In Defense of Barbarism by Louisa Yousfi

A provocative, beautiful and defiant essay highlighting the pitfalls of integration in France by a talented young writer with North African roots

Is social integration all it’s cracked up to be? Not in the defiant view of first-time French author Louisa Yousfi, who herself has North African roots. Taking its inspiration from the leading Algerian writer Kateb Yacine

(‘I’m better off not being too cultivated. I have to retain a certain barbarianism’), this provocative essay explores ways of resisting the cultural and moral hegemony of the French "Empire."

Citing a wide range of cultural references, from the characters of Chester Himes and Toni Morrison to the in-your-face rap lyrics of the ‘street prophets’ Booba and PNL, she extolls the virtues of her inner barbarian and champions those brave souls who refuse to be ‘domesticated’.

Challenging the conventional wisdom that posits integration as an unalloyed...