In 1953, the Tunisian-born author and sociologist Albert Memmi (1920–2020) published his first novel, La statue de sel (“The Pillar of Salt,” 1955). Memmi’s work is based on the tension between three affiliations: Jewish, Arab, and French. His literary and social science works are marked by his concern with various forms of hierarchization, particularly colonialism and racism. Memmi’s critique of colonialism, especially in the essay Portrait du colonisé, précédé du Po…