Elizabeth Hanauer
"Collective Identity Formation in the French Classroom: The discourse and incorporation of immigration history"
|
Abstract
|
France, like its European neighbors, is struggling with the integration of a diverse set of immigrants and their descendants into the national polity. Although these national struggles often involve the school, the primary institution through which nations create citizens and construct a shared identity, very little is known about whether and how French public schools incorporate the realities of diversity into the identity construction of future citizens. My research focuses on how immigration and immigrants are presented in secondary school history and civics education, and how these messages are interpreted by students. The case of France is particularly interesting as, unlike most of its European neighbors, it has a long, although until recently overlooked, history of immigration. Through a qualitative study of the treatment and reception of immigration history in the school setting, my research will more broadly examine one nation’s attempt to incorporate the history of immigration (addressing related issues such as colonization, discrimination and cultural diversity) into the collective identity of the nation.
|
|
|
|
|
