Zahia Rahmani

Rahmani was born in Algeria in 1962 and is of Berber heritage. She spoke only Kabyle until she was five-years old and her family migrated to France in 1967. Rahmani's father was a Harki.[1] Rahmani and her family spent six months in the Saint-Maurice de l'Ardoise camp for repatriated Harkis and their families.[2][3] With the help of some French friends, the family settled in Beauvais.[3] Rahmani's older brother died in 1971.[3]

Rahmani is the author of a trilogy of novels that explore themes of banishment and alienation.[4] The first in this series is her 2003 work Moze deals with Harki identity and her father's 1991 suicide.[3] Rahmani's 2005 semi-autobiographical work Musulman, Roman (Muslim: a Novel) explores the stereotypes surrounding Muslim identity in France and issues surrounding immigration.[1][5] Muslim: a Novel was the 2020 winner of the Albertine Prize.[6] The final work in this trilogy is her memoir France récit d’une enfance (France, story of a childhood).[4][7][8]

Rahmani is director of the Research Program on Art and Globalization at the Institut National d'Histoire de l'Art.[9][4] She created the graduate research program at École Nationale des Beaux-Arts and was director from 1999 to 2002.[9][4] She was the curator of the exhibit Made in Algeria, Genealogy of a Territory which was showcased at the Museum of Civilizations of Europe and the Mediterranean until May 2016.[10] Rahmani curated Seismography of Struggle, a collection of non-European cultural and critical journals.[11]