Of Revolution or Postcoloniality? Identity Practices of Algerian Immigrants and Their Descendants in France.

Keywords: France, Algeria, identity, postcolonial, revolution, immigrant, integration, belonging
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Tuesday
Session Start / End Time: 3/1/2022 11:20 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 3/1/2022 12:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 52

Abstract

Using qualitative research techniques, this article shows how colonial memory and postcolonial dynamics permeate the everyday lives and encounters of Algerian-origin people in France and inform the ways they conceive of, and experience, social membership and belonging. Whereas the concept of integration is typically framed within the national context, the practices of integration take place in localized contexts, in the course of everyday life. This article explores how Algerian immigrants and their descendants perform identity and negotiate belonging in French society. The process of negotiating identities involves the attachment of particular values, roles, and responsibilities to identities, and also involves the placement of these identities into specific realms of interaction and social activity. This work investigates what it means to be a racialized minority in a postcolonial context and to learn and experience the boundaries of ‘Frenchness’ and ‘Algerianness.’ It is based on the narratives of Algerian immigrants who have migrated to Paris, France, and their French-born children. The empirical evidence of the case studies highlights the myriad ways in which Algerian immigrants and their descendants encounter and structure their interactions with French society. This work reveals the linkages between identity and everyday socio-spatial activities and behaviors and explores how people draw upon both historical and present-day experiences to articulate their sense of membership and belonging. Highlighting the postcolonial influence, this article situates the idea of immigrant integration in a broader historical and geographical context, examining how ‘belonging’ becomes a matter of contention in receiving contexts marked by post-colonial anxiety.