Polyphony, Memory and Counter-History: The Writing of Female Resistance in Assia Djebar's La Femme sans Sépulture

Abstract

In La Femme sans sépulture, Assia Djebar uses narrative polyphony to restore the forgotten voices of women in the history of the Algerian War of Independence. Through the figure of Zoulikha Oudai, a resistance fighter erased from official accounts, the author constructs a fragmentary, sensitive, and committed memory. Polyphony becomes a tool for historical reconfiguration, making it possible to hear silences, emotions, and female experiences often relegated to the margins. By rejecting fixed and homogeneous narratives, Djebar offers a plural and vibrant history where writing becomes an act of resistance and transmission.