Francophone Post-Colonial Cultures: Critical Essays by Kamal Salhi (review)

Abstract

MLRy ioo.i, 2005 223 Francophone Post-Colonial Cultures: Critical Essays. Ed. by Kamal Salhi. (After the Empire: The Francophone World and Postcolonial France) Lanham: Lexington Books. 2003. xiv + 471 pp. $90 (pbk $40). ISBN 0-7391-0567-1 (pbk o-7391-0568-x). Kamal Salhi's timely collection of essays, which is part of an excellent new series, arrives at a moment when debates on the relationship between Francophone Studies and postcolonial theory are increasingly preoccupying scholars in this area. The com? bination of 'Francophone' and 'Post-Colonial' in the title promises a work that will attempt to chart the postcolonial dimensions of Francophone cultural production. Unfortunately, the collection does not deliver on this initial promise, as the disparate nature of the twenty-nine essays included reflects the book's origins as a series of conference papers (accompanied by a few commissioned pieces), which largely deal with individual texts/authors rather than charting the shape of this new field. Disappointingly , Salhi's brief introduction has little space to discuss the themes or concepts linking the essays. Moreover, there is a fundamental ambiguity throughout the intro? duction, which claims that the book 'is intended to combine a variety of approaches to twentieth-century Francophone and post-colonial forms of expression' (p. xi), as though the 'Francophone' and the 'post-colonial' were entirely separate. Indeed, 'Francophone and Post-Colonial Cultures' would have made a more accurate title (al? though virtually all the essays have a literary focus), as the collection is split between those who deploy postcolonial theories in their textual analyses and those who adopt other critical approaches, ranging from complex poststructuralist critiques to more straightforwardj formal, textual commentary. Effectively,the collection is caught be? tween two stools: it seeks to embrace postcolonial theories?although there is some confusion as to whether 'post(-)colonial' is used purely as a chronological rather than a theoretical term?but it continues to adopt the traditional Francophone Studies strategy of defining the 'Francophone' as the literary production of everywhere ex? cept (primarily white) metropolitan France. If the collection is truly 'postcolonial' in approach, how can discussions of Swiss literature or Belgian regionalist novels be included? These essays contain ideas potentially relevant to postcolonial studies but they simply do not utilize postcolonial theories. This pattern is repeated throughout the collection: some essays adopt a resolutely postcolonial stance, while others do not engage with postcolonial theory at all. Essays are grouped by geographical region (North Africa/Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa, Caribbean, North America, Europe, Indian Ocean/South-East Asia, Pacific Ocean), which furtherundermines the stated desire to chart common themes/ideas, as differenttraditions are juxtaposed rather than viewed within a comparative framework. Despite misgivings about the overall rationale and structure ofthe collection, there is no doubting the quality of many of the essays (slightly marred by inconsistent edit? ing). Margaret Majumdar provides an intelligent overview of the evolving definitions of la Francophonie. There are also some excellent examples ofpostcolonial approaches to Francophone texts: for example, Rachel Langford on the films of Ousmane Sembene and Souleymane Cisse; Eric Prieto on landscape and identity in contemporary Caribbean literature; Emily Vaughan Roberts on the work of Linda Le. The sections on North America and Europe include some fascinating essays but they contain little in the way of postcolonial approaches. Above all, the collection will be of interest to the reader seeking critical material on the particular authors or texts dealt with in individual essays. However, the reader looking for a coherent introduction to post? colonial approaches to Francophone cultures will be leftdisappointed: better rewards are to be found in the other volumes in this series. University of Stirling David Murphy ...