Algeria

C

Education

Primary education is free and compulsory for all children between the ages of 6 and 16. The Algerian educational system, long patterned after the French, was changed by a program of Arabization shortly after independence. The government introduced new teaching methods and began training Algerian teachers and bringing in Arabic-speaking teachers from other countries. At the time of independence in 1962, 10 percent of the population was literate. Today, 75 percent of the total population can read. This improvement is one of Algeria’s greatest achievements since independence. Improvement in the education of women has helped raise the age at marriage and lower the country’s once-high birth rate.

Algeria has ten universities, including two universities of science and technology, and a number of technical colleges. The University of Algiers (1879) has faculties of law, medicine, science, and liberal arts. Seven of the country’s universities and nearly all of its 20 or so specialized colleges have been founded since independence. The government also maintains vocational and teacher-training schools.

D

Culture

Cultural life in Algeria is increasingly vital, especially in urban areas, where intellectuals attempt to combine Western, Islamic, and socialist ideas. French tradition long dominated the cultural life of the country. Since independence, culture has been a divisive issue. The government emphasis on Arab culture and language has alienated Algeria’s Berber minority, who cherish their own traditions and dialects. Even before independence, there was a growing movement among Algerian artists and intellectuals to revive national interest in Arab-Berber origins, a movement that has gained official support. In response to Berber demands, in 2001 the government recognized Tamazight as a national language. Berbers would like it made an official language.

Rai is a music style that developed in Algerian cities in the 1970s. It is popular among young people who seek to modernize the country’s traditional values. Berber music traditions have survived in the mountains and valleys of Algeria. Village generally have their own singers and songs. Soloist and chorus alternate in chanting rhythms to drum accompaniment.

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D

1

Libraries and Museums

Foremost among Algerian libraries is the National Library (1835) in Algiers, which has about 1 million volumes, including important works on African subjects. Collections are maintained by the University of Algiers, and by the Municipal Library in Constantine.

The Prehistory and Ethnographic Museum (1928), the National Museum of Antiquities (1897), and the National Museum of Fine Arts of Algiers (1930) are located in Algiers, the cultural capital as well as the political capital of Algeria. The Museum of Cirta (1853) in Constantine contains art and archaeological collections.

D

2

Literature

Algerian writers have created important works both in Arabic and in French. Arabic writers were among the first to promote Algerian historical studies, while French-language Algerian writers were particularly prominent figures during the war of independence. Contemporary Algerian literature draws on the riches of the Arabic language as well as on the country’s double cultural heritage—French and Arab. Many of the writings echo the hopes and contradictions of a divided society.

Noted French-language Algerian writers of the 20th century include poet and novelist Mohammad Dib, novelist Mouloud Feraoun, novelist Mouloud Mammeri, poet Malek Haddad, novelist and filmmaker Assia Djebar, novelist Rachid Mimouni, and novelist and journalist Tahar Djaout. Ahmed Tewfiq al-Madani and Tahar Wattar are prominent Arabic prose writers. Abdelkader Alloula, Algeria’s most renowned playwright, directed theater productions in Arabic. Kateb Yacine and Rachid Boudjedra wrote novels in French and Arabic. French novelist Albert Camus and French poet Jean Sénac were both born and educated in Algeria.

Leading Berber intellectuals, such as the novelist Mouloud Mammeri, devoted themselves to the preservation of the oral poetry of Kabylia and the development of a written script for Tamazight. A movement for Berber cultural rights emerged in Algeria during the 1980s. However, this movement ran counter to the ideas of the Islamic fundamentalist movement, whose militants have assassinated Berber politicians and intellectuals.

IV

Economy

Algeria’s economy is based mainly on mineral production. Agriculture plays a declining but still important role. Algeria has rich mineral resources, especially petroleum and natural gas. The economy is mixed, with some public and some private ownership. Algeria’s economic growth slowed after independence in 1962, because of the disruption of the war for independence. Before independence, Algeria had an underdeveloped economy geared toward supplying raw materials to France and buying French manufactured goods. After independence, the government instituted industrialization programs. During the late 1960s and 1970s Algeria increased its output of petroleum and natural gas. Rising world oil prices after 1973 stimulated economic growth.

A drop in oil in prices starting in 1986 provoked an economic crisis that revealed the weakness of Algeria’s centrally planned economy and the failure of its efforts to introduce heavy industries. In 1989 the government launched a comprehensive program, supported by the International Monetary Fund, to achieve economic stability and introduce free-market reforms. However, the civil war, which embroiled the country in the 1990s, stalled reform efforts. Expansion of the oil and gas industries, increased economic diversification, and tight control of government spending have helped the economy recover since the mid-1990s. Unemployment remains a major problem.

Mineral, especially hydrocarbon, production accounts for the largest part of the gross domestic product (GDP), a measure of the total value of goods and services produced. While Algeria remains one of the wealthier nations of Africa, its economic growth is highly influenced by oil and natural gas prices.

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