Derrida: Bilingualism of the Other. From Abrogation to (Ex)Appropriation (original) (raw)
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Postcolonial Algerian Writers in French: Language as Representation and Resistance
Sahar Editions, Tunisia- ISBN#978-9973-28-421-1, 2014
Based on postcolonial concepts borrowed from Edward Said, Gayatri Spivak, and Jürgen Habermas, this paper studies the appropriation of French language by Algerian authors as a means of representation and resistance to the discourse of the colonizer, and in the case of women authors, to the patriarchal norms of Algerian society. Kateb Yacine uses French to resist French hegemony through subverting its structures by mixing it with the Algerian language and culture. His Nedjma reveals two types of narrative discourse: written and oral language, on the one hand, and the use of the Arabo-Berber vernacular, on the other. Yacine also writes against the post-colonial Algerian condition with the attribution of a dominant position to classical Arabic at the expense of Algerian Arabic and Tamazight. By clearing a space for the subaltern voice, women authors writing in French differ from male authors like Yacine. These women use French language not only to answer back to the colonial discourse but also the discourse held by men vis-a-vis women and their oppressive inferior condition. In Fantasia: An Algerian Cavalcade, Assia Djebar uses oral testimonies and archival information as background for her narrative in order to enrich the reader’s comprehension of the cultural memory of Algeria, but she also fills the socio-cultural and intellectual void that often results from the patriarchal norms of the Algerian society. In The Forbidden Woman, Malika Mokeddem is similar to Djebar in her use of French not only to subvert the language of the colonizer but, especially, to reconfigure the status of Algerian women. She reclaims the use of French to resist the Algerian structures of patriarchy. What is common to these three authors and others is their focus on the linguistic hybridity of Algeria, the importance of which must be recognized as an asset to postcolonial Algeria, rather than viewed as a means of dividing the country for the welfare of the ruling few.
Towards an Ethics of Bilingualism: An Intertextual Dialogue between Khatibi and Derrida
Interventions. International Journal of Postcolonial Studies, 2017
The purpose of this essay is to explore the interpenetration of postcolonial and poststructuralist theory in its (non-)relation to political engagement. The primary focus will be on the intertextual dialogue between Moroccan sociologist, novelist and literary critic Abdelkébir Khatibi (1938–2009) and French–Algerian philosopher Jacques Derrida (1930–2004). I will begin with some general reflections on the polyphonic structure of all languages, as it is my contention that Bakhtin’s conception of “dialogism” can offer valuable insight into both the similarities and differences between Khatibi’s and Derrida’s work. Then, I will proceed with some specific reflections on the history of language in the Maghreb, with particular focus on the Souffles movement and the interpenetration of literary avant-gardism and political activism in Morocco. The main part of the essay is an analysis of Derrida’s Le Monolinguisme de l’autre and Khatibi’s conceptualization of double critique, bi-langue, pensée-autre and pensée en langues. I will conclude with a discussion of the political implications of their theoretical work with specific focus on Khatibi’s call for an ethics of bilingualism.
Diaspora Encoded: The Politics of Language and Meaning in Achebe and Lovelace
Until I am free to write bilingually and to switch codes without having always to translate, while I still have to speak English or Spanish when I would rather speak Spanglish, and as long as I have to accommodate the English speakers rather than having them accommodate me, my tongue will be illegitimate." --Anzaldúa, Borderlands/La Frontera
The Twisted Tongue: Mixed Languages for Postcolonial Writers
For postcolonial writers, their native languages intertwine with colonial languages that were enforced upon them from childhood as it creates a complex identity. Gloria Anzaldúa's semi-autobiographical work, Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza, explores the difficulty belonging and writing as a Chicana: a Mexican-American. Her writing purposefully combines Spanish and English to reflect her complicated identity. The essay by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, "The Language of African Literature," also contemplates which language choice is most appropriate for a postcolonial writer's literary work. After his essay series, Ngũgĩ ultimately chooses to reject the colonizer's language, English, and returns to writing solely in his native language, Gikuyu. In his essay, Ngũgĩ mentions Chinua Achebe, another famous African writer, who writes in English because he suggests that his native language, Igbo, is unavailable to him due to his colonial schooling. Some significant factors that affect the choice of language include the influence of one's colonial education and the question of audience. Postcolonial identities are multifaceted as they are influenced by the native languages that retain both precolonial and postcolonial cultural elements as well as the colonizer's language. To reflect their complex identities, postcolonial authors should incorporate multiple languages into their writing rather than adhering to the Western binary between native and colonial languages. This essay explores the process of creating ambivalence through literature and its importance for challenging colonial powers.
AWEJ for Translation & Literary Studies, Volume 2, Number 4., 2018
The urge to adjust curricular and pedagogical contents of what texts of literature teach to learners of a foreign language, notably English, implies an understanding of the concept of global literary canon. Global or world literature then entails a literature that does not abide by the rigidity of the borders, which imprison texts within the local confinements of national identity traits. It is rather a process which allows the circulation of texts across national borders for the purpose of forming one huge hybrid culture that mixes various literary flavors. In an era of globalization and while the very notion of Western canon seems obsolete and out dated, there still exists some sort of discrimination among the texts allowed to enter the global literary canon. Some literary texts are considered not exotic enough or too exotic to meet the expectations of a wide and translational readership. For that reason, a great number of texts is deliberately marginalized and dropped from the canon confirming then the Western monopole operating upon the marketing and publishing houses. In this view of things, the present paper addresses the particular status of the Algerian literature in French within the global literary canon. It, also, aims to analyze its resistance to translation as major obstacle to its circulation and, thus, invisibility.