Editorial

Sources & Editorial Method

This page explains how exhibits are researched, written, cited and corrected. It is a statement of method, not a claim that every sentence in the museum has been formally peer reviewed.

Research and editorial principles

A claim is written only when at least one identifiable published source supports it.
Narrative style never overrides the evidence. Where the record is thin, the text says so.
Contested national memory is presented with its plurality intact, without adopting a partisan voice.
Oral tradition is valued and labelled as oral tradition rather than presented as documentary record.

Source hierarchy

When sources disagree, they are weighed in this order, with the higher level preferred unless a specific reason is stated in the exhibit.

Primary sources: archival documents, inscriptions, period photography, contemporaneous press, and first-hand testimony.
Academic secondary sources: peer reviewed books, journal articles and reference encyclopedias.
Institutional references: museums, national archives, heritage agencies and recognized sporting federations.
International bodies and heritage listings such as UNESCO World Heritage records.
Quality journalism and documentary work, used for recent events and for cultural or sporting memory.

Citation standards

Sources are defined once in a shared registry and referenced by exhibits, so the same work is never described in two conflicting ways.
Each record carries a title, a kind, a publisher or archive when known, and a public link when one exists.
Exhibits display a confidence label so a visitor can tell verified fact from widely accepted account, ongoing academic debate, or tradition.

Disputed and evolving interpretations

Dates, place names and casualty figures vary between traditions and archives. Where a figure is contested, the exhibit states the range and names the disagreement instead of choosing silently. Interpretations are revised when new scholarship becomes available.

Translation review

English, French and Arabic carry the same facts. A translation may adapt phrasing but may not add, soften or remove a claim.
Names of people and places keep their Amazigh, Arabic or French forms where those forms are the ones used in the sources.
Machine assisted drafts are never published as final text without a human editorial pass.

Corrections policy

Reports of a factual error are reviewed against the cited sources. Confirmed errors are corrected in all three languages, and the source list of the exhibit is updated when the correction rests on a new reference. Where a report reflects a genuine scholarly dispute rather than an error, the exhibit is reworded to present both readings.

Images and media attribution

Archival photographs are credited to their collection or photographer when that information is known.
Illustrative or reconstructed imagery, including generated visuals used to evoke a place or a period, is labelled as illustrative and is never presented as a historical document.
If a rights holder identifies an item that should be credited differently or withdrawn, the item is reviewed and updated.

Public source registry

These are the published works and institutional records the museum cites. Only public, publishable records appear here. Studio notes, drafts and internal review material are never shown.

Primary sources

Archives nationales d'outre-mer (ANOM)
Aix-en-Provence, France
Open source
The Muqaddimah
Ibn Khaldūn · 1377

Academic references

Colonial Tutelage to Nationalist Affirmation: Mammeri and Racim, Painters of the Maghreb
Roger Benjamin · In Orientalism's Interlocutors, Duke University Press, 2002
Open source
Mohammed Arkoun
The Gifford Lectures
Open source
Numidia — Encyclopædia Britannica
Encyclopædia Britannica
Open source
Masinissa, king of Numidia — Britannica
Encyclopædia Britannica
Open source
The Berbers
Michael Brett & Elizabeth Fentress · Blackwell (Peoples of Africa series) · 1996
Modern Algeria: The Origins and Development of a Nation
John Ruedy · Indiana University Press · 2005
Histoire de l'Algérie coloniale (1830–1954)
Benjamin Stora · La Découverte · 2004
Encyclopédie berbère
Gabriel Camps (dir.) · Édisud / OpenEdition
Open source
A Savage War of Peace: Algeria 1954–1962
Alistair Horne · New York Review Books · 1977
Le M'Zab, une leçon d'architecture
André Ravéreau · Sindbad / Actes Sud · 1981
Habiter le désert : les maisons mozabites
Catherine & Pierre Donnadieu, Hubert Didillon · Mardaga · 1986
The Ibāḍī Tradition and the Making of the Rustamid Imamate
Virginie Prevost · Peeters · 2010
Encyclopédie berbère, Jews of the Maghreb
Encyclopédie berbère, OpenEdition Journals
Open source
Encyclopédie berbère, Jews of the M'Zab
Encyclopédie berbère, OpenEdition Journals
Open source
Encyclopédie berbère, Jews of the Sahara
Encyclopédie berbère, OpenEdition Journals
Open source
Jewish Women's Archive, Birth of Sultana Daoud
Jewish Women's Archive
Open source
Zaida Ben-Yusuf: New York Portrait Photographer
Frank H. Goodyear III, Elizabeth O. Wiley and Jobyl A. Boone · Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery · 2008

Museums and collections

Sahel: Art and Empires on the Shores of the Sahara
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Open source
Musée national du Bardo — Algiers
Ministère de la Culture
Musée public national Cirta
Constantine, Algeria
Département des Antiquités — Musée du Louvre
Musée du Louvre
Open source
Musée d'Art et d'Histoire du Judaïsme
mahJ, Paris
Open source
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, prewar Maghreb
Holocaust Encyclopedia
Open source
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Vichy legislation
Holocaust Encyclopedia
Open source
Institut Européen des Musiques Juives, Songs by Jews from Algeria
Institut Européen des Musiques Juives
Open source
Institut Européen des Musiques Juives, The Music of the Jews of the Maghreb
Institut Européen des Musiques Juives
Open source
Institut Européen des Musiques Juives, Cheikh Raymond (1912-1961)
Institut Européen des Musiques Juives
Open source
Institut Européen des Musiques Juives, Salim Halali (1920-2005)
Institut Européen des Musiques Juives
Open source
Institut Européen des Musiques Juives, Maurice El Médioni (1928-2024)
Institut Européen des Musiques Juives
Open source
Zaida Ben-Yusuf: New York Portrait Photographer
Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery
Open source

International and heritage bodies

Timgad — UNESCO World Heritage Centre
UNESCO
Open source
Djémila — UNESCO World Heritage Centre
UNESCO
Open source
Kasbah of Algiers — UNESCO World Heritage Centre
UNESCO
Open source
Tassili n'Ajjer — UNESCO World Heritage Centre
UNESCO
Open source
Tassili N'Ajjer, UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Programme
UNESCO
Open source
Practices and knowledge linked to the Imzad of the Tuareg communities of Algeria, Mali and Niger
UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage
Open source
Ritual and ceremonies of Sebeïba in the oasis of Djanet, Algeria
UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage
Open source
Couscous — Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity (UNESCO 2020)
UNESCO · 2020
Open source
M'Zab Valley — UNESCO World Heritage Centre
UNESCO · 1982
Open source
Conserving Earthen Architecture — M'Zab Case Study
Getty Conservation Institute
Open source

Media and documentary

Mohammed Arkoun: A Modern Critic of Islamic Reason
Burhan Schawi · Qantara · 2007-04-13
Open source
A Pioneer of Modern Critical Islam Studies
Ursula Günther · Qantara · 2010-09-21
Open source
El Moudjahid — archival editions
El Moudjahid
Open source
Algérie Presse Service (APS)
APS
Open source
Le Monde — archives
Le Monde
Open source
Reporting on frites-omelette consumption and industrial egg production in Algeria
TSA Algérie
Open source
À la recherche de la meilleure frite-omelette de Paname
Bondy Blog
Open source

Football records

FIFA — Official records & tournaments
Fédération Internationale de Football Association
Open source
CAF — Confederation of African Football
CAF
Open source
Fédération Algérienne de Football
FAF
Open source
RSSSF — Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation
RSSSF
Open source
JS Kabylie — Club archives & communiqués
JS Kabylie
L'équipe FLN de football (1958–1962) — histoire et joueurs
Various historians · El Moudjahid & FAF archives
Women's Africa Cup of Nations — CAF
CAF
Open source

Report a correction

Use the corrections form on the About page. Please name the exhibit, quote the passage, and add a published source when you can.

Corrections & Suggestions form

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