sadiqi students, modest families from northern, central, and southern parts of the nation could send their children to the school thanks to scholarships. See Noureddine Sraïeb, Le collège Sadiki de Tunis, 1875–1956: Enseignement et nationalisme (Paris: CNRS, 1995), 202–3, 210.
31 AEMNAF, Nashrat Aʿmal al-Muʾtamar al-Thalith, 92.
32 Harbi, Une vie, 103. Unlike Tunisian and Moroccan students who enjoyed material support (including housing) from their own governments, Algerians, who were considered French, rarely had access to French governmental aid. See also note 29.
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34 Directeur des renseignements généraux et des jeux, Préfecture de police de Paris au préfet de police, Paris, 10 Février 1930, APPP, BA 2172, ASS 857–5.
35 Ben Sliman, Souvenirs, 49–50.
36 Ibid., 51–54, 250–72.
37 AEMNAF, al-Nashriyya al-Sanawiyya, 1928–1929, French, 14; Arabic, 16–17, 20.
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40 AEMNAF, al-Nashra al-Sanawiyya 1929–1930, French, 1–2; Arabic, 3–4; Nashrat al-Jamʿiyyat li-ʿAmay 1931–1932, 8, 14–21.
41 See an article by Ahmed ben Milad in AEMNAF, al-Nashriyya al-Sanawiyya, 1928–1929, French, 17–20; Arabic, 27–34. See also Goebel, Anti-Imperial Metropolis, 140–42, 145.
42 AEMNAF, Nashrat al-Jamʿiyyat li-ʿAmay 1931–1932, 9–10.
43 Ibid., 28.
44 There were ninety-two Algerian Muslim students registered at Algiers University in the year 1930–31, or 4.5 percent of all students. See Pervillé, Les étudiants, 29–30.
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46 Ageron believes that the ENA and the French Communist Party were involved in the creation of the AEMNAF. See Ageron “L'Association,” 28–29; Vermeren, La formation, 97–98.
47 AEMNAF, Nashrat Aʿmal al-Muʾtamar al-Thalith, 166; “Discours prononcés au cours du banquet organisé par les Étudiants Musulmans Nord-africains au Palais de la Mutualité, Salle E, le 29 Décembre 1933 à 21 heures,” report, APPP, BA 2172, ASS 857–5.
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50 AEMNAF, Nashrat Aʿmal al-Muʾtamar al-Thani li-Talabat Shamal Ifriqiya al-Muslimin, al-Jazaʾir, Sanat 1932 (Tunis: Matbaʿat al-Ittihad), 58.
51 Ibid., 85–86. In reply to the inquiry, the president of the convention confirmed that those who had expertise but currently were engaged in activities other than education could become (technical) advisors.
52 AEMNAF, Nashrat Aʿmal al-Muʾtamar al-Thalith, 15–16.
53 AEMNAF, Nashrat al-Jamʿiyyat li-ʿAmay 1931–1932, 29–30.
54 Vermeren, La formation, 87.
55 AEMNAF, Nashrat al-Jamʿiyyat li-ʿAmay 1931–1932, 22–26.
56 Ibid., 31–32.
57 Founded in 1919 in Algiers as the Amicale des Étudiants Musulmans de l'Afrique du Nord, the association represented Algerian Muslims among university students in Algeria and had Ferhat ʿAbbas (1899–1985) as one of its leaders. See Pervillé, Les étudiants, 89.
58 AEMNAF, Nashrat Aʿmal al-Muʾtamar al-Thalith, 162–63.
59 Ibid., 50–51.
60 AEMNAF, Nashrat Aʿmal al-Muʾtamar al-Thani, 85–109.
61 AEMNAF, Nashrat al-Muʾtamar al-Khamis, 13–15.
62 See AEMNAF, Nashrat Mahadir Jalsat Muʾtamar Talabat Shamal Ifriqiya al-Muslimin, Tunis, Sanat 1931 (Tunis: al-Matbaʿa al-Ahliyya), 23–24. Such division between old and new sciences also has been discussed regarding the Mashriqi countries. See A.Yousef, Hoda, “Reassessing Egypt's Dual System of Education under Ismaʿil: Growing ʿIlm and Shifting Ground in Egypt's First Educational Journal, Rawdat Al-Madaris, 1870–77,” International Journal of Middle East Studies 40, no. 1 (2008): 109–30CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Gesink, Indira Falk, Islamic Reform and Conservatism: Al-Azhar and the Evolution of Modern Sunni Islam (London: I. B. Tauris, 2010), ch. 6CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
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64 Al-Madani was a member of the Association of Algerian Muslim ʿUlamaʾ, a journalist and historian. Al-Fadil ben ʿAshur was a son of Muhammad al-Tahir ben ʿAshur and a scholar from al-Zaytuna.
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68 AEMNAF, Nashrat Mahadir Jalsat Muʾtamar Talabat Shamal Ifriqiya al-Muslimin, Tunis, Sanat 1931, 100–108. Here, qawmī schools refers to private schools created by Maghribi Muslims.
69 AEMNAF, al-Nashra al-Sanawiyya 1929–1930, Arabic, 10–16.
70 AEMNAF, Nashrat Mahadir Jalsat Muʾtamar Talabat Shamal Ifriqiya al-Muslimin, Tunis, Sanat 1931, 107.
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75 AEMNAF, Nashrat Aʿmal al-Muʾtamar al-Thalith, 51.
76 The modern section of al-Zaytuna was created in 1950 and introduced a curriculum comprising religious sciences, history and geography, Arabic literature, philosophy, mathematics, and physics in Arabic. It also included classes on French and English. See ‘Ali al-Zidi, Taʾrikh al-Nizam al-Tarbawi li-l-Shuʿba al-ʿAsriyya al-Zaytuniyya, 1951–1965 (Tunis: Manshurat al-Markaz al-Buhuth fi ʿUlum al-Maktabat wa-l-Maʿlumat, 1986), 165–375.
77 Modernizing reforms introduced in al-Qarawiyyin in the 1930s were met with resistance by students, especially those from rural areas. See Porter, Geoff, “The Qarawiyin Mosque Student Strike of 1937,” Journal of North African Studies 15, no. 4 (2010): 557–72CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
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79 Grandguillaume, Arabisation, 46–47.
80 Ibid., 64.
81 AEMNAF, Nashrat Aʿmal al-Muʾtamar al-Rabiʿ li-Talabat Shamal Ifriqiya al-Muslimin, Tunis ʿAm 1934 (Tunis: al-Matbaʿa al-Tunisiyya), 16.
82 McDougall, History. Algerian Arabization was different from that in Tunisia and Morocco because of more severe exclusion of Arabic from public education during the colonial period and a greater role of private schools in Arabic education. However, even in the Algerian social movement for spreading private Arabic education, there was spontaneous acceptance of the prestige of French public education. See Ouanassa Siari Tengour, “Les écoles coraniques (1930–1950): Portée et signification,” Insaniyat, no. 6 (1998): 85–95.
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85 Ibid., 66–67.
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87 Ibid., 81.
88 AEMNAF, Nashrat Aʿmal al-Muʾtamar al-Thani, 41–45.
89 Ibid., 49–59.
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