Diaspora, Language, Identity: North African Literature and Film

Undergraduate / Graduate

What happens when your "mother tongue" is a language you were never taught to speak or write? In the Maghreb (Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia), language is not just a tool of communication, but a contested territory. It is a space where French, Classical Arabic, Amazigh (Berber), and Darija (colloquial dialect) collide-and where identity is often shaped in the gaps between them. This course explores how North African writers and filmmakers navigate the tension between mother tongues and colonial languages, the body as a site of resistance, and the search for belonging. Through selections of memoir, short stories, and film, we will examine questions of language, identity, and displacement-from colonial history to contemporary diaspora in France. Readings include Assia Djebar, Leïla Sebbar, and Mohamed Choukri; films range from The Battle of Algiers to recent works by Nabil Ayouch, Leyla Bouzid, and Mounia Meddour.