| Zahia Rahmani | |
| Native Name: | زاهية رحمانى |
| Native Name Lang: | Ar |
| Birth Date: | 1962 |
| Birth Place: | Algeria |
| Nationality: | French |
| Occupation: | Art curator, novelist |
Zahia Rahmani (born 1962) is a French-Algerian author, curator, and art historian.[1]
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. 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. Rahmani's older brother died in 1971.
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. Rahmani's 2005 semi-autobiographical work Musulman, Roman (Muslim: a Novel) explores the stereotypes surrounding Muslim identity in France and issues surrounding immigration.[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).[7] [8]
Rahmani is director of the Research Program on Art and Globalization at the Institut National d'Histoire de l'Art.[9] She created the graduate research program at École Nationale des Beaux-Arts and was director from 1999 to 2002. 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]