Female Filiations as a Locus of Politicization in Faïza Guène’s œuvre: An Intersectionalist Reading of Kiffe kiffe demain and La Discrétion

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article explores the theme of postcolonial transmission through the comparative analysis of two novels by French author Faïza Guène, her bestselling debut novel Kiffe kiffe demain and her latest narrative La Discrétion. It argues that intimate bonds between immigrant parents and their French-born children have been particularly pivotal to the politicization of the author’s writing. The article traces how Guène’s representation of women living in socio-economically disadvantaged French banlieues has evolved throughout her career. It shows how her initial optimism and faith in the Republican values has given way to an increasingly disenchanted vision. Drawing on decolonial feminist theory, the paper investigates how, in Guène’s latest and most political novel to date, the transmission of silenced colonial and postcolonial history and withheld anger is depicted through a superposition of violent episodes from the life of a 70-year-old Algerian woman with the apparently insignificant yet persistent microaggressions experienced by her grown-up children in contemporary France. This strategy enables the author to reflect on the role of cultural transmission while reconstructing the silenced history of colonization, immigration and failed social mobility while also debunking the myth of Republican meritocracy.