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Abstract
In a 1983 essay entitled Hospitalité française, Tahar Ben Jelloun reflects upon the notion of hospitality in the context of French immigration policy and attitudes of the French towards immigrants from the Maghreb. His lengthy reflection is in conversation with Jacques Derrida’s writings on hospitality, but more so as a counterpoint to the inhospitality of the French towards immigrants. In this paper, I contend that his 2016 novel, Le mariage de plaisir is the fictional equivalent of the 1983 essay: this time, however, Ben Jelloun highlights the paradoxical nature of Moroccans’ inhospitable attitudes towards dark-skinned Moroccans as well as towards West Africans using Morocco as a transit passage toward Europe.
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
Notes
1 Translation mine.
2 A translation of this novel has not yet been published. All translations of quotes from this novel are mine.
3 In 2001, UNESCO recognized the halqa (oral storytelling circle) in Djemaa al Fna in Marrakech as “a masterpiece of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity” (Mohr). Its importance has thus been acknowledged well beyond the borders of Morocco.
4 Valerie Orlando points out that “Moroccan literature reflects elaborate, French colonial fictional imaginings and indigenous, primarily Berber oral tradition. (…) In terms of writing, the mythical example is based on an extensive and profound linguistic heritage, favoring the traditional halqua (storytelling circles) where performance narratives are acted out in front of an audience. The French model is built from a body of knowledge that relies on the individualist’s penchant for controlled storyline—récit—where reality, recounted in linear fashion, is rendered first and foremost. (…) Marc Gontard notes that for the francophone Moroccan author, French has caused “la dérégulation du système narratif,” thus exposing the tensions the author faces when he seeks to narrate traditional oral and mythical tales. These are at the heart of society’s knowledge, in the written postmodern language of a foreign voice. The disjointed or deformed text positively blends styles, rendering Moroccan francophone writing unique, both thematically and structurally” (Orlando 5-6).
5 Gnawa are a traditionally Black Muslim people in Morocco who are descendants of enslaved sub-Saharan Africans. Their unique musical traditions preserve rituals of their ancestors and deal with their roots and assimilation into Moroccan society. El Hamel draws a parallel between Gnawa music and the blues, also rooted in black American slave music (4).
6 See M. Lahlou’s work for an exploration into Morocco as transit point.
7 Although this does not seem to have a direct bearing on the comparison of the two works, it is relevant to the larger message of the novel.
8 This is true both of the original 1984 edition as well as the newer 1997 translation with a new introduction.
9 Translation mine.
10 2015 saw over a million asylum applications in the EU as a whole, and 2016 brought 1.3 million asylum applicants to the EU. “EU Migrant Crisis: Facts and Figures” Infographic (European Parliament publication, June 30, 2017).
11 As part of the EU’s so-called European Neighbourhood Policy (an incentive used by the EU to foster stability and security in neighboring countries and regions), Morocco enjoys a privileged status with the EU. The bilateral cooperation agreements cover many domains, such as renewable energy, adult literacy, health, etc. One of these areas of cooperation is migration and migration policy. Morocco received 807.5 million euros between 2014-2017, a portion of which was used to manage “irregular migration,” including the repatriation of intercepted migrants. These agreements are seen by some critics as a quid pro quo. (European Commission, European Neighbourhood Policy).
12 See Bentaleb’s “Droit des étrangers au Maroc: un vide juridique qui ne dit pas son nom.”
13 Also see the European Commission’s Factsheet Emergency Trust Fund Africa (European Commission, 2015 publication).
14 See Amiar for further details.
15 The implication of recognition in the normative and psychological dimension of autonomy and agency is an important topic, but cannot be covered in the scope of this article.
16 “Les désespérés de la terre” echoes the French title of Frantz Fanon’s seminal text, Les damnés de la terre (The Wretched of the Earth).
17 There are elements Ben Jelloun gives no space to in either book. For example, although he does discuss the lived experience of second-generation female immigrants, the experience of first-generation female immigrants is completely eclipsed in French Hospitality; similarly, in Le mariage de plaisir, the experience of “irregular” female migrants from sub-Saharan Africa is overlooked in the protracted discussion of migrants who use Morocco as a transit space on their way to Europe. Likewise, his representation of Moroccan society is uniform, leaving no space for the Amazigh, and the only Jewish woman who appears in the novel has taken on the pseudonym “Hajja,” thereby disguising her true identity.
18 The original French text reads “Parfois la fiction est plus forte que le documentaire.” The translator’s choice of “fact” doesn’t quite render the reference to a medium of communication. “Sometimes, fiction is stronger than documentary” would be a more appropriate translation.
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Aparna Nayak
Aparna Nayak is Professor of French at California State University, Long Beach. Her areas of research interest center around the inter-relations between history, memory, politics, space, and representation in the interwar and post- World War II period as well as in contemporary Francophone literatures.