My dissertation critically assesses the evolution of Beur productions (1980s - 21st century) with reference to the socio-cultural and economic conditions of their development. I am interested in identity (re)construction in the work of three Algerian origin artists in France: Mehdi Charef, Tony Gatlif and Farid Boudjellal. I examine texts and films like Le thé au Harem d’Archi Ahmed (1983), Petit Polio (1999), Je suis né d’une cigogne (1999) and Exils (2004). My interest lies in analyzing the impact that these “minor” artists and their chosen art genres have on mainstream cultural productions. Besides focusing on the second generation immigrants in France (the Beurs), the authors challenge also the canonical “Frenchness” or “Europeanness” beyond borders, thus promoting the concept of cultural hybridity. I argue that constant displacement, change of political, social and cultural contexts have significantly transformed the dynamics between the center and the periphery. Furthermore, I provide evidence that “French” identity has undergone a continuous transformation over time and has become a substantially diverse and lively construct. I stand for a new approach to the fixed French identities, one that includes a pluriethnic and multilingual francophone body, and for a redefinition of cultural boundaries reshaping the relationship between self and otherness. My thesis has two major sections (language and space) divided respectively into four chapters. The first two chapters look at different ways in which the Franco-Maghrebi literature and cinema forge new ways of expression within French language and culture. The first chapter is mainly focused on the importance of mastering French by the Beur artists, while in the second chapter I insist on more elaborate stylistic dimensions such as postcolonial irony in the given texts. The last two chapters critically analyze how the artistic productions of Charef, Gatlif and Boudjellal situate themselves in the French socio-cultural context by trespassing borders of a cultural, literary, linguistic and geographical order. This multiple border crossing leads to a movement of these texts to different locations within the main culture. At the esthetic level, this movement between different borders promotes the innovation and the creativity that the Beur artists bring to France.

My dissertation critically assesses the evolution of Beur productions (1980s - 21st century) with reference to the socio-cultural and economic conditions of their development. I am interested in identity (re)construction in the work of three Algerian origin artists in France: Mehdi Charef, Tony Gatlif and Farid Boudjellal. I examine texts and films like Le thé au Harem d’Archi Ahmed (1983), Petit Polio (1999), Je suis né d’une cigogne (1999) and Exils (2004). My interest lies in analyzing the impact that these “minor” artists and their chosen art genres have on mainstream cultural productions. Besides focusing on the second generation immigrants in France (the Beurs), the authors challenge also the canonical “Frenchness” or “Europeanness” beyond borders, thus promoting the concept of cultural hybridity. I argue that constant displacement, change of political, social and cultural contexts have significantly transformed the dynamics between the center and the periphery. Furthermore, I provide evidence that “French” identity has undergone a continuous transformation over time and has become a substantially diverse and lively construct. I stand for a new approach to the fixed French identities, one that includes a pluriethnic and multilingual francophone body, and for a redefinition of cultural boundaries reshaping the relationship between self and otherness. My thesis has two major sections (language and space) divided respectively into four chapters. The first two chapters look at different ways in which the Franco-Maghrebi literature and cinema forge new ways of expression within French language and culture. The first chapter is mainly focused on the importance of mastering French by the Beur artists, while in the second chapter I insist on more elaborate stylistic dimensions such as postcolonial irony in the given texts. The last two chapters critically analyze how the artistic productions of Charef, Gatlif and Boudjellal situate themselves in the French socio-cultural context by trespassing borders of a cultural, literary, linguistic and geographical order. This multiple border crossing leads to a movement of these texts to different locations within the main culture. At the esthetic level, this movement between different borders promotes the innovation and the creativity that the Beur artists bring to France.

No description available.

Thesis (MA (Modern Foreign Languages))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The publication in 1983 of Medhi Charef’s novel Le thé au harem d’Archi Ahmed marked the beginning of Beur literature, a collection of narratives concerning the lives of individuals of North African origin in the French suburbs. The term “beur”, derived from the double inversion of the word “arabe”, would become synonymous with “Maghrebians” and be used to define a cultural movement claiming its uniqueness. Beur writers or those who make use of Beur heroes in their novels reveal, often in autobiographical form, the daily experiences of a marginalized minority living in identical socio-economic conditions, which are sources of conflicts, whether latent or manifest, with the dominant culture. The sensitivity of Beur writers as manifested in their writings enables us to obtain images of the lives of people living in shantytowns or the large conglomerations on the outskirts of French cities. However, this literature provides more than just a simple description of context or situation, since it also contains the verdict of young Beurs on the legitimacy of the established social order and their strategies to transform or to adapt to this order. Work, home, school, politics or affective relations are concrete examples of areas where the individual is faced with an established system of values and norms, inequality of resources and convergent or divergent interests that need to be taken into account during the process of exchange in order to satisfy his/her needs. In this interdisciplinary research we apply the sociological concepts of exchange and conflict theory in order to disclose the strategies used by characters in Beur novels to adapt or free themselves from given conditions of exchange and power configurations on different social markets of exchange.