Between Political Failure and Cultural Identity: The Emergence of the ‘Beur Movement’ in France in the 1980s

Abstract

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.