Le rôle de l'altérité dans la construction de l'identité raciale

The goal is to explore the representation of identity with regards to social, political and cultural construction of race in contemporary French literature and cinema. The thesis will follow a multidisciplinary approach with the use of theories from cultural studies. For the analysis of the topic, two novels – Tahar Ben Jelloun’s Les raisins de la galère (1996) and Nina Bouraoui’s Garçon manqué (2000) – and two movies – Matthieu Kassovitz’s La haine (1995) and Abdellatif Kechiche’s L’esquive (2004) – have been chosen. The thesis examines the power of language and how the power of speech and writing influence identity building. The dissertation will take into consideration the contribution of violence in the life of the characters. The last section will take note of the forms of exclusion and resistance offered by the protagonists trapped in a world who does not wish to acknowledge them because of their differences.