Abstract:
This dissertation examines the representation of women’s experiences, trauma, andresistance during Algeria’s Black Decade (1990s) in Mounia Meddour’sfilm Papicha (2019). The study draws on Cathy Caruth’s trauma theory to explorehowthe film conveys psychological rupture through gaps, fragmentation, silence, andthetransformation of everyday life into a traumatic space. Moreover, it uses the concept ofthe female gaze developed in contrast to Laura Mulvey’s male gaze to analyzehowMeddour portrays women as active subjects who have emotions and lived experiences, particularly through fashion, the redesign of the traditional haïk, and the rebelliousfashion show. Finally, Deniz Kandiyoti’s theory of patriarchal bargain is employedtoexplore how women negotiate oppression through strategies of survival ,resistance,andcomplicity. The analysis demonstrates that Papicha through a cinematic memory, highlights women’s experiences , reasserts their visibility, and insists on hopeandcontinuity . Consequently, the film functions as a feminist act of remembranceandtestimony, confronting the historical violence of the Black Decade while alsoandresisting patriarchal oppression coming not only from terrorism, but alsocultural
practices that contribute to the persistence of patriarchal values
