The inclusion of the Maghreb - North Africa - in a seminar about Europe is due to enlargements in the colonial past but also to the ambitions of at least parts of the Maghreb to belong to an enlarged Europe in the future. The relationship between France and her former colonies has not always been close since their independence, but on the whole it has been in the interest of both sides to maintain political and economic links. In cultural terms the relationship is even more complex: officially the French language has been reduced to the level of ‘foreign language’, yet French cultural influence has not diminished since the end of the colonial era, despite widespread fears that it undermines Maghrebian cultural ‘authenticity’, and at the same time the presence of a large Maghrebian community in France is seen by some as a threat to French ‘national identity’.

In this paper I aim to explain the presence of both French and Islamic cultures in the Maghreb, and the way they are perceived and interact on either side of the Mediterranean. I will take some specific examples to demonstrate the ambiguous nature of Franco-Maghrebian cultural relations, and attempt to assess the cultural effects of the political and economic enlargements of the past and present.

The Maghreb is an Arabic word meaning ‘where the sun sets’ and it represents the Far West of the Arab world. The term Maghreb officially includes Libya and Mauritania, but for most French people the term refers to the three central countries of Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, and I will use the term to refer only to these three. Although the population is probably more than 99% Muslim, and all three countries are members of the Arab League, the region is much closer to Western Europe than to Mecca, the heart of the Arabo-Islamic world. Only a few miles of Mediterranean separate Northern Morocco from Gibraltar, and both Morocco and Tunisia have for some years been negotiating entry into the European Union. Its geographical location means that it has always been something of a crossroads between Africa, Europe and the Middle East, and has received cultural influences from many sources. However, only one source - Arabo-Islamic - is officially recognised as ‘authentic’, and one in particular - French - is officially ignored or denied. In order to understand why this is the case, it is necessary, without going into too much detail, to explain the origins of both the Islamic and French cultural presence in the region.

As far as we are aware the original inhabitants of the Maghreb were the Berber tribes, who still account for around half the population of Morocco and Algeria. They traditionally lived in the mountains and had no political or other organisation, which left the area open to various invaders, including the Romans who occupied the Maghreb for about five centuries. It was only the Arab invaders in the seventh century CE who succeeded in leaving a lasting mark on the area, however. The first Arab invasion was in 640, and by 670 they had establishing a capital (in Qairouan, present day Tunisia), but it was probably another century before they really controlled the region, after quelling a number of revolts from Berber tribes. The process of Arabisation and islamicisation of the region was slow but lasting, with the result that today it is more or less true that to be Maghrebian is to be Muslim, and despite varied ethnic origins, most Maghrebians would call themselves Arabs.

French cultural influence dates from far more recent invasions: 1830 in the case of Algeria, 1881 for Tunisia and 1912 for Morocco. In common with other Western European countries in the nineteenth century, France was interested in enlarging her boundaries, and invaded Algeria with the idea of creating a French colony, peopled with Frenchmen who would be part of the ‘mission civilisatrice’, turning Algeria into an extension of ‘the metropolis’. Algeria thus became French property as a result of a military invasion, whereas Tunisia and Morocco both asked the French to assist them with economic problems, and agreed to become French Protectorates. France did not plan to use these countries as colonies in the same way as Algeria, and the French presence was never so strong. In all three countries, however, the French aimed to create a small elite who would think and speak like them, with the result that the ruling class who emerged after Independence in 1956 and 1962 was heavily influenced by French culture, and yet believed that this should be eradicated from their independent nations.

To conclude this historical background, it can be said that since Independence Arabo-Islamic culture has been promoted as the only ‘authentic’ culture for the Maghreb, and French culture denounced as the culture of the colonial oppressor. Nevertheless popular opinion and actual practice among all social classes indicates at least an ambiguous attitude towards French, if not towards Islamic culture. The rest of this paper will outline the prejudices and preconceptions of each side towards the other, and give some specific examples to illustrate them.

There is a tendency on the part of both French and Maghrebian commentators to view the cultural issue as a simple opposition of modernity versus traditional culture, with different connotations. For French (and most Western) observers, French culture, which is perceived as typical of Western culture, is modern, democratic and therefore good, whereas Islamic culture is traditional, anti-democratic and therefore bad. Maghrebian observers on the other hand may make similar polarisations but draw different conclusions: Islamic culture is traditional, authentic, religious and therefore good, whilst French (Western) culture is modern, licentious, irreligious and therefore bad. For Maghrebians French culture is primarily the culture of the former colonial oppressor, and to acknowledge that it has had any positive influence in the Maghreb would be tantamount to saying that colonialism was good for the region, so it is safer to denounce it or simply ignore it. Official discourse in all three countries consistently emphasises their Arabo-Islamic identity.

This polarisation of the two cultures is an unfortunate consequence of the colonial era, a fact which is often overlooked, as there is a tendency, on both sides, to assume that Islamic culture is intrinsically backward and traditional, and French culture intrinsically modern and liberating. It is important, however, to stress the cultural impact of the colonial experience itself. Zakya Daoud, a Moroccan sociologist, describes colonisation as the ‘confiscation of historical initiative’ (Daoud, 1993: 11), suggesting that, if the Arabo-Islamic world appears to be culturally backward, it is at least in part because it was not allowed to grow up at the same time as Western countries. All cultures change and develop, at varying rates, but colonisation interrupted this natural development in the Maghreb, with two important consequences: firstly Maghrebians find themselves confronted with a second culture, one which is perceived as being forced on them but at the same time as being attractive and desirable. Secondly, they tend to have an excessive loyalty to their ‘traditional’ culture, which would probably not be so strong if it had been allowed to develop naturally. This leads to a kind of identity crisis for many Maghrebians today: they want to be ‘authentic’ Maghrebians, faithful to their own traditions, yet they see the value of many aspects of French culture.

In terms of culture then the repercussions of the colonial experience are twofold. At societal level there is a widespread belief that for Maghrebian society to progress and become truly modern it must reject its own cultural traditions and adopt those of an outside culture, as it appears that Islamic society is unable to change and modernise, whereas French culture is already modernised. At a personal level, people often feel that they must choose between the two cultures, and cannot integrate elements of both. There is a feeling that all French (Western) culture is anti-Islamic per se, and to be a ‘true’ Maghrebian, and good Muslim, means rejecting French culture. This polarisation is accentuated by the fact that most Maghrebians have relatives or friends or neighbours who live in France (or another Western European country) and thus are keenly aware of the different standards of living. It is easy to compare the two countries and to conclude that Islamic culture is associated with a ‘traditional’, backward lifestyle, whilst French culture is associated with a modern, more comfortable way of life, and one must choose one or the other.

The same polarisation is frequently made in France too, where groups such as the Front National make much of the cultural differences between France and the Maghreb, and spread fears that the presence of a large Maghrebian community on French soil will lead to a loss of ‘national identity’ and a weakening of traditional French culture. Images of thousands of Muslims at Friday prayers in large French cities, rundown suburbs where young people are being recruited by Muslim extremist groups and teenage girls wearing Islamic headscarves in mainstream schools appear fairly frequently in the media and are disturbing to many French people. On the other hand, recent research by official French research institutes (INSEE, see Tribalat, 1995) indicates that in actual fact the vast majority of ‘second generation immigrants’ are culturally far closer to their French peers than to their Maghrebian parents. Although elements of Islamic culture are retained and passed on, it is inevitable that most young people who grow up in France identify closely with French culture. This is hardly headline news, however, and so is not much talked about in the media.

Having painted rather a negative picture of two apparently inimical cultures, I will now talk about a number of areas in which they do interact and suggest that as the independent Maghrebian nations mature they are able to adopt and adapt aspects of French culture, whilst France, secure in her own culture, is able to recognise the positive cultural impact of its Maghrebian community.

The way in which a society views male and female roles is clearly a basic element of that society’s culture, but one which is obviously not bound to be static. Unfortunately for Maghrebian women, one of the results of colonisation is a tendency to believe that to be ‘authentic’ Maghrebian society must return to how it was before the colonial era, and assume that it would not have progressed or developed by itself during this period. For women this would mean being confined to the home, unable to exercise a profession of any sort or even to go out for other purposes very often. There is no positive image of the Maghrebian Muslim woman to follow, and the French model is seen as emancipated but also immoral. Ghita El-Khayat, a Moroccan psychologist, suggests that the rupture of colonialism means that Maghrebian women must reinvent a new way of living as Muslims (1992: 117). It is no longer enough simply to be a good wife and mother, many women now embrace a more active, even agressive form of Islam: these women are not submissive, but wish to reject western feminism and assert themselves as Muslim women, taking part in all areas of society, including politics, protected by their veil (Daoud, 1993: 29). Not all women wish to follow this model, however, and in practice a new model is evolving which is a compromise between traditional islamic and modern French.

I would like to illustrate this with reference to women’s clothing in the Maghreb. Baha Trabelsi, a Moroccan writer, points out that fashion is always symbolic of something, linked to a sociocultural context, and that for Moroccan women the relationship with fashion is particularly complex, as fashion is in some way the mirror of society (quoted in Femmes du Maroc, April 1996, my translation). If this is the case, then Moroccan society is indeed complex; it is completely normal in Morocco to see, in the same street, women covered from head to foot in sombre colours, their mouth and nose hidden by a half veil, others who would not be out of place in any Western European country, in jeans, and others in brightly coloured jellabahs, with or without coordinating headscarves. For many working women, Western dress is seen as the only appropriate attire for work, whilst at home they may adopt a more traditional style for comfort, and for parties and special occasions they are more likely to wear traditional qaftan or tkshita, more formal yet more comfortable than Western ‘evening wear’.

For women who grew up during the colonial era, like Fatima Mernissi, the Moroccan sociologist, French dress symbolised the modern woman who went out to work instead of being confined to the home. Mernissi recounts (The Harem within) how her mother insisted that she, as a girl, must wear French clothes, even though Moroccan garments were more comfortable and practical. Yasmine Tazi, a psychologist, claims that, as a Moroccan, she does not feel that dressing in Western fashion leads to a loss of identity, but at the same time neither is it necessarily a sign of freedom. One can very well wear a mini-skirt and not be at all emancipated psychologically, and conversely, wear a jellabah whilst being totally liberated inside. (Quoted in Femmes du Maroc, April 1996) If fashion mirrors society, then, Maghrebian society is a veritable melting pot of East and West, where women can feel comfortable in a variety of styles. Maghrebian women’s magazines reflect this in their fashion pages, where the same unwearable Western fashions which grace the pages of European women’s magazines alternate with ‘special issues’ on new designs in caftans and jellabahs (eg FDM, Citadine, Jan 1998).

The use of French is still widespread in certain areas of cultural production, most notably literature, and in fact is actually expanding for a number of reasons. Firstly there are many more Francophones than ever before in the Maghreb, due to the democratisation of education since independence, and secondly because French appears to lend itself more readily to certains subjects, either because Arabic has not been sufficiently elaborated (science and technology) or because the sacred nature of the language means that it seems inappropriate to use it (sex and politics). It should be mentioned here, briefly, that the Arabic of Arabisation is not the language spoken by Maghrebians every day, but a form known in English as Modern Standard Arabic, which is closely related to Classical Arabic, and rather less closely to the dialects spoken throughout the Maghreb. This means that children must effectively learn a foreign language before they can read and write, and thus in some ways the written form of French is not more alien than the written form of Arabic. Even though state schools are now totally arabised, French is still taught from about the age of eight or nine, and so all educated Maghrebians master French as well as Arabic.

There is thus a wide audience for cultural products in French - books, films, television programmes - and the subject matter can be far more varied than in Arabic. There is a tradition of Maghrebian literature in French dating back to before independence, which shows no sign of disappearing, despite the fact that for some ten years now schools have been totally arabised and, in theory, French is an alien language for young people. Not only established authors such as Ben Jelloun (winner of the Prix Goncourt in 1989) and Driss Chraïbi, continue to write in French, but younger writers also choose French rather than Arabic, as a more appropriate medium for literature. Similarly, many new magazines, such as the women’s magazines mentioned earlier, are produced in French, even though they are aimed entirely at a Moroccan market. Such magazines in themselves often demonstrate a real mixture of French and Islamic cultures, for example in the issues which coincided with Ramadan there were, in addition to the usual features on relationships, working life and health and beauty, articles on how to avoid putting on weight during Ramadan, recipes specially for the ‘breakfast’ and advice on physical and spiritual health during this holy month.

Television is primarily state-controlled in all three countries of the Maghreb, and the national channels therefore aim to implement Arabisation, yet a relatively large percentage of programmes are either in French or contain elements of French. In Tunisia the state had allowed a French channel to broadcast via the terrestrial network, and in Morocco the second national channel broadcasts in French 50% of the time. Moreover, with the advent of satellite television, most town-dwellers have access to French channels. If the French language is the expression of French culture, then Maghrebians are exposed to it more than ever before, and French cultural influence is certainly not about to declineas long as French cultural production remains more interesting and entertaining than Arabic.

Briefly it is important to reiterate the fact that religion is in some ways at the heart of this issue. Essentially Maghrebian identity is based on its Islamic foundations, whereas French identity has two sources: its catholic past and its secular republican tradition. Western culture in general and French culture in particular are seen as irreligious and dangerous in countries where religion is still very important to the majority of the population, who define themselves primarily as Muslims. However, this insistance on the religious dimension of national identity can lead to problems, as Algeria has discovered painfully over the last few years. The perhaps inevitable conclusion of a quarter of a century of such insistance was the success of Islamic fundamentalists in national elections, with the tragic consequences which are still unfolding. As a result of this, the ruling class in Morocco appears to be acknowledging, albeit tacitly, that such extremism can perhaps be avoided by leaning more heavily on the French cultural heritage. A sign of this is the inauguration last year of a new programme for French in schools: for the first time in a decade programme makers recognised the importance of teaching language in the context of culture and not simply as a ‘means of communication’. As mentioned earlier, all the Maghrebian states are confessional, but there is perhaps a growing recognition of the value of French influence as a means of tempering extremist Islamic tendencies.

Although France’s enlargement across the Mediterranean has long since ended in the political sense, culturally French influence is still strong, and likely to remain so. In their everyday lives Maghrebians are frequently coming face to face with aspects of French culture, which for various reasons continues both to attract and repel them. However, it is probable that as the colonial era becomes increasingly a distant memory and entry to the new enlarged Europe a more realistic possibility the French cultural heritage will be more easily accepted by Maghrebian society.

Daoud, Z. (1993). Féminisme et politique au Maghreb, Casablanca: Editions EDDIF.

El Khayat, G. (1992). Le Maghreb des femmes, Casablanca: Editions EDDIF.

Mernissi, F. (1995). The Harem Within. Tales of a Moroccan Girlhood, London: Bantam.

Tribalat, M. (1995). Faire France, Paris: La Découverte.

Femmes du Maroc April 1996, Jan 1998

Citadine Jan 1998