2023-08-28 18:15:15
“There is something Arab that is not Muslim. And there is a Jewish identity that is not Ashkenazi. (…) Is that called Arab Jew? » This question has obsessed documentary filmmaker Cléo Cohen for years. In this France Culture podcast, she tries to answer his questions.
And the answer deserves four episodes as this double identity sounds like an oxymoron today. First because she “has almost disappeared”: the Jewish communities of the Maghreb have almost all been forced into exile following anti-Semitic wars or insurrections. Traumatized, families have repressed their Arabness. “Speaking Arabic in the 1980s is hchouma (shame), an exiled grandmother would say to her granddaughter.
The podcast features the touching voices of younger generations, those who “Brave the fear passed on as a heritage” and the incomprehension of their elders, to search for their roots. The testimonies intersect and complement each other fluidly. These questions have an eminently universal scope: by listening to these slices of life, the listeners also question themselves about what makes their identity. Through interviews with researchers, the podcast sheds interesting light on the Maghreb countries that are building a new nationalist narrative, presenting Islam as inherent in Arab culture. Even though the Jews have populated this region for millennia.
Rare words are put forward, such as those of former Jewish members of the FLN who did not have the right to Algerian nationality at the time of the country’s independence. The abundant work of Cléo Cohen goes beyond simple intimate reflections and allows this double identity not to arise. “engulf” by history.
#reconcile #impossible #double #identity