8th Conference on Migration Research in Austria

On October 18, I presented in the panel “Postmigration as Reflexive Turn in Literary Studies” at the 8th Conference on Migration Research in Austria, held in Innsbruck. My paper, entitled “The Journey of Maghrebi French Characters to Success: A Postmigrant Analysis of French Fiction,” examined the gradual emergence of socially and economically mobile Maghrebi French characters in contemporary French literature. Drawing on works by Michel Houellebecq, Sabri Louatah, Farid Boudjellal, and Dominique Manotti, I explored how figures such as businessmen, detectives, and politicians both inherit and disrupt older literary tropes linked to colonial narratives, social realism, and the representation of the “Other.” Through a character-based approach, the paper asked how French fiction reflects—and helps shape—the transformations of postmigrant societies, where questions of migration, plurality, and belonging increasingly concern society as a whole rather than only individuals with a migration background. For more information, see the conference page.