Imperial Identities is a groundbreaking book that addresses identity formation in colonial Algeria of two predominant ethnicities and analyzes French attitudes in the context of nineteenth-century ideologies. Patricia M. E. Lorcin explores the process through which ethnic categories and cultural distinctions were developed and used as instruments of social control in colonial society. She examines the circumstances that gave rise to and the influences that shaped the colonial images of "good" Kabyle and "bad" Arab (usually referred to as the Kabyle myth) in Algeria.
In this new edition of Imperial Identities, Lorcin addresses the related scholarship that has appeared since the book's original publication, looks at postindependence issues relevant to the Arab/Berber question, and discusses the developments in Algeria and France connected to Arab/Berber politics, including the 1980 Berber Spring and the 1992-2002 civil war. The new edition also contains a full and updated bibliography.