In Defence of Barbarism

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.

The journalist Louisa Yousfi grew up in south-eastern France in the 1990s. She took a literature course at a crammer in Lille and then studied philosophy in Nice, ultimately enrolling in journalism school in Bordeaux. She was a conscientious student, following the advice of her working-class parents, who had emigrated from Algeria to France, to 'focus on [her] studies first and worry about politics later'. This political engagement duly materialised when she joined the Parti des Indigènes de la République, an anti-racist and decolonial movement whose ideas had a decisive influence on her first published work, Rester barbare. She is currently working on her first novel.