Kabyle myth

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The Kabyle myth was a set of beliefs and interpretations propagated during the French colonial era of Algeria by French and occasionally other European writers, based on a belief of fundamental distinction between the Arab and Kabyle peoples, consisting of differences between them centered primarily around religion and culture. These beliefs were highly fluid, often contradictory, and were not uniform in nature. In many, especially early writings, Kabyles were often portrayed by European writers as having an identity and culture closer to Mediterranean or European societies, while in later writings, especially those following the Mokrani Revolt in 1871, discourse surrounding the Kabyles shifted to them being depicted as violent and inferior, alongside colonial justification for the repression and atrocities carried out by French colonial forces. The myth emerged in the early to mid 19th century with French colonialism in Algeria, positing that the Kabyle people were more predisposed than...

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