Between political failure and cultural identity : the emergence of the ‘Beur Movement’ in France in the 1980s

Didier Chabanet (1)

1 TRIANGLE - Triangle : action, discours, pensée politique et économique

In the early 1980s, France witnessed the rise of the so-called Beur Movement, which mainly mobilized migrant youths from the metropolitan suburbs (banlieues). The term ‘beur’ comes from verlan, a form of French slang that inverts the syllables within words. The word arabeu (Arabian) is thus changed into beu-ra-a and subsequently shortened to beur. The Beur Movement emerged at a time of rising unemployment and political strife — a period in which the left came to power, while at the same time the extreme-right party, Front National (FN), grew to become a national political force. It was within this overall context that the integration of young immigrants became salient, particularly within the most deprived suburbs

Mots clés: Beur Movement; collective actions; France; migrants; social movements; suburbs; youth; youth protests

Domaines: Science politique

Didier Chabanet. Between political failure and cultural identity : the emergence of the ‘Beur Movement’ in France in the 1980s. Andresen, Knud ; van der Steen, Bart. A European youth revolt : European perspectives on youth protest and social movements in the 1980s, Palgrave Macmillan UK, pp.172-185, 2016, Palgrave studies in the history of social movements. ⟨halshs-01327724⟩