ABSTRACT
Algerians experienced a sense of disorientation, disarray and disorder at the occupation of their country by the French, well captured by guwal (or minstrel) Sheikh Abd-EI-Kadcr. It is thanks to guwuls that direct access 10 Algerians' perceptions of the impact of the new colonial order on their lives is possible. They were men with a poetic bent who, accompanied by one or two drummers, went from lown to town alternately speaking and singing about sociopolitical issues. They often communicated with the public in metaphorical terms, and articulated its concerns. Attributing their assessments and predictions to Muslim saints at mythical meetings held to discuss Algerians' fate, gllwals identified colonial education, prostitution and gender relations among colonists as the most impurtant signs of a society koul of kilter." Intertwined with these issues was religion, perceived as the source of the essential difference between Algerians and colonists and the target of colonial policy.
