Literatura magrebí en el exilio: Recreando identidad

Toe airn of this article is to analyse representative Franco-Maghrebian novels dealing with exile and to explore in them the interaction between Self and Other in the process of ethnic definitions. Toe characters in these novels carry with them a wide range of ethnic identities which are more or less salient depending on the circumstances and vis a vis various audiences. A study of the different meanings applied to the term "Arab" as well as the contexts in which this category is obscured in favour of other ethnic identities is undertaken. According to recent research, ethnicity is a constructionist dialectic played out by ethnic groups and the larger society. lt involves a socially constructed, variable definition of Self and Other, whose existen ce and meaning are continuously· negotiated, revised, and revitalized, both by ethnic group members themselves as well as by outside observers.