Beur

Beur (or alternatively, Rebeu) is a pejorative term in French to designate European-born people whose parents or grandparents are immigrants from the Maghreb.[1] The equivalent term for a female beur is a beurette. The term rebeu is neither applicable to females nor does it have a female version. The term date back from the French colonial era, and aims to sexualize Maghrebian women. It is associated with the pornographic fantasies of white Europeans dominating submissive and sex-thirsty Maghrebian women. The French historian Christelle Taraud discovered that the week following the conquest Of Algiers, France put in place a sex-market that nourished the erotico-violent imaginary of the French settlers. Such fantasms are still trending in contemporaries pornographic productions and in French societies.[2]

The word beur was coined using verlan for the word rebeu, which means Maghrebians in French since the late 1990s This term is now the dominant term used by the younger generations (under 30). The word beurette, the female version of beur, is created by adding the -ette female suffix in French. In French many slang words are created by simply reversing the word in terms of spelling and then reading it out. Because of French grammar rules, the new word is usually completely different from the result of reversing the word phonetically. The word beurgeois is derived from a combination of the words beur and bourgeois.

The term is slightly familiar and not advised in formal speech with respect to etiquette though it will be used in the media. The term beur is used to refer to all the Berber and Arab-Berber from the Maghreb born in France.

The term beur is of French origin, and as such was traditionally mostly used in French-speaking European countries such as France (where the term originates), Belgium, Monaco, Luxembourg and Switzerland, as well as in the Maghreb. Due to cultural integration between such peoples across Europe, the term is now popular in other parts of Europe with a large Maghrebi community, such as the UK, Spain, the Netherlands and Italy.

Someone who is a Maghrebi from Europe is not necessarily a beur: the term is applied to those who have a hybrid culture between their Maghrebi roots and their status as someone who was born and raised in Europe. There is a big difference between a French Moroccan and a beur, for instance. There is a strong identity and solidarity between these people that exists irrespective of which Maghrebi country one comes from, nor the European country they were raised in: a French Algerian will see another French Algerian as they would a French Moroccan, a Belgium Moroccan or a Belgian Algerian. The term can apply to people of any ethnicity or religion, such as Maghrebi Arabs, Berbers, Maghrebi Jews, Pieds-Noirs or even Blacks who originate from the Maghreb.

Since 1992, the BEUR.FM[3] radio station has broadcast nationwide (106.7 FM in Paris). It specializes in North African Arab music and other genres (funk, rap, ... ) discussion, and news.