In Algiers, A New Home For Now

Rue d'Isly, downtown Algiers, Feb. 2013

After a year of frequent trips back and forth between Washington and Algiers, earlier this month I packed my bags and made my long-anticipated transition to Algeria. I am now based here in the capital, Algiers, where in the coming months I will be working directly on a series of political development projects.

Since my first visit last spring, I have spent nearly six months in total here. Even so, I cannot pretend that Algiers—much less the country as a whole—is a place I know well. Geographically, Algeria is the largest country in Africa and the tenth largest in the world, with an intricate mesh of identities and dizzyingly complex history. Suffice it to say I have much to explore and much to learn. Recognizing how little most outsiders—even fellow enthusiasts of the region and its cultures—know about Algeria, I look forward to sharing observations along the way.