Abstract
Lalla Fatma N’Soumer (1830–1863) is one of the major heroines of Algerian resistance to the French colonial enterprise in the region of Kabylia. Her life and personality have been surrounded by myths and mysteries. Although her name is mentioned in colonial chronicles recording the conquest of Algeria, her exact role in leading a movement of local resistance to the French army doesn’t seem to be very clear. This paper aims at shedding light on this exceptional Berber woman through the analysis of French colonial sources describing these military campaigns—despite their obvious bias—and later secondary sources. This paper focuses on the spiritual dimension which has been somehow overlooked in the existing literature. It precisely describes her family background whereby her ancestry goes back to a marabout lineage affiliated with the Raḥmāniyya sufi order. It argues that her level of education in spiritual and religious matters was probably higher than what had been so far assumed. This article discusses how this spiritual aspect helps explain the tremendous popularity she enjoyed among her people in Kabylia, where she has been considered almost a saint.
Highlights
Lalla Fatma N’Soumer is one of the major figures of Algerian resistance to French colonial expansion to the region of Kabylia, about whom little has been written in English
Lacoste-Dujardin [21] (p. 107) adds that until today, the saint’s lineage has given Kabylia and Algeria great religious and political leaders, amongst whom the poet Si Mohand U-Lhosine and one of the leaders of the liberation war of 1954: Hocine Aït Ahmed, who was the founder of the first Algerian opposition party
Our study tried to draw a portrait of a Berber Muslim feminine heroine who didn’t receive as much academic interest as she might have deserved, even if conducting research about her involved the risk of missing some pieces of the puzzle
Summary
Lalla Fatma N’Soumer is one of the major figures of Algerian resistance to French colonial expansion to the region of Kabylia, about whom little has been written in English. The scarce information on her life and her push for independence that was recorded by French colonial writers provided the primary sources for our research. These sources fail to do justice to the spiritual nature of the authority that this extraordinary woman had on her people, because of the biased viewpoints they defend. The purpose of our study is to examine the life, the personality and the actions of this heroic figure, with a focus on the spiritual dimension that has been so far somehow understated. The article describes her family background and clarifies some of the confusions conveyed by existing studies
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