Sharif Bouchoucha's Resistance through French Writings: Louis Rinn's History of the Insurrection of 1871 in Algeria as a Case Study
Abstract
The writings that documented the events of the popular resistance in Algeria were predominantly produced by French authors who witnessed and experienced these events firsthand. Consequently, these accounts have become indispensable primary sources for researchers studying the history of Algerian resistance. However, a critical examination of these writings reveals a clear tendency toward distortion and the deliberate minimization of the role and stature of resistance leaders. Therefore, it is essential for Algerian scholars to reassess and critically re-examine these sources, as they often portrayed the resistance movement and its leaders within an inaccurate colonial framework.
In this modest study, the focus is placed on the historiography dealing with the resistance of Sharif Bouchoucha, with particular attention to the writings of Louis Rinn. Accordingly, the central research question is formulated as follows:
What methodological approach did Louis Rinn adopt in his writings on Sharif Bouchoucha?
References
Mangin, E. Notes sur l’histoire de Laghouat. In Revue Africaine, no. 38 (1894). Alger: O.P.U.
Rinn, Louis. Histoire de l’Insurrection de 1871 en Algérie. Alger, 1891.
Le Chatelier. Les Medaganat. In Revue Africaine, no. 30 (1886).
al-ʿArwī, ʿAbd Allāh. Mafhūm al-Tārīkh. 4th ed. Bayrūt: al-Markaz al-Thaqāfī al-ʿArabī, 2005.
Baḥrī, Aḥmad. Dawr al-Ṭuruq al-Ṣūfiyyah fī al-Muqāwamah al-Shaʿbiyyah Khilāl al-Qarn al-Tāsiʿ ʿAshar. n.d.
Saʿd Allāh, Abū al-Qāsim. Al-Ḥarakah al-Waṭaniyyah al-Jazāʾiriyyah. 1st ed. Bayrūt: Dār al-Gharb al-Islāmī, 1992, vols. 1–3.
Ghuraynah, ʿAbd al-Nūr. Al-Awrās fī al-Kitābāt al-Faransiyyah Ibān al-Fatrah al-Kūlūniyāniyyah (1840–1939). Master’s thesis, Department of History and Archaeology, University of al-Ḥājj Lakhaḍr, Batna, 2009–2010.
Būbāyah, ʿAbd al-Qādir. “Nashāṭ Bin Nāṣir Bin Shahrah fī Tūnis wa-ʿAlāqatuhu bi-al-Amīr Muḥyī al-Dīn ibn al-Amīr ʿAbd al-Qādir.” ʿUṣūr, no. 3 (2003), University of Oran.
Bin Maʿmar, Muḥammad. “Al-Sharīf Būshūshah: Zʿīm Thawrat 1871 fī Ṣaḥrāʾ al-Jazāʾir al-Sharqiyyah.” ʿUṣūr, no. 1 (2002), University of Oran.
Ghālim, Muḥammad. “Min Arshīf al-Idārah al-Istiʿmāriyyah fī al-Jazāʾir: al-Wathāʾiq al-Faransiyyah wa-al-Hijrah ilā al-Diyār al-Islāmiyyah.” Insāniyyāt: al-Majallah al-Jazāʾiriyyah fī al-Anthrūbūlūjiyā wa-al-ʿUlūm al-Ijtimāʿiyyah, no. 12 (2000), Oran.
Copyright (c) 2026 عبد القادر ميلق
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
