Violence, discipline et résistance : la politique de l’espace dans Petit Pays de Gaël Faye

Abstract

Based on Foucault's theory of space, this article analyzes the opposition between two central spaces in Gaël Faye's Petit Pays: the Impasse and the Cabaret. The Impasse, a product of colonial history and class privilege, appears on the surface as a childhood paradise, but in reality conceals a violent inscription of colonialism. The outbreak of war shifts the disciplinary logic of this space from the hidden to the manifest, ultimately transforming the protagonist Gabriel from victim to executioner. Conversely, the Cabaret, a stable space going through the pre-war, the war and the post-war period, constituted a resistance to violent power through its suspension of racial boundaries, the continuity of daily life and the preservation of plural memories. Through the contrasting analysis of these two spaces, this article sheds light on the internal logic of the cycle of violence and the possibilities of resistance in the postcolonial context.