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Anthropologist: France pursued colonial policy in Algeria based on “superior race” principle

19 February 2026 10:42 (UTC +04:00)

“France pursued a colonial policy in Algeria based on the principle of a ‘superior race," said anthropologist Hichem Daoud, a researcher in political science at three universities in Algeria, during the international conference titled “Neocolonialism and Global Inequality," APA reports.

“Algeria was subjected to one of the harshest assaults of colonialism in the North. It was France’s ‘dual-system’ colonialism. The Algerian individual has experienced intergenerational trauma. First, torture and moral persecution were carried out. Torture leaves physical wounds, while moral persecution creates psychological damage,” he noted.

The anthropologist stated that the concept of a “superior race” was at the center of the idea of colonial epigenetics.

“The French writer Albert Camus once famously said: ‘If I had to choose between democracy and my mother, I would choose my mother.’ It is claimed that by ‘mother’ he meant France, and by democracy he referred to granting Algerians equal civil and political rights,” the researcher said.

Toghrul Guluzade

Hichem Daoud Algeria France colonialism neocolonialism superior race theory Albert Camus colonial epigenetics Neocolonialism and Global Inequality conference historical injustice