In Defense of Barbarism (Non-Whites Against the Empire)
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$17.95
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Product Details
Author:
Louisa Yousfi, Andy Bliss
Format:
Paperback
Pages:
112
Publisher:
Verso Books (January 21, 2025)
Language:
English
Audience:
General/trade
ISBN-13:
9781804294420
ISBN-10:
180429442X
Weight:
3.4oz
Dimensions:
5" x 7.79" x 0.29"
File:
RandomHouse-PRH_Book_Company_PRH_PRT_Onix_full_active_D20260405T171954_155746888-20260405.xml
Folder:
RandomHouse
List Price:
$17.95
Country of Origin:
United Kingdom
Case Pack:
152
As low as:
$13.82
Publisher Identifier:
P-RH
Discount Code:
A
QuickShip:
Yes
Pub Discount:
65
Imprint:
Verso
Overview
A provocative, beautiful and defiant essay highlighting the pitfalls of integration in France by a talented young writer with North African roots
Is social integration all it’s cracked up to be? Not in the defiant view of first-time French author Louisa Yousfi, who herself has North African roots. Taking its inspiration from the leading Algerian writer Kateb Yacine
(‘I’m better off not being too cultivated. I have to retain a certain barbarianism’), this provocative essay explores ways of resisting the cultural and moral hegemony of the French "Empire."
Citing a wide range of cultural references, from the characters of Chester Himes and Toni Morrison to the in-your-face rap lyrics of the ‘street prophets’ Booba and PNL, she extolls the virtues of her inner barbarian and champions those brave souls who refuse to be ‘domesticated’.
Challenging the conventional wisdom that posits integration as an unalloyed good, she shows how assimilation can equate to the loss of traditions, religion, language, and culture. And, whether discussing 9/11, the Algerian colonial era, the media treatment of celebrities of Arab origin, or the second-class status of French citizens from an immigrant background, she holds an uncompromising mirror up to the West and its moral shortcomings, as if to say: a barbarian I may be, but who is the real monster?
Yousfi, a young, charismatic and dynamic author who uses a refreshingly wide range of cultural reference points, including rap music, to construct her argument, opens up the path of a decolonial cultural politics and an aesthetics of resistance.
Is social integration all it’s cracked up to be? Not in the defiant view of first-time French author Louisa Yousfi, who herself has North African roots. Taking its inspiration from the leading Algerian writer Kateb Yacine
(‘I’m better off not being too cultivated. I have to retain a certain barbarianism’), this provocative essay explores ways of resisting the cultural and moral hegemony of the French "Empire."
Citing a wide range of cultural references, from the characters of Chester Himes and Toni Morrison to the in-your-face rap lyrics of the ‘street prophets’ Booba and PNL, she extolls the virtues of her inner barbarian and champions those brave souls who refuse to be ‘domesticated’.
Challenging the conventional wisdom that posits integration as an unalloyed good, she shows how assimilation can equate to the loss of traditions, religion, language, and culture. And, whether discussing 9/11, the Algerian colonial era, the media treatment of celebrities of Arab origin, or the second-class status of French citizens from an immigrant background, she holds an uncompromising mirror up to the West and its moral shortcomings, as if to say: a barbarian I may be, but who is the real monster?
Yousfi, a young, charismatic and dynamic author who uses a refreshingly wide range of cultural reference points, including rap music, to construct her argument, opens up the path of a decolonial cultural politics and an aesthetics of resistance.
