My research is based on Mehdi Charef's books and films. This author represented on the 80' a voice for young people between two cultures. At that time, writers like Charef with magrebi origins (the 2nd generation) were called "écrivains beurs". Should we preserve the "beur" label to speak about the new generations of writers with magrebi origins?
Hi Aina,
I think this label is old fashioned, it belongs to the past generation. I made a field research in a high school in Seine-Saint-Denis (east of Paris) and not a single young girl or young man called himself or other persons "beurs". I think the new generation uses "rebeu" (in slang) or "post-colonial litterature", "post-colonial immigrants", et in academic writing.
You can see this text, for example : http://www.africultures.com/php/?nav=article&no=12039
For me, "beur" is really "old fashioned".
Maria
Hi there,
I agree with Maria that the colloquial term “beur”, that was very used in the 80s and 90s, is kind of old fashion… Of course, it all depends on the use and the tone, because people of Maghreby ancestry (having their origin in Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria) may use it themselves; but it can also be very easily used as a derogatory term with racist connotations.
Best,
Dan
Thank you Maria and Dan. It's true that this laber refered to people is very old-fashioned (we found it at the 80' on the news papers, refering to "La Marche des Beurs", etc.) but in recent publications it's usual to read it refering to literature and cinema authors, specially form USA researchers.
And Maria, thank you very much for the link. This article is very interesting for my reserarch!