Ngadi, InaamABSTRACT Title of dissertation: OPPRESSED IDENTITIES: COLONIAL APPROACH. MIRAGE OR A DRIFT Inaam Ngadi, Master’s Program, 2020 Dissertation directed by: Doctor Caroline Eades Department of French Literature Our contemporary times throughout the past decades have known an unprecedented killings and massacres that keep recurring repeatedly. This recurring cycle of violence goes beyond any human reasoning and increases social discomfort globally. These attacks occur on a worldwide scale, nevertheless according to an international study made by George Washington University in 2017 , France is the country that is the most affected by radical “Islamic” terrorist acts in Europe (Figaro.fr, 2017). The source of these suicidal and criminal acts has been systematically attributed to religion, ethnic or national factors without looking deeper into the source of the matter. In fact, the media has been systematically associating suicidal acts of terror to Islamic movements that are claimed to be deriving from Islamic religion. What I am trying to assess through this research work, is the fact that there are rather economic, political, and cultural factors associated with colonialism and neocolonialism that have strongly influenced the current global violence climate and the resulting social discomfort. In fact, the violence of the colonial and subsequent neocolonial regimes has led to a global disorientation and to the negative climate experienced currently.frThesisMiddle Eastern studiesAfrican history