Chakib Amghar – Voicing Crisis in Abdellatif Laabi’s Postcolonial French- Language Poetry
Defense Date: December 20th, 2025
Abstract:
Moroccan French-language poetry engages with multifaceted crises of language, identity, politics, poetic subjectivity, and readerly reception–tensions rooted in the enduring impacts of colonialism, the uncertainties of post-colonial transition, and persistent sociopolitical tensions. Within this framework, Abdellatif Laâbi emerges as a central figure whose work simultaneously exemplifies and transcends these preoccupations. However, existing scholarship has not fully explored the structural centrality of crisis that governs his poetic project, instead addressing it through broader thematic and formal investments or focusing on isolated non-poetic works. Grounded in a nuanced problematisation of crisis that considers its historical, political, and disciplinary entanglements, the dissertation employs an interdisciplinary approach that traces the complex encounters of postcolonial theory, Francophonie, and Laâbi’s poetry, revealing how his texts navigate cultural, political, historical, and contemporary intricacies through sophisticated content and innovative form. This dissertation examines the significant role of crisis in shaping Laâbi’s French-language poetry across three critical periods: his foundational work in Souffles (1966-72), his transformative prison experience (1972-80), and his subsequent engagement with exile and contemporary concerns. Building on Laâbi’s conception of poetry as “a new reality constructed from destruction and according to a project,” this dissertation demonstrates how his verse reflects crisis dynamics, operating through a dialectical framework of destruction and reconstruction. This dual movement, which occupies a liminal space between despair and hope, serves both his poetic vision and broader social project.
Keywords: Laâbi, crisis, French-language, poetry, Souffles, prison, exile, interdisciplinary, Francophonie, postcolonialism.
