Catalogue : Un si�cle d'histoire culturelle des Maghr�bins en France

Generations : A hundred year cultural history of North Africans in France

Under the “Cultures du Maghreb Acte X” festival and in partnership with Trait d’Union, the exhibition set by Génériques will be presented in Caen at la collégiale du Saint Sépulcre from the 11th of March to the 29th of April 2011.

By telling the stories of ordinary men and women, especially artists, this exhibition offers the opportunity to (re)discover a hundred year history of the North African presence in France. Enriched with unreleased documents, this event addresses neglected parts of the history of immigration in France.

Artists are both precious witnesses and actors of the destiny of their communities. By presenting pieces from the literature, the cinema, the TV, the drama and the art scenes, the exhibition tells us about a century of North African settlement in France with few methodological choices:

Embracing long term history :

From the pioneers of the second half of the XIXth century to the radical changes of the last decades.

Telling History through populations’ views

Cultural items are premium witnesses of the relationship people foster with their environment : a long settling process, two world wars, colonization and independence wars… Artists sing, draw and tell us about their experiences.

Telling history through individual stories

Whether French or North African, people’s life trajectories are often poorly known : From Emir Abd El Kader, celebrated by Napoleon the IIIrd to the 1983 demonstrators. From the Kabyl Ahmed Ben Amar El Gaïd: founding father of the Amar Circus to the today’s stars.

From Memory to History

Without avoiding conflicts, encounters or metissages and by taking into account all the aspects of this cultural history: the exhibition aspires to write a rigorous history: from the judeo-muslim orchestras to the current rising community tensions.

With support from

Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication, European Commission, European Social Fund, Agence nationale pour la cohésion sociale et l'égalité des chances, Ministère de L'Intérieur, de l’Outre-mer, des collectivités territoriales et de l’immigration, Ville de Caen, Ville d’Hérouville Saint-Clair, Région Basse-Normandie, Conseil de la communauté marocaine à l’étranger, Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations, Fondation Total, Fondation d'entreprise France-Télévisions, Médiathèque de l'architecture et du patrimoine, Trait d’Union, Institut national de l'audiovisuel, La Cinémathèque Française, Etablissement de Communication et de Production Audiovisuelle de la Défense, EMI Music-France

Steering committee

Meriem Abed - Isabelle Adjani - Salah Amokrane - Sid Ahmed Benaissa - Athmene Benlghendouze - Yamina Benguigui - Hamid Berrada - Jean-Louis Bianco - Hamou Bouakkaz - Khédidja Bourcart - Marie-Georges Buffet - Mehdi Charef - François Chérèque - Daniel Cohn-Bendit - Bertrand Collomb - Bernard Debré - Bertrand Delanoë - Michel Destot - Amar Dib - Philippe Douste-Blazy - Jean-Pierre Dubois - Hakim El Karoui - Amina Ennceiri - Laurent Fabius – Geneviève Fioraso - Jean-Claude Gaudin - Kamel Hamadi - Razzye Hammadi – Mohamed Harbi – Stéphane Hessel - Laid Jelloul - Alain Juppé - Salem Kacet - Zaïr Kedadouche - Kacim Kellal - Chérif Kheddam - Bariza Khiari - Blandine Kriegel - Jack Lang - Pierre Mauroy - Noël Mamère - Pierre Méhaignerie - Khaled Melhaa - Serge Moati – Noura - Edouard Pellet - Christian Poncelet - Habib Reda - Rim'K du 113 - Antoine Rufenacht - Yazid Sabeg - Pierre Saragoussi – Louis Schweitzer - Lucile Schmid - Leïla Sebbar – Philippe Séguin - Smaïn - Bernard Thibault - Alima Thierry-Boumediene - Jacques Toubon - Michel Tubiana - Najat Vallaud-Belkacem - Simone Veil - Akli Yahyaten - Mahmoud Zemouri...