Research Framework: The family studied here underwent successive waves of “displacement” in different temporalities and spatialities: from Spain to Algeria, then from Algeria to France. The family novel (de Gaulejac, 2007) is built on successive borrowings, which are reworked by each generation for each of its subjects. This process is at the crossroads between identifying with or distancing from the culture of origin. The generations studied have a different relationship to time and to the “primary” identity conveyed by the family name, which oscillates between domination and subjugation (Foucault, 1976 ; 1993) in the complexity of becoming a subject in one’s own family institution. Family genealogy reflects the historical-political trials and tribulations of migratory social trajectories, as well as the conscious and unconscious subjective constructions of its members.

Objectives : The aim of this article is to understand how family trajectories are shaped by alliances, strategies for erasing origins, as well as continuities and ruptures.

Methodology: This long-term study uses a qualitative methodology (non-directive interviews, ethnographic observation, group interviews), family and historical archives.

Results: The sense of belonging to colonial Algeria was built up and then deconstructed in this family. Mnemonic traces and social transformations have an impact on the younger generation’s recognition of their migratory history.

Conclusion : Family history in the colonial context and then in metropolitan France has been redeveloped by each generation that hovers between their origins’ erasure and intergenerational transmission.

Contribution : The family history of the pied-noir of Algeria, which led to their exile, is part of a fundamental process that is similar to any migratory trajectory.

• family trajectories
• alliance games
• social and subjective transformations

https://journals.openedition.org/efg/18066#article-18066