French or Francophone: postcolonial immigrant identities and literature in contemporary France

Abstract

In the last half-century, many immigrants from France’s former colonies have
made the hexagon their home and have contributed to the country’s literary output. However, these immigrants and their offspring are often deemed as ‘Others’. This kind of ‘othering’ is made manifest in the literary sphere through the labelling of their works as ‘francophone,’ rather than French, by the publishing industry. The first section of this article proposes a definition of (immigrant) identity that challenges this kind of exclusionary and essentialist discourse with reference to the concepts of hybridity, cultural identity and uncanniness propounded by Homi Bhabha, Stuart Hall and Julia Kristeva respectively. This article then examines the littérature-monde manifesto to argue that its rejection of the term ‘francophone’ is not sufficient to dissolve this particular self/’Other’ binary. In light of this, this article proposes that Edward Said’s humanistic approach to reading, when accompanied by a Segalanian respect for the irreducibility of the individual, reflects the proposed conception of identity and so allows scholars to challenge, rather than reinforce, the marginalisation experienced by ethnic minority authors in France.

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