Book Description

Artistic (Self)-Representations of Islam and Muslims: Perspectives Across France and the Maghreb is a collection of essays that explores the question of artistic representation(s)/self-representation(s) of Muslim religious and cultural identity in France, the Maghreb and in/between since the 2000s. The volume offers a plurality of feminine and masculine voices and points of view on cultural Islam (Franco-French, Franco-Maghrebi, Maghrebi), all the while addressing the impact of events like 9/11, the tragic attacks in France in 2015-2016 (Charlie Hebdo, Stade de France, Bataclan, Nice), and the Arab Spring. Taken together, the volume features a transnational and transversal set of artistic voices that are not looking for consensus, but rather invoke dissensus (Rancière) and a full range of expression. A necessary part of that full range of expression is (self)-representations: Muslims representing themselves, though this is no facile (self)-representations, as artists continue to use the properties of the imagination and performance to complexify an easy reading, reductive meaning, or oversimplified interpretation. This interdisciplinary study contributes to the fields of French and Francophone Studies, Humanities and Global/Cultural Studies such as political studies, sociology, political philosophy, literature, cinema, visual arts and media studies with a focus on broadening views on the topic of Islam and Muslim (self)-representations across disciplines. Ramona Mielusel is Associate Professor of French and Francophone Studies at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. She is interested in interdisciplinary and comparative approaches to Contemporary French and Francophone Cultural Studies with a special focus on immigration, transnationalism, multiculturalism, postcolonial studies and identity politics. She is the author of Langue, espace et (re)composition identitaire dans les oeuvres de Mehdi Charef, Farid Boudjellal et Tony Gatlif (L'Harmattan, 2015) and Franco-Maghrebi Artists of the 2000s. Transnational Narratives and Identities (Brill Publishers, 2018) as well as of several articles and book chapters. She co-edited with Dr. Simona Emilia Pruteanu the volume Citizenship and Belonging in France and North America. Multicultural Perspectives on Political, Cultural and Artistic Representations of Immigration (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020).