Teaching Arabic Literature in France: Problems and Approaches

Over the past two decades, the teaching of Arabic in Europe,  and France in particular, has made significant progress for several reasons, notably geopolitical ones. Indeed, since the terrorism of Al-Qaeda and Daesh has begun to strike within Europe and the United States, and since the American invasion in Iraq aiming at fighting terrorism, several institutions have set up teaching the Arabic language. While individuals’ and state institutions’ interest in the Arabic language has been beneficial, it has in the meantime been detrimental, because it directly associates the Arabic language with Islam and does not consider it as a regular language among many others. In France, although the beginning of the teaching of Arabic is historically linked to colonial times, it was gradually dissociated from this bias and settled as a purely academic teaching in universities. The present study proposes a historical reading of this teaching and discusses its current state in French universities. It focuses on the teaching of Arabic literature from its syllabi in relation to the cultural and political situations that Europe, in general, and France, in particular, are experiencing.