Artist and cultural entrepreneur, Sofiane Si Merabet, 43, is the author of The confused Arab (Belfond, 236 pages, 20 euros). He runs the Instagram account @theconfusedarab and questions Arab identities and memories.
You explain that nostalgia is the most shared feeling among the different Arab communities. Why?
The word “nostalgia” does not have negative connotations among Arabs. The Haneenit is a feeling that we grew up with, whether in the diaspora or in Arab societies. In the diaspora, it is the myth of the lost country. But even people who stay in their country raise their children with this idea that it was better before.
Among Arabs, this nostalgia is coupled with a feeling of civilizational downgrading linked to the myth of Andalusia, pan-Arabism, etc. There is a desire to reassure oneself by looking to the past. Today, this way of thinking is being challenged thanks to the diasporas established in Western countries. There is also the influence of the Gulf countries, which manage to show another relationship with the present and the future.
You live in the United Arab Emirates. Do you live, in a way, a double exile?
My departure to the Gulf was voluntary and linked to a desire to rebuild my identity. I went there for the first time in 2004. Seeing signs in Arabic on modern buildings made me understand that it was not just a language of the past linked to religion. It acted as a bandage on the fact that my Arab identity had been denied and misunderstood in French society.
I have a double nostalgia, that of a dream Algeria and that of the France that I left. In my childhood, I was taught: “Algeria is your identity, and whether it is good or bad, it is a part of you.” This is what helped me to be curious and more assertive in my identity construction. The fact of having left France sixteen years ago allows me to see how much my country has changed. If I am nostalgic, it is above all for the image that France projected to the world. Words like “Republic”, “secularism”, “equality” had value. By rediscovering my Arab identities, I learned to love my French identity even more. Jordan Bardella and Eric Ciotti do not have the monopoly on saying what France should be.
Was your departure from France rather chosen or imposed?
I had a job with opportunities for advancement in France, it was going very well, even if I was caught up by the glass ceiling. I left because I needed to live in an Arab country. The Gulf was a revelation for me. I understood that Arabs were not condemned to poverty and underdevelopment. In the Gulf, there is a pre-colonial imagination that allows one to escape direct and civilizational adversity.
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