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Maghreb Pluriel

Written in French, this book compiles various essays and writings by Abdelkebir Khatibi on postcolonialism specific to the Maghreb region in North Africa. For Khatibi, decolonization constitutes the deconstruction of the discourses that contribute to imperial domination. In the Arab world, there is the double task of deconstructing Western and Islamic metaphysics. In order to do this, he believes one must commit to penséeautre, or “thinking otherwise”. This mode of thought is open to plurality, difference, and discontinuity. This pluriel thinking challenges the concept of development, which reduced societies and individuals to their ability of self-sufficiency. Instead, a self-critical discourse will enable the creation of new North African social structures. Khatibi engages in discussion with the works of Fanon, Marx, and Ibn Khaldun to produce his own unique thinking on the Maghreb.[1]

Khatibi, Abdelkebir. Maghreb Pluriel. Paris: Denoël, 1983.
[1] I used both the original French text and the translation into English by P. Burcu Yalim to inform this entry.

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