Reflexive Criminality: Race, Migration, and Violence in Francophone Literature and Film Restricted; Files Only

Abstract

This dissertation examines late 20^th and early 21^st century literary and cinematic responses to the image of the immigrant in French political and mediatic discourse as well as in the popular imaginary. In this image, the immigrant is, often unwittingly, conflated with the criminal. The relationship between these two categories is best seen through its manifestation in, by, and through violence. I trace contemporary forms of violence – in its physical, psychological, linguistic, and metaphorical iterations – through time and space to colonial Africa to underscore the colonial roots in neo- and post-colonial performances of violence in both contemporary France and in contemporary Francophone African societies. My contention is that the colonial structures and systems of oppression, dehumanization, and violence never really ceased and are perpetuated both in contemporary Africa and metropolitan France. In chapter one, I analyze Kamel Daoud’s Meursault contre-enquête and Alain Mabanckou’s Tais-Toi et Meurs to examine language as violence. I argue that the designation of criminal, the people and acts labeled as such, is just that, an act of linguistic labeling. Through linguistic turns, a guilty person can be exculpated or an innocent one criminalized; language acts therefore violently upon its subjects. Chapter two looks, inversely, at the violence of language. I explore two African novels– Yasmina Khadra’s A quoi rêvent les loups and Bolya’s La Polayndre – which contain an overabundance of extremely graphic passages of violence in striking detail. I claim these passages open a floodgate of post- and neo-colonial forms of violence which expose the colonial traces within. In chapter three I present an in-depth analysis of Michael Haneke’s film Caché in order to reveal a “regard caché” on the Algerian population in France and detail the ways in which this population is placed in inescapable circuits of psychological violence. Lastly, in chapter four I examine Jacques Audiard’s film Dheepan and its representation of structures of oppression on those relegated to France’s margins. I argue that, through a compounded oppression, the film suggests that violence can be migrant and transnational in nature.

Table of Contents

Introduction...............1. 1

Chapter One: The Criminal Code: Language, Naming, and Citizenship in Kamel Douad’s Meursault contre-enquête and Alain Mabanckou’s Tais-Toi et Meurs. 27......................................................................27

Chapter Two Towards a Literary Aesthetics of Violence: Yasmina Khadra’s À quoi rêvent les loups and Bolya Baenga’s La Polyandre 63...................................................................................................................63

Chapter Three What about Majid?: Circuits of Violence and Hyper-Visibility in Michael Haneke’s Caché 102......................................................................................................................................................102

Chapter Four Violence Without Borders: Migration, Incarceration, and the Banlieue in Jacques Audiard's Dheepan 145.................................................................................................................................145

Conclusion. 176.............................................................................................................................................176

Filmography. 183.......................................................................................................................................... 183

Bibliography. 184.......................................................................................................................................... 184

About this Dissertation

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School	Laney Graduate School
Department	French
Degree	Ph.D.
Submission	Dissertation
Language	English
Research Field	Literature, African
Parola chiave	violence African diaspora Francophone race studies cinema migration studies criminality
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Xavier, Subha, Emory University
Committee Members	Reynolds, Daniel, Emory University Marder, Elissa, Emory University Loichot, Valerie, Emory University Gabara, Rachel, University of Georgia

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