CULTURE La Francophonie Les Contes francophones T’es branché? Unité 3B

POINTS de DÉPART – La Francophonie p.167 La Tunisie Tunisia is the smallest of the three Maghreb nations (Morocco, Algerie and Tunisia) Its population is a little over 10 million inhabitants and its capital city is Tunis The majority of the population lives on the coast in Gabès, Bizerte, Sfax and Sousse From 1883 it became a French Protectorate and gained its independence in 1956. Habib Bourguiba became the first President of a republic characterized by power held by one political party, the Néo-Destour Tunisia has always held education to be very important and devotes 21% of its resources to it. Today almost 80% of the population is literate and 70% of the population, both boys and girls, has a school education. More than 20,000 students attend university where more than 30% of professors are women

La Tunisie

Le “souk” (marché) tunisien

Le peuple tunisien

Le thé à la menthe et les desserts

L’Immigration maghrébine en France p.168 Nowadays there are three generations of immigrants of Maghreb descent in France (immigrants, children and great grandchildren). They number between 3.5 and 6 million people, about 5% of the total French population. The majority are immigrants of Algerian origin (900,000) followed by Moroccans (450,000) and finally Tunisians (220,000). Today immigration is due to family regrouping (about 50%) and to a lesser degree for financial reasons. Political asylum represents 16% of demand, therefore it is more important than immigration for economic reasons. Almost 8% of under 18 year olds in France are of Maghreb descent. They are concentrated in the Paris region where they are about 12% of the population. Among students wishing to come study in France, a quarter of foreign students come from Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria. Some immigrants return often to their country of origin. When they return to France they bring clothes, art, fabric, and other things with them from their country of origin. There are Maghreb people who open restaurants where they serve their country’s specialties and sell spices, fabric, handicrafts and other things to the French and Maghreb population.

Les contes maghrébins p.169 (= Maghreb Tales) The imaginitive and poetic nature of the Berber and Arabic soul has given birth to a very varied storytelling literature. There are religious tales which attribute extraordinary miracles to saints, like “Lalla Mimouna” – the story of a virtuous woman whose determination to learn the prayer to get to know God gives her the power to stop a ship and to walk on water. There are also nice and humorous tales like Joha, the most popular comic hero of the Orient, both sly and naïve. He plays tricks on his fellow citizens, tells them truths not good to hear. Joha is known as Bechkerker in Algerian Aurès, Brozi and Moussa in Moroccan Riff, BenChekran the drunk or Bou Hamar, the man riding a donkey in Arab tribes. These tales have a moralistic role. There are also numerous tales of animals, especially in Kabyl: the jackal, the hedgehog, or the hare are familiar character heroes full of cunning tricks. As for tales of magic, they must be told at night according to tradition with the threat of becoming bad or of having bad kids. Finally there are tales whose storyline is similar to those Western tales: Le Petit Poucet (Tom Thumb), becomes Mqidech or Haddidouan, who fights against the ogress (Ghoula in Arabic, Teriel in Kabyl)