Interpreting the Republic: Marginalization and Belonging in Contemporary French Novels and FilmsLexington Books, 16 juin 2011 - 212 pages Interpreting the Republic focuses on contemporary French literary and cinematic works (1986-2003) that reflect on what it means to belong to a nation such as France by giving voice to those who find themselves marginalized by French society. While citizenship and belonging can be, and indeed are, interpreted differently depending on the socio-cultural and political context, it is the foundational universalist republican principle of egalitarianism that has remained the sacred cow of French society. One of the major claims of this study is that the rigidity of French national discourse that attempts to impose a certain homogeneity in its official identificatory practices — all citizens are French, and thus difference (ethnic, sexual or other) ceases to matter — is but one of the many possible interpretations of the notion of the Republic. Vinay Swamy seeks to show how such supposedly unshakeable principles, too, can be, and often are, reinterpreted in novel ways by the works analyzed in this study, which carve out niches for their protagonists that are otherwise foreclosed in the French national space. Swamy examines the different tactics of identification deployed in works ranging from early 'romans beurs' by Azouz Begag, Farida Belghoul and Soraya Nini, and Allah Superstar, the 2003 satirical novel by Y.B., to a number of films including Gazon maudit (1995), Ma vie en rose (1997), Le Placard (2001), Chouchou (2003), all of which (re)interpret the Republic in an effort to legitimize their protagonists' otherwise marginalized social position(s). He demonstrates how all these works put pressure, in a variety of ways, on an unacknowledged understanding of the institutional positions. Vinay Swamy underscores some of the central concerns of these works, which include a quest to unravel the often-thorny questions such as 'who represents the Republic' or 'who is represented by the institution of republican ideals,' and as a corollary, 'who or what is not represented?' In privileging moments of such questioning, Interpreting the Republic underscores some of the discursive limits of the understanding of multicultural identity formation in Contemporary France. |
Table des matières
Chapter 01 Ethnicizing the National Nationalizing the Ethnic | 1 |
Chapter 02 The Society of Spectacle in Post911 France | 27 |
Chapter 03 Reading Gender into Ethnicity | 51 |
Chapter 04 Of Lesbians and Crossdressers | 81 |
Chapter 05 In the Shadow of the Republic | 117 |
Conclusion | 145 |
Filmography | 153 |
Bibliography | 155 |
167 | |
About the Author | 173 |
Autres éditions - Tout afficher
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Expressions et termes fréquents
Algeria Allah Superstar allows Arab articulations audience Azouz Begag Balasko Balibar Belghoul Béni Béni’s Berliner’s Beur Beurette c’est chapter Chouchou cinema citizenship construction contemporary French context critique cultural debate defined discourse discussion ethnic Etienne Balibar fact Fassin father’s field figure film film’s finally find first francais France France’s Francophone French nation French society Gazon maudit gender and sexual Hargreaves heteronormative heterosexual homosexuality identification identity influence integration Interpreting the Republic j’ai Josiane Balasko jus sanguinis jus soli Kamel kinship Laurent Le Placard legitimize lesbian Loli Ludovic Ludovic’s Maghrebi Maghrebi descent Maghrebi immigrants Maghrebi origin mainstream male marginalized Marijo marriage Michel Monde narrative Nicolas Sarkozy Nini Nini’s novel official pacs legislation paradis Paris Pignon political position protagonists question reflect relationship republican Samia sexual orientation significant social space specific spectacle stereotypes tactical term Beur texts tion tout traditional understanding verlan vie en rose women young Zidane