Decolonising Algeria: domestic tourism experiences and postcolonial identity

Hybrid identity is a prominent identifying characteristic in postcolonial literature thatfocuses on informing and (re)establishing a narrative of historically colonised communities.Colonial influence and assimilation policies play major roles in shifting and altering howidentity is perceived and (re)presented by colonised subjects. This alteration is said to lead tothe emergence of a newer identity; an identity that carries socio-cultural features from both thecolonial regime and the colonised people, however unidentifiable to any of them. The case ofAlgeria is a significant environment for studying identity (re)presentation and interpretation,especially if investigated from a postcolonial tourism lens. The historical struggle to decolonisea century worth of colonial remnants has proven to be an interesting topic of discussion in thefield of postcolonialism. With France’s settler colonial presence for 130 years, the French andAlgerian identities were in constant contact, which led to the emergence of a new form ofidentity adopted by Algerians in postcolonial times. Today, 61 years after the IndependenceReferendum, Algerian identity still displays a form of Hybridity and lacks proper(re)presentation throughout Algeria. Tourism, however, has been a chosen outlet tocommemorate this hybrid identity by engaging in domestic mobility, and tourists are seekingoutlets to learn what makes them Algerians.This thesis critically examines the colonial and postcolonial (and even decolonial)influences on tourists’ behaviour and experiences through the practice of domestic tourism inuncovering and (re)shaping postcolonial identity. While this study is informed by Bhabha’stheory of Third Space and Hybridity, I present a detailed interpretation of tourists’ experiencesin their pursuit of understanding their Algerian postcolonial national identity. Through aqualitative inductive methodology, this study found that tourists go through the process oflocating and reshaping their national identity by engaging in tourism activities at the domesticlevel. Additionally, this study found that the digital practices performed by travel agencies andtravel content creators significantly lead the narrative to decolonise tourism by highlighting thecultural characteristics of the Algerian identity through branding Algeria on social platforms.In turn, tourism is found to act as a medium for Algerian nationals to (re)shape and (re)locatetheir hybrid identity set within a Third Space and transcribed through postcolonialunderpinnings to brand a decolonised identity.