French and Francophone / Cultural Studies and Media Studies

Tiffany Bailey (Northeastern University)

Un peu plus de trente ans plus tard, sommes-nous toujours français ? Ma réponse est oui. Nous sommes français et nous sommes la France. Ce ‘nous’ est un ‘nous’ composite, celui de ces individus qui, privés de relais, ne sont jamais sur le devant de la scène. Ce ‘nous’ est féminin, jeune, multicolore et multiculturel, il est l’avenir de la France.

-Rokhaya Diallo, À nous la France !

In the introduction of her book, Rokhaya Diallo responds to a rhetorical question in an issue of Le Figaro magazine from the 1980s that asks, under an image of Marianne wearing a hijab, whether ‘we’ will still be French in thirty years. This seems to imply that the hijab and cultures that accept it are antithetical to French identity. What constitutes French-ness? How are conceptualizations of French identity changing (or not)? Are there new and different representations of French-ness? This panel seeks papers that discuss how individuals and groups of different races, ethnicities, religions, sexualities etc. embrace, question, challenge, or reformulate their French identity. Does the French population look different in the 21st century? Does the French population think differently than before about French-ness? Are there characteristics and mindsets that are considered essentially French? By whom? Who can be included in the “we”/“nous”? How is diversity and the changing “face” of France accepted and/or rejected?

How are conceptualizations of French identity changing (or not)? Are there new and different representations of French-ness? This panel seeks papers that discuss how individuals and groups of different races, ethnicities, religions, sexualities etc. embrace, question, challenge, or reformulate their French identity.