Mère malgré moi: Redefining Adolescence and Motherhood for Harki Daughters

Abstract

Dalila Kerchouche’s novel, Leïla, avoir dix-sept ans dans un camp de Harkis reassesses Harki culture in French society through an exploration of the complexities of female adolescence within the social and psychological confines of a Harki camp. This study surveys generational discords in the understanding of belonging and then examines emotional adolescent trauma lived within the space of the domestic sphere. The emancipation of Leïla’s self through therapeutic writing shows how coming of age has multiple meanings: one, inextricably linked to the old order of maternity, and the other, to the legacies of liberation born from May 1968.