Le rôle des mouvements associatifs initiés par Cheikh Abdelhamid Benbadis dans le développement de l’esprit nationaliste dans l’Algérie coloniale

Abstract

This article examines the impact of the associative movements initiated by Abdelhamid Benbadis, an Algerian reformer and intellectual, and their role in fostering a sense of national identity and belonging to a religion, a language, and a nation. Since this awakening of national consciousness could not be achieved through direct discourse, the thinker employed the means at his disposal to shape an entire generation towards national awareness. An elite, comprised of athletes, writers, and cultural figures, emerged as a direct product of this associative movement, leading directly to an elite conscious of the challenges they faced: namely, instilling the idea of the nation within the social group, united by language and a shared homeland. One cannot understand Abdelhamid Benbadis's cultural and sporting journey without defining the socio-historical context imposed by the Indigenous Law, the primary obstacle to the Algerian voice.