Representation of the Banlieusard in Literature, Cinema, and Performances

Representation of the Banlieusard in Literature, Cinema, and Performances: Francephobia explores the complex identity of the banlieusard within French society through literature, film and pop culture, such as rap music and stand-up comedy. The banlieue, known in English as the “inner city,” is home to underrepresented and marginalized descendants of North- and West- African immigrants as well as some white European immigrants or white French individuals. Established in tall housing estates located on the wider outskirts of Paris, the banlieue is a space constructed through the systemic disenfranchisement of working-class people across genders, ethnicities, and race and through associations with crime, unemployment, poverty, etc. In face of these challenges, the banlieusard(e) attempts to claim their Frenchness but finds oneself trapped by society’s negative perception. Similarly, they are also physically trapped in their space of high-rise buildings and in a social/economic sphere with preconceived beliefs making it difficult to integrate and contribute to French society. This book aims to emphasize resistance and the agency of the banlieusard(e) rather than pointing out their marginalization by society’s preconceptions. Therefore, the spatial arrangement of the projects where they live redefines, deconstructs, reconstructs and reverses the center/periphery dichotomy, in which the center becomes the banlieue and as a result, its outcast status is diminished. Through a varied selection of novels, films, rap and stand-up comedy, Emma Chebinou exposes the necessity in examining negative stigmas created by the institutional discourse and by space and gives a broader interpretation of the banlieue.