As We Exist: A Postcolonial Autobiography

(Paperback)

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In this thoughtful coming-of-age memoir, a young sociologist reflects on her Moroccan immigrant parents, their journey to France, and how growing up an outsider shaped her identity. Imbued with tenderness for her family and a critical view of the challenges facing French North African immigrants, Kaoutar Harchi's probing account illustrates the deeply personal effects of political issues. Mixed with happy memories of her childhood home in eastern France are ever-present reminders of the dangers from which her parents sought to shield her. When they transfer her to a private, Catholic middle school-out of fear of Arab boys from their working-class neighborhood-Kaoutar grows increasingly conscious of her differences, and her conflicted sense of self. Notable events in her teens-the passing of a law in 2004 banning religious symbols from public schools; the 2005 deaths of Bouna Traore and Zyed Benna, which sparked riots against police brutality-underscore the injustice of a society that sees Muslims not as equals but as a problem to solve. With elegant, affecting prose, As We Exist charts Kaoutar's political and intellectual awakening, which would become the heart and soul of her work as a sociologist and writer.

Reviews

A simultaneously tender and powerful memoirA graceful, revelatory remembrance. Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

A powerful account of the search for home while coming of agethe moments when a young Harchi finds glimmerings of hope and joy for her future make for quietly transcendent reading. Words Without Borders

One of the most-discussed books of the momentHarchi, the child of Moroccan immigrants, takes race as her subject, seen through the lens of her life in the Strasbourg suburbs. The path to adulthood takes her from Catholic school, where shes addressed by a teacher as ma petite arabe, to university and political awakening.Times Literary Supplement

As We Exist is an easy read, informative and inspiring from cover to cover. My heart was racing on every page of this book. The author and I connect in so many ways, from our parents owning livestock on the lands they grew up to witnessing the impacts of European colonial powers. Moving borders, I know as much as the author does that hearing violence is not the same as knowing violence. Kaoutar and her family built their lives based on navigating their new lives while also living their old lives in Morocco. This is a must-read for everyone. Abdi Nor Iftin, author of Call Me American: A Memoir

The magnetism of this book, its relevance, its keenness call for an immediate rereadingsuperb.Tlrama

Author Bio

Kaoutar Harchi was born in Strasbourg, France, and was a visiting professor at New York University in 2019. A sociologist whose work focuses on culture, she studies the French-speaking world as an intellectual and social field and the trajectories of Algerian novelists who have obtained recognition in France. As We Exist is her first book to appear in English. Emma Ramadan is an educator and literary translator from French. She is the recipient of the PEN Translation Prize, the Albertine Prize, an NEA Fellowship, and a Fulbright. Her translations include Abdellah Taia's A Country for Dying, Kamel Daoud's Zabor, or The Psalms, and Barbara Molinard's Panics.