PAMLA 2015 / Call for Conference Paper
Bernard Maris, the French economist and college professor, had written a book on Michel Houellebecq, which focused on the insightful views, in terms of economics, developed in his novels. Maris, who reviewed Houellebecq’s latest novel, Submission, in Charlie Hebdo, had just sent the revised version of his soon-to-be published book, La France douce et amère (Bittersweet France), days before he was shot dead in the Parisian terrorists attacks. The focus of the panel is to discuss texts (fiction or non-fiction) which, in the face of an extremely complex situation, offer a valid description of it, and lead to constructive and fruitful suggestions for France (and perhaps more widely the West).
As evidenced in Houellebecq’s novels, a significant number of people in France have been drowning in doubts and disenchantment. The situation in the poor areas located on the outskirts of most towns and cities, referred to as “banlieues”, with their “tours HLM” (cultural equivalent of the American inner cities and their projects), has been problematic since the 70s. There, often, an impoverished community struggles to find a job, while aspiring at finding success and gaining access to consumerism. In these areas more than anywhere else in France, a minority of young males face an identity crisis and sometimes turn to wrong role models, who rule through violence. Bourgeois society looks away from this blind mental spot. A significant part of France’s 5 millions of Muslims (who are underrepresented) lives there.
Today, the rise of Islamic fundamentalism, in connection to the difficult heritage of decolonization, forces France to deal efficiently with a pressing danger. The goal of our panel is to reflect on how France can restore hope, prosperity and civil safety. How can it appease the resentments? How can it regain the trust of its African and Middle-Eastern partners?
Our panel welcomes informed narrations and documents, fiction or non-fiction, which offer descriptions, explanations, and perhaps lay foundations for the necessary healing process to engage. The panelists are welcome to focus on a particular angle. In the face of the recent killings in Paris, perpetrated by troubled men born and raised around Paris, the French have a duty to cure and reinvigorate their social bonds. Education must aim at re-establishing reason and creation over despair and destruction. These appalling murders, as well as the tens of thousands of other lives shockingly lost in various places they echo, should open a new exchange between nations, and also between individuals. How can France (and the West) bring back clarity in the vision of the ones who find theirs obscured?
Our panel will take place during the 113th annual conference of PAMLA (Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association), which will be held in Portland, Oregon, in November 6-8, 2015.
The deadline to send your proposition of communication is June 10, 2015.
On June 11, 2015, you will be contacted by the Chair of the panel.