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Introduction
Hawa Djabali is a bold and pioneering voice in North African literature and theatre. Born in 1945 in Créteil, France, Djabali moved to Algeria after the country gained independence in 1962. Over the decades, she has emerged as a radical and fearless chronicler of Algerian women’s struggles, crafting a body of work that foregrounds the complex dynamics of gender, sexuality, tradition, and resistance.
Her unique literary voice and narrative techniques—including fluid pronoun shifts, minimalist character naming, and stark sexual realism—make her one of the most innovative feminist writers in the Maghreb. Djabali’s novels and plays are not merely artistic endeavors; they are acts of cultural criticism and social resistance.
Life and Background
Hawa Djabali was born in post-World War II France to Algerian parents, during a time when Algeria was still under French colonial rule. Her early life in France placed her at the intersection of two cultures, an experience that would later inform the themes of alienation, hybridity, and gender in her writing.
Following Algerian independence in 1962, Djabali relocated to Algeria—a country undergoing revolutionary transformation. Her move was both personal and political. Living in Algeria allowed her to engage directly with the country's evolving postcolonial identity and the rising tensions around gender roles, religion, and tradition.
By 1989, Djabali had become an active presence in the Brussels theatre scene, further expanding her creative reach beyond North Africa. This transnational experience enriched her work with a comparative feminist lens, allowing her to critique both European and Algerian systems of patriarchy.
Major Themes in Djabali's Work
1. Gender and Sexuality in Algerian Society
Djabali’s writing is deeply rooted in feminist critique. Her works often depict Algerian women navigating everyday forms of harassment, oppression, and emotional repression. Whether in private or public spheres, her characters confront the limitations placed on their bodies, voices, and desires by male-dominated institutions and cultural practices.
One of her signature techniques is the use of frank, unfiltered sexual language. This literary choice is not meant to shock, but rather to demystify and decolonize female sexuality—taking it out of the shadows and placing it at the center of women’s lived experiences. By doing so, Djabali lays bare how sexuality has been institutionalized and policed in Algerian culture.
2. The Impact of Religious Fundamentalism
In the 1990s—a period marked by civil unrest and the rise of Islamist fundamentalism in Algeria—Djabali’s work took on an even sharper edge. She began to explicitly critique how religious extremism affected women, limiting their freedoms and justifying violence against them in the name of tradition and morality.
Her female characters resist this imposed silence and invisibility. Through storytelling, sexuality, art, and sisterhood, they reclaim agency in an environment designed to erase them.
3. Alternative Readings of Tradition
Rather than rejecting tradition wholesale, Djabali seeks to reinterpret it through a feminist lens. Her works explore the potential of an Algerian feminism rooted in cultural specificity but critical of patriarchal distortions of tradition.
This “alternative reading of tradition” can be seen in the way her characters embrace indigenous practices, oral storytelling, and female mentorship as means of empowerment. Djabali’s feminism does not mimic Western models but instead emerges from the lived realities of Algerian women.
4. Narrative Experimentation and Identity
Djabali frequently employs narrative techniques that challenge conventional storytelling. Characters are often unnamed or referred to only by pronouns such as she, he, or they. Her narrative voices shift between first- and third-person perspectives, blurring the line between narrator and character, self and other.
This stylistic fluidity reflects the fragmented identities of her protagonists—women caught between tradition and modernity, repression and resistance. It also mirrors the broader postcolonial condition, where identities are constantly negotiated and redefined.
Agave: Djabali’s Signature Novel
Perhaps Djabali’s most recognized work is her novel Agave, a feminist allegory that reimagines the journey of self-discovery and transformation.
Plot Summary
Agave tells the story of Farida, a woman who has spent decades in emotional and sexual dormancy. Her life undergoes a dramatic change when she meets Aïcha, an eccentric sculptor and storyteller. Aïcha, through her art and words, awakens Farida’s suppressed desires and forgotten memories.
The metaphor of the agave plant, which lies dormant for many years before finally blooming, serves as a powerful symbol of female awakening. The novel presents a vision of feminine rebirth and creativity that defies societal expectations.
Themes and Interpretation
At its core, Agave is about the possibilities of women’s liberation through mutual care, artistic expression, and erotic autonomy. The relationship between Farida and Aïcha transcends heteronormative frameworks and embraces a more fluid, nurturing vision of love and mentorship among women.
By centering the story on two women and their interior worlds, Djabali dismantles patriarchal narratives that reduce women to objects of male desire or vessels of tradition.
Djabali’s Theatre Work
Since the late 1980s, Djabali has been active in Brussels’ vibrant theatre scene. Her plays carry the same thematic concerns as her fiction but are even more experimental in form.
In the theatre, she uses dramatic monologue, surreal settings, and fragmented dialogue to explore psychological trauma, female subjectivity, and social critique. Her stage work often presents a woman alone or in dialogue with an unseen presence, navigating oppressive societal norms through inner voice and symbolic language.
These performances, staged in both French and Arabic-speaking contexts, push boundaries and invite audiences into intimate, uncomfortable, and transformative spaces.
A Voice for Algerian Feminism
Hawa Djabali is part of a generation of women writers and artists—alongside figures like Assia Djebar and Leïla Sebbar—who have reshaped how Algerian women are represented in literature. Yet, Djabali’s work stands out for its unapologetic tone, sexual frankness, and commitment to imagining a homegrown feminism.
Rather than advocating for a wholesale rejection of tradition, Djabali’s feminism is rooted in reclaiming and reinterpreting indigenous knowledge systems, storytelling, and female solidarity. She insists that Algerian women need not become “Western” to be free—they can be radically themselves.
Conclusion
Hawa Djabali is not just a novelist or playwright; she is a cultural force. Her work critiques the deeply ingrained patriarchy of Algerian society while envisioning new forms of female subjectivity and resistance. Through bold narrative techniques, unflinching honesty, and a deep connection to Algerian culture, Djabali challenges her readers to rethink gender, power, and tradition.
Her legacy lies not only in her words but in the space she has carved out for future generations of North African women writers, thinkers, and artists who refuse to remain silent.
Selected Works
- Agave – Novel exploring female awakening and resistance through art and love.
- [Unpublished/Uncollected Plays] – Various theatrical works staged in Brussels, often addressing fundamentalism, trauma, and identity.
Further Reading
- Lazreg, Marnia. The Eloquence of Silence: Algerian Women in Question. Routledge, 1994.
- Djebar, Assia. Fantasia: An Algerian Cavalcade. Heinemann, 1985.
- Bensmaïa, Réda. Experimental Nations: Or, The Invention of the Maghreb. Princeton University Press, 2003.
- Amrane-Minne, Danièle Djamila. Women and Politics in Algeria from the War of Independence to Our Day.
- Heath, Jennifer. The Veil: Women Writers on Its History, Lore, and Politics. University of California Press, 2008.
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