Assistant Professor of French and Francophone Studies Claire Mouflard recently published an article titled "The Digital Griotte: Bessora's Para/Textual Discourses on Identity Politics and Neocolonialism in Contemporary France" in the peer-reviewed journal Humanities.
The article addresses the nature and function of Belgian author Bessora’s online publications as they pertain to a global discourse on identity politics, nationalism, and neocolonialism. These digital productions are considered alongside Bessora’s print productions, and the dynamic between the two types of publications is examined according to the notions of the real and the symbolic as they have been analyzed by French philosopher Jean Baudrillard.
Specifically, the article studies Bessora’s online reactions to the post-Charlie Hebdo terrorist attacks of 2015, in particular the #jesuischarlie slogan that instantly spread on social media and came to define a form of utopic French society. Against this symbolic message which was spread in the realm of the symbolic (online platforms and other social networks), Bessora addresses the disappearance of the real and encourages her reader to question the post-Charlie national ideology as she creates connections to the real in her online publications.
This article was published as part of a special issue of Humanities titled "Alternative Episteme: New Practices in Francophone Films and Literatures."
