The ideas and discourse associated with homosexuality and queerness provide a useful and relevant critical framework for understanding Moroccan writer Abdellah Taïa’s works. My essay expands this existing frame of reference by discussing the portrayal of poverty and social mobility, which I argue is an equally meaningful yet neglected aspect of Taïa’s writings. I develop this argument by showing that shame is linked not only to sexuality but also to social class. For a comparative perspective, I examine texts by Didier Éribon and Édouard Louis, who, like Taïa, are queer writers from a working-class background. Despite these shared characteristics, there is a significant difference in the framing and critical reception of Taïa’s writings, on the one hand, and those of Éribon and Louis, on the other. This essay investigates the reasons for this difference by exploring the phenomenon of the transfuge de classe and the crucial role played by the absent dimensions of race and coloniality. Situating narratives of queerness and poverty in relation to each other suggests a dialectical mode of reading attentive to different discursive contexts.
{"title":"Bringing out Abdellah Taïa: sexuality, social mobility, and the discursive contexts of reading","authors":"Bishupal Limbu","doi":"10.3828/cfc.2024.9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3828/cfc.2024.9","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 The ideas and discourse associated with homosexuality and queerness provide a useful and relevant critical framework for understanding Moroccan writer Abdellah Taïa’s works. My essay expands this existing frame of reference by discussing the portrayal of poverty and social mobility, which I argue is an equally meaningful yet neglected aspect of Taïa’s writings. I develop this argument by showing that shame is linked not only to sexuality but also to social class. For a comparative perspective, I examine texts by Didier Éribon and Édouard Louis, who, like Taïa, are queer writers from a working-class background. Despite these shared characteristics, there is a significant difference in the framing and critical reception of Taïa’s writings, on the one hand, and those of Éribon and Louis, on the other. This essay investigates the reasons for this difference by exploring the phenomenon of the\u0000 transfuge de classe\u0000 and the crucial role played by the absent dimensions of race and coloniality. Situating narratives of queerness and poverty in relation to each other suggests a dialectical mode of reading attentive to different discursive contexts.\u0000","PeriodicalId":53563,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary French Civilization","volume":"8 9","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141684728","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Dans la continuité des études sur Abdellah Taïa et le genre épistolaire, cet article analyse comment l’aspect relationnel de la lettre permet à l’auteur de combiner introspection personnelle, critique socio-politique et dialogue transnational. Si cette affinité littéraire et formelle s’illustre depuis le début de la carrière de Taïa avec des textes tels que “L’homosexualité expliquée à ma mère” et Lettres à un jeune marocain , l’étude de sept lettres écrites après 2016 démontre comment ce medium relève désormais d’une praxis décoloniale revendiquée par l’auteur depuis son entretien “‘Sortir de la peur.’ Construire une identité homosexuelle arabe dans un monde postcolonial” avec Antoine Idier. Du roman épistolaire Celui qui est digne d’être aimé aux lettres écrites pour l’émission de la RTBF Dans quel monde on vit , l’émancipation de Taïa passe par ce que Walter Mignolo et Catherine Walsh appellent un processus de ré-existence, le menant à un rapprochement avec sa culture d’origine et à un engagement politique queer et intersectionnel.
本文以对阿卜杜拉-塔伊亚和书信体的研究为基础,分析了书信的关系性如何使作者将个人反省、社会政治批判和跨国对话结合起来。虽然这种文学和形式上的亲和力在塔伊亚的创作生涯之初就已显现,如《L'homosexualité expliquée à ma mère》和《Lettres à un jeune marocain》等,但通过对 2016 年之后所写的七封信的研究,我们可以看出,自作者与安托万-伊迪耶(Antoine Idier)的访谈"'Sortir de la peur.' Construire une identité homosexuelle arabe dans un monde postcolonial "以来,这种媒介如何成为作者所主张的非殖民主义实践的一部分。从书信体小说《Celui qui est digne d'être aimé》到为法国广播电视台节目《Dans quel monde on vit》撰写的信件,塔伊亚的解放涉及沃尔特-米尼奥洛(Walter Mignolo)和凯瑟琳-沃尔什(Catherine Walsh)所说的重新存在的过程,最终与他的原籍文化和睦相处,并做出了同性恋和交叉性的政治承诺。
{"title":"L’émancipation décoloniale en toutes lettres d’Abdellah Taïa","authors":"Thomas Muzart","doi":"10.3828/cfc.2024.10","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3828/cfc.2024.10","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Dans la continuité des études sur Abdellah Taïa et le genre épistolaire, cet article analyse comment l’aspect relationnel de la lettre permet à l’auteur de combiner introspection personnelle, critique socio-politique et dialogue transnational. Si cette affinité littéraire et formelle s’illustre depuis le début de la carrière de Taïa avec des textes tels que “L’homosexualité expliquée à ma mère” et\u0000 Lettres à un jeune marocain\u0000 , l’étude de sept lettres écrites après 2016 démontre comment ce medium relève désormais d’une\u0000 praxis\u0000 décoloniale revendiquée par l’auteur depuis son entretien “‘Sortir de la peur.’ Construire une identité homosexuelle arabe dans un monde postcolonial” avec Antoine Idier. Du roman épistolaire\u0000 Celui qui est digne d’être aimé\u0000 aux lettres écrites pour l’émission de la RTBF\u0000 Dans quel monde on vit\u0000 , l’émancipation de Taïa passe par ce que Walter Mignolo et Catherine Walsh appellent un processus de ré-existence, le menant à un rapprochement avec sa culture d’origine et à un engagement politique queer et intersectionnel.\u0000","PeriodicalId":53563,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary French Civilization","volume":"9 31","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141684122","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Nabil Ayouch’s cinematic corpus has always been subject to vivid debates as his works target the sexual and linguistic status quo in Morocco, among other ideological patterns. The filmmaker’s distrust towards the hegemonic order is palpable in his corpus, as illustrated by Much Loved (2015) and Razzia (2017). Ayouch’s films offer an opaque questioning of the structural intersections between sex, socioeconomics, language, religion, and alienation. It could be argued that, in terms of opacity, Much Loved blurs the lines of identity and intimacy instead of simply pushing and widening cultural/ideological barriers. A few years later, Ayouch released Razzia , which not only escaped censorship, but was also a great success. However, the film fits well in the lineage of Ayouch’s productions as the director continued his momentum of subtle artistic subversion questioning of the foundations of morality in Morocco.
{"title":"Filming sex, language, and alienation in Morocco: the lens of Nabil Ayouch","authors":"Salim Ayoub","doi":"10.3828/cfc.2024.11","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3828/cfc.2024.11","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Nabil Ayouch’s cinematic corpus has always been subject to vivid debates as his works target the sexual and linguistic status quo in Morocco, among other ideological patterns. The filmmaker’s distrust towards the hegemonic order is palpable in his corpus, as illustrated by\u0000 Much Loved\u0000 (2015) and\u0000 Razzia\u0000 (2017). Ayouch’s films offer an opaque questioning of the structural intersections between sex, socioeconomics, language, religion, and alienation. It could be argued that, in terms of opacity,\u0000 Much Loved\u0000 blurs the lines of identity and intimacy instead of simply pushing and widening cultural/ideological barriers. A few years later, Ayouch released\u0000 Razzia\u0000 , which not only escaped censorship, but was also a great success. However, the film fits well in the lineage of Ayouch’s productions as the director continued his momentum of subtle artistic subversion questioning of the foundations of morality in Morocco.\u0000","PeriodicalId":53563,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary French Civilization","volume":"155 10‐12","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141686704","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The article investigates the creative tensions between diaspora and region as they appear in queer Maghrebi francophone visual culture. By examining two important films from Maghrebi-French cinema – Tony Gatlif’s Exils (2004) and Mehdi Ben Attia’s Le fil (2009) – the article theorizes an affective understanding of diaspora and regionality wherein ephemeral aesthetic objects constitute regional archives of feeling and assemblages that reveal the messy complexities of identity, space, and belonging in a Maghrebi postcolonial setting. In so doing, the article also aims to ascertain how regional constellations of queer diasporic aesthetics may lead to new forms of kinship and community for minority ethnic and sexual subjects.
文章研究了散居地和地区之间的创作张力,因为它们出现在马格里布法语同性恋视觉文化中。通过研究两部重要的马格里布-法国电影--托尼-加特利夫(Tony Gatlif)的《Exils》(2004 年)和梅赫迪-本-阿蒂亚(Mehdi Ben Attia)的《Le fil》(2009 年)--文章从理论上提出了对散居地和地区性的情感理解,其中短暂的审美对象构成了地区性的情感档案和组合,揭示了马格里布后殖民背景下身份、空间和归属的混乱复杂性。在此过程中,文章还旨在弄清同性恋侨民美学的区域性组合如何为少数族裔和性主体带来新形式的亲缘关系和社区。
{"title":"Between diaspora and region: Tony Gatlif and Mehdi Ben Attia","authors":"Peter Tarjanyi","doi":"10.3828/cfc.2024.8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3828/cfc.2024.8","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 The article investigates the creative tensions between diaspora and region as they appear in queer Maghrebi francophone visual culture. By examining two important films from Maghrebi-French cinema – Tony Gatlif’s\u0000 Exils\u0000 (2004) and Mehdi Ben Attia’s\u0000 Le fil\u0000 (2009) – the article theorizes an affective understanding of diaspora and regionality wherein ephemeral aesthetic objects constitute regional archives of feeling and assemblages that reveal the messy complexities of identity, space, and belonging in a Maghrebi postcolonial setting. In so doing, the article also aims to ascertain how regional constellations of queer diasporic aesthetics may lead to new forms of kinship and community for minority ethnic and sexual subjects.\u0000","PeriodicalId":53563,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary French Civilization","volume":"7 21","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141686393","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This article locates an aesthetics of intranquillité in contemporary queer francophone cultural production by examining the dynamic combination of fear and anxiety in Mehdi Ben Attia’s Franco-Tunisian film, Le fil (2010), and Joseph Kai’s Franco-Lebanese graphic novel, L’intranquille (2021). Here, I examine the spatiotemporal dynamics, or what I call the affective orientations, of intranquillité . I argue that this aesthetics gives rise to an anxious eroticism that is itself represented textually through a series of narrative tools found in these texts: first, the challenge to normative narration; second, the use of inertial or propulsive imagery; and third, either a melancholic tie to the past or an anxious futurity. These tools textually reproduce the “feeling” of fear and anxiety for the viewer of these works. In an attempt to quell intranquillité , the creative and generative act of drawing is introduced in both narratives, ultimately producing new affective configurations of queer belonging and desire.
{"title":"An aesthetics of\u0000 intranquillité\u0000 : fear and anxiety in\u0000 Le fil\u0000 and\u0000 L’intranquille","authors":"Ryan K. Schroth","doi":"10.3828/cfc.2024.7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3828/cfc.2024.7","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This article locates an aesthetics of\u0000 intranquillité\u0000 in contemporary queer francophone cultural production by examining the dynamic combination of fear and anxiety in Mehdi Ben Attia’s Franco-Tunisian film,\u0000 Le fil\u0000 (2010), and Joseph Kai’s Franco-Lebanese graphic novel,\u0000 L’intranquille\u0000 (2021). Here, I examine the spatiotemporal dynamics, or what I call the affective orientations, of\u0000 intranquillité\u0000 . I argue that this aesthetics gives rise to an anxious eroticism that is itself represented textually through a series of narrative tools found in these texts: first, the challenge to normative narration; second, the use of inertial or propulsive imagery; and third, either a melancholic tie to the past or an anxious futurity. These tools textually reproduce the “feeling” of fear and anxiety for the viewer of these works. In an attempt to quell\u0000 intranquillité\u0000 , the creative and generative act of drawing is introduced in both narratives, ultimately producing new affective configurations of queer belonging and desire.\u0000","PeriodicalId":53563,"journal":{"name":"Contemporary French Civilization","volume":"54 7","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2024-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141687607","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}