France: Terre d'Accueil

I immigrated to France in Fall 1997.  Ten years later this week, to celebrate immigration (not just mine :-) as integral to French history and to the construction of French identity, the Cité Nationale de l'Histoire de l'Immigration opened its doors in Paris at the Porte Dorée.  I visited the exhibit yesterday.   

Nothing illustrates the painful awkwardness of immigration issues in France better than the building that houses this exhibit.    Le Palais de la Porte Dorée (The Palace of the Golden Door) was built in 1931 in homage of the French Empire and its colonial project.  The West facade still carries this inscription:      

A ses fils qui ont étendu l’Empire de son génie et fait ainsi aimer son nom au-delà des mers, la France reconnaissante.

Translation:  To her sons who spread the Empire's genius and brought love to its name beyond the seas, France is grateful.

The place reeks of ethnocentrism.  The fresques covering every wall depict scenes that instrumentalize the "primitive" and glorify French hegemony of "lesser" peoples under the guise of a mission to civilize.  This same palace was home to the infamous Zoos Humains, where human beings were exhibited like animals.  Visitors could see fish in the aquarium downstairs and the savages in the Human Zoo upstairs.

This architectural reminder of France's colonial past is a decidedly uncomfortable context for a museum of Immigration History.   The exhibits tone is "Why can't we all just get along?" summed up in the word multiplicité that floats without definition throughout a text heavy presentation of its artifacts.

The choice of migration objects include suitcases and images of heavily loaded vehicules that remind me of my own Subaru story.

The blatant ethnocentrism and racism symbolized by the Palace itself is treated rather timidly for an exposition with the expressed goal "to change mentalities about immigration in France."   It would seem to me that a much more forceful communication would be in order to achieve this goal, but then again the museum was packed with curious French citizens as diverse and colorful as the French national soccer team or an Evangelical Church in the Paris suburbs.  To bring together such an integrated group at la Porte Dorée of all places is perhaps the museum's greatest success and strongest statement against the racism of France's not so glorious colonial past.  I enjoyed watching all the beautiful people of this great city mingled together around such an important subject as immigration.

Of course true unity is never found in a political issue.  Unity, the kind that brings real peace, the kind that breaks down real social barriers is only to be found in Jesus.  He is our peace.  My heart ached with desire to stand on one of those suitecase and blurt out in a loud voice how everyone can become "citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God" (Eph 2.19).  No DNA test required for inclusion into this family because Jesus' blood was already shed for us.  We have been adopted as true sons and daughters of the only living God.  We belong.  This is the only family identity that really counts whatever our passports might say or our accents might reveal.   

Let me suggest three books in English for those interested in understanding France's colonial period as integral to current issues surrounding immigration:

A mission to Civilize by Alice L. Conklin
French Civilization and its Discontents edited by Tyler Stoval
Black France by Dominic Thomas

I may comment on these books in future posts.  For now, I'm out of time.  Until next Friday,  I'll leave you with one of the many enigmatic quotes pasted like graphiti tags on the walls of the CNHI.

"To return would be like emmigrating a second time."  I know this feeling everytime I return and then return again.

Comments

[sarah Livesay]

i picked up a book called "ni putes ni soumises" about french muslim women - have you read it? just started it, but it's very interesting so far. the intro has helped us with our presenatation to get some good background facts.

[jonathan]

“Ni P Ni S” is a feminist movement founded in 2003 in reaction, at least in part, to the foulard controversy and to the tragic death of a young woman who was burned to death in a Parisian public housing development. I trust you will read more widely and more critically as you develop your “presentation.” Polemical writings are not usually the best source of "facts."

[jonathan]

This book looks interesting:

Muslim Girls And the Other France: Race, Identity Politics, & Social Exclusion by Trica Danielle Keaton

[sarah Livesay]

Hey Jonathan,
I have only almost finished the intro to Ni P Ni S, which is by someone else (not Fadela Amara) and does give quite a bit of history about events concerning immigration in France up until present time. But as she is introducing the author, it is clear that Amara's views aren't a representation of all French Muslim women. For instance, it sounds like she is anti-foulard altogether. This other book you mentioned is one that I also have been wanting to purchase. Actually the author is a prof at the Univ. of Minnesota. It would probably be a more well-rounded viewpoint. We aren't looking to have our presentation wrapped around any certain side of the issues, but it's been good to read about the history and to hear what different French Muslims are saying as we Americans hear very little about it. Sound good? Thanks for the book ideas!

[jonathan]

yes, this movement is strongly against the foulard and for very different reasons than the State...but the reasons make little difference to the State. i don't care what you read, just that you read w i d e l y and critically.

[jonathan]

If you want book ideas in French, I have those too. At the moment, I'm reading:

La Fracture Coloniale: La société française au prisme de l'héritage colonial
Sous la direction de Pascal Blanchard, Nicolas Bancel et Sandrine Lemaire