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This paper explores the case of a village named Lacroix, located in a commune mixte of French East Algeria--La Calle--where many European settlers abandoned their land a few years after obtaining it. In the early 1920s, most of the first settlers put their land up for rent or sale to native people, because they were attracted by Tunisia, the border of which was just next to the village. In the 1950s, only five French families were still living in Lacroix. This movement can be considered as a sort of decolonization, even if this concept must be handled with care. Those migrations were very usual throughout the country at that time, but the case of Lacroix is a good example of a colonization area being recovered by the natives. The analysis of this long and complex process shows how the French authorities tried to retain land, creating inventive strategies for over 20 years. The process was very difficult, however, and finally failed, especially because of the conflicts between the local administration and central authorities. Moreover, the General Government showed no interest in this rural part of the colony, located at the Tunisian border. This case also raises the issue of the influence of local politicians, who managed to be heard over the administrator of the village or the settlers themselves. Finally, this paper discusses the objections that colonization had to face to be efficient while French Algeria was nearing its centennial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to slavery, colonialism, and neo-colonialism, the violent contacts between Europe and Africa engendered social changes and aroused feelings of frustration, hatred, and even revenge. This painful experience appealed to the imagination of various black intellectuals. Through fiction and poetry, they tried to make alienated and subjugated Africans not only recover the quintessence of their "Negritude" but also contribute to the "Universal Civilization." Hence, the topicality in twentieth-century French African literature of this theme: "The Métis Imagination and Cross-Culture: A Literary Approach." This paper is an attempt to examine the evolution of the issue through history, especially in the light of three trends of thought. Firstly, as patriots and upholders of African values, Ousmane Socé Diop and Mariama Bâ systematically reject intermarriage, since they find it detrimental to the black race, and to the progress of Africa as well. Secondly, Abdoulaye Sadji, who is aware of the inevitable social transformations that occur when people of divergent cultures come into contact and conflict, moderates his point of view, considering that interracial marriage entails both advantages and inconveniences. Thirdly, Léopold Sédar Senghor, the president and poet, approves of hybridity, while focusing on cultural, intellectual, and economic exchanges for the fulfillment of the "Universal Civilization." What is worth stressing is that although he promotes mixed marriage, Senghor does not impose it as a sine qua non condition for the accomplishment of this political and humanistic project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]