The manufacture of heritage in the face of the diktats of authenticity: the case of the Algerian medinas from the beginning of the French occupation to the present

This article discusses the meaning of authenticity in making places with heritage values through the case of the Algerian medinas. Because of their particular and exclusive histories in the Maghreb, these historical settlements founded in the Islamic period have sometimes undergone radical transformations that have undermined their universal heritage eligibility. The latter is based on the criterion of authenticity. This is currently being questioned because of its rigidity, which has ensued from transformations in ideological field related to notions of culture and identity. Additionally, universal heritage eligibility has been shaped by the emergence of intangible heritage. This article is between a ‘Viewpoint’ type of paper and an empirically grounded research paper. The results of such an approach highlight the contradictions related to the authorities’ choices concerning the heritage of the Algerian medina. A process made according to a vision that was impregnated by a constructed authenticity. The latter was based on the primacy of the original Islamic model according to issues of decolonization and autochthony. The article calls into question the normative reading of heritage as a set of essences favouring a social construction of systems of representation that claim truth, identity and history.