The French Identity

How we define ourselves, our identity if you will, of course depends on how we think about ourselves, our preferences, our attitudes etc. But others also impact our identity: I think I am smart because I compare myself to someone like me who is considered to be smart, or I think that I am interesting simply because other tell me that I am interesting and treat me like an interesting person.

Recently, there has been a lot of discussion about the French identity: What it is and ultimately though never said who could be considered as French. This is a very thorny political issue at the moment because it also brings out questions related to immigration and religions (in particular, Islam which is the second largest religion in France). These topics also are often brought up at the same time as insecurity leading no doubt to an association between insecurity and immigration in people’s head due to the simple fact that two are often mentioned together by politicians in the same speech….which may lead to the (incorrect) inference that immigration causes insecurity. But such is politics.

France is today a multicultural country, though it does not see nor recognize itself as such. This refusal to recognize itself as such may explain why children of immigrants (in particular who come from Africa or other non-european continents), despite being born here, despite having spent all or most of their life here and not knowing another country, may still be perceived and treated as ‘foreign.’ This is dramatic as these individuals are considered as French by the people from where their parents hail, but as from ‘there’ by their fellow citizens in France. This got me thinking of my experience in the US (I am myself of color and hail from Asia originally).
In the US, being American does not exclude those who are not of European background (this does not mean that racism or discrimination does not exist…au contraire!). It is more of an identity that defines a way of thinking, of behaving. In France, where history counts for everything, being French may also imply that you could trace your family tree forever to a particular region in France. That implies that you’re not, say, Arab or Asian or African (again, Arabs in France refer to people from North Africa and not Saudi, for instance). Thus, those born here of foreign parents find themselves in limbo because they feel French, but their fellow citizens do not consider them as one of their own in a real sense.

I realize that despite feeling very much French myself now, my fellow country men and women do not consider me as such. Indeed, I feel most French when I travel abroad. Not only because being in another country made me realize that my thinking, my behaviors, my preferences and how I dress etc are more French than anything, but others also perceive and treat me as French. So, in a bizarre twist, I actually feel more French in New York than in Paris ! No wonder I choose my friends carefully here in Paris: I hang out with a few French friends who seem to believe that once you adhere to the French principles, French way of life and philosophy, you’re as French as a Dupont even if you’re called Ahmed or Chung Hee. It is important that there is a coherence between how one feels and how others see one, or you may end up in Shady Pine...