Transforming Family: Queer Kinship and Migration in Contemporary Francophone Literature, Dr. Jocelyn Frelier
"In Transforming Family: Queer Kinship and Migration in Contemporary Francophone Literature, Jocelyn Frelier takes up Jarrod Hayes’ assertion that ‘in some ways the Nation is always already queer’ (2000, 11), turning her attention to the always already queer ‘trans- families’ that inhabit novels by francophone authors of the North African diaspora. In three distinct sections, Frelier thoughtfully exam- ines how these writers mobilise portrayals of transnational, transcultural, and transdiasporic kinship models respectively, and in doing so propose an alterna- tive to rigid colonial models of the nuclear family. She especially emphasises the autofictional nature of the texts, opening each chapter with a biography of the writer that emphasises their experiences and self-identification as members of trans- families. In response, Frelier herself adopts a feminist autoethnographic approach inspired by Trinh T. Minh-ha’s conception of ‘speaking nearby’ (1992), noting in a preface and multiple interludes the influence of her own background as a member of a migrant trans- family. Her use of feminist autoethnography is one of the few examples of its kind in francophone literary studies, as is her emphasis on the transnational family rather than the individual as a queer subject, making her book a valuable addition to the field of post- and decolonial queer studies."
- Émilie Hautemont, Journal of North African Studies
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