Copyright by Jocelyn Asa Wright 2018 The Dissertation Committee for Jocelyn Asa Wright certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: Beur, Blanc, Black: The Banlieue Talks Back in Novels, Films, and Graphic Novels Committee: Hervé Picherit, Co-Supervisor Benjamin Brower, Co-Supervisor Alexandra Wettlaufer Dayna Oscherwitz Beur, Blanc, Black: The Banlieue Talks Back in Novels, Films, and Graphic Novels by Jocelyn Asa Wright Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin May 2018 Dedication To my grandmother and to my mother. Acknowledgements Thank you to all of the people who loved and supported me on this dissertation journey. v Beur, Blanc, Black: The Banlieue Talks Back in Novels, Films, and Graphic Novels Jocelyn Asa Wright, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2018 Co-Supervisors: Hervé Picherit and Benjamin Brower This dissertation analyzes works by persons who grew up in the French banlieue, the economically-disadvantaged suburban areas that have become a metonym for conversations about integration, crime, and violence in France. I focus on the time period 1999 to 2016 because a number of heavily-mediatized events that have shaped perceptions of the banlieue in the French imaginary took place at this time. During the first decade and a half of the twenty-first century, a number of events—the 2005 riots, the headscarf debates, and numerous terrorist attacks domestically and internationally—have fossilized a particular conception of the French banlieue within the French and international cultural memory as a lawless space of destruction, a hotbed of Islamic extremism, and a dangerous place for women. This study elucidates problems of authorship, authenticity and representation in the banlieue, and analyzes why banlieue authors tend oscillate between mediums. I identify unique stylistic elements in each medium that are shifting assumptions about integration, mobility, and social dynamics in the banlieue. I argue that banlieue artists use novels, films and graphic novels to contest the myth of the banlieue as an urban ghetto. vi Table of Contents List of Figures............................................................................................................. ix BEUR, BLANC, BLACK: THE BANLIEUE TALKS BACK IN NOVELS, FILMS, AND GRAPHIC NOVELS 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 1 HOME AND HORIZON OF EXPECTATIONS ............................................ 5 THE BANLIEUE ............................................................................................... 8 WRITING ABOUT THE BANLIEUE IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY ................................................................................................................. 17 CHAPTER SUMMARIES .............................................................................. 28 Chapter One: Polyphonic (Dés)Intégration ............................................................. 35 POLYPHONY AND THE BANLIEUE NOVEL ......................................... 40 Defining polyphony ................................................................................ 40 Differentiating the polyphonic banlieue novel and the beur novel ..... 45 BOOMKOEUR ................................................................................................ 48 ALLAH SUPERSTAR .................................................................................... 63 KIFFE KIFFE DEMAIN ................................................................................. 78 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................ 92 Chapter Two: Cartographies of (Im)Mobility ......................................................... 95 READING FILMS AS MAPS ...................................................................... 101 CARTOGRAPHIES OF (IM)MOBILITY .................................................. 107 PAPA WAS NOT A ROLLING STONE .................................................... 110 QU’ALLAH BENISSE LA FRANCE! ........................................................ 125 ASPHALTE ................................................................................................... 140 CONCLUSION .............................................................................................. 155 Chapter Three: (Re)Framing Stereotypes .............................................................. 159 (RE)FRAMING STEREOTYPES ................................................................ 162 BANLIEUE BANDE DESSINÉE SINCE 2000 ......................................... 172 NINE ANTICO .............................................................................................. 183 vii GILLES ROCHIER ....................................................................................... 197 HALIM MAHMOUDI .................................................................................. 209 CONCLUSION .............................................................................................. 228 Conclusion: (In)Voluntary Spokespersons ............................................................ 231 MOVING TOWARDS THE VISUAL ........................................................ 233 THE BURDEN OF THE AUTHOR ............................................................ 236 RACE AND THE HORIZON OF EXPECTATIONS ................................ 249 BANLIEUE NETURALITY?....................................................................... 259 Appendix A: The French Banlieue in BD ............................................................. 263 Appendix B: Other Banlieue Texts ........................................................................ 275 Bibliography ............................................................................................................ 293 Vita…. ...................................................................................................................... 307 viii List of Figures FIGURE ONE ............................................................................................................. 9 FIGURE TWO ........................................................................................................ 116 FIGURE THREE..................................................................................................... 119 FIGURE FOUR ....................................................................................................... 123 FIGURE FIVE ......................................................................................................... 137 FIGURE SIX ........................................................................................................... 146 FIGURE SEVEN..................................................................................................... 170 FIGURE EIGHT ..................................................................................................... 173 FIGURE NINE ........................................................................................................ 187 FIGURE TEN .......................................................................................................... 192 FIGURE ELEVEN .................................................................................................. 194 FIGURE TWELVE ................................................................................................. 200 FIGURE THIRTEEN .............................................................................................. 203 FIGURE FOURTEEN ............................................................................................ 205 FIGURE FIFTEEN ................................................................................................. 207 FIGURE SIXTEEN ................................................................................................. 214 FIGURE SEVENTEEN .......................................................................................... 219 FIGURE EIGHTEEN ............................................................................................. 220 FIGURE NINETEEN ............................................................................................. 223 ix BEUR, BLANC, BLACK: THE BANLIEUE TALKS BACK IN NOVELS, FILMS, AND GRAPHIC NOVELS Introduction In the summer of 2016, I spent six weeks working with the large collection of novels, films, and graphic novels at the Médiathèque Abdelmalek Sayad in the Musée National de l’histoire de l’immigration, the only museum in France dedicated to the history of French immigration.1 Although my initial reason for going to the library was to look at their collections in Francophone literature of immigration, it was here that I began to realize the extraordinarily diverse and large quantity of novels, films, and graphic novels on and about the French banlieue. As I learned then, and as this dissertation will show, there is a lot more to banlieue literature and film than Faïza Guène’s 2004 novel Kiffe kiffe demain and Mathieu Kassovitz’s 1995 film La Haine.2 There is also a rich, and woefully understudied, tradition of banlieue bande dessinée. 1 The Musée national de l’histoire de l’immigration, formerly the Cité nationale de l’histoire de l’immigration, which opened in 2007, was the first museum exclusively dedicated to immigration in Europe.