My Auto-Ethnographic Narratives

Abstract

On arrival at Algiers airport, I hired a taxi following the advice of one of the participants in my inquiry. It is safer to know the driver, as going to the airport and coming back is an expedition in itself. Along the road there are army checkpoints built almost every ten kilometers on the national roads. I arrived during the day, as recommended by my informants. The advice is “No fast moves during controls.” Sometimes people are stopped and asked for identity documents. The political and police repression in Algeria is directly connected to the terrorism of the 1990s. At the same time, terrorism gave the government more authority to keep the pressure on the population. The government took advantage of the climate of fear to develop a bigger police state. The next Narrative Episode illustrates the climate of fear as I remember it in the 1990s.