AEGIS ECAS 2007 - View abstract

Panel	41. The Art of Wor(l)d Markets: Development, Diaspora, and Narratives of Africa in Europe
Paper ID	52
Author(s)	Adeaga, Tomi
Paper	No paper submitted
Abstract	France has not only benefited from its former colonies, but it is also home to a large number of Africans. “Algerians, the largest group of incoming immigrants, make up 13.4 percent (575,740) of the immigrant population. The number of Moroccans entering France has been increasing rapidly, with 521,000 or 12.1 percent, and people from sub-Saharan Africa have been as well with 400,000 or 9.3 percent. With an increase of 43 percent, these groups have undergone the greatest increase in the period between 1990 and 1999, compared with the 3.4 percent increase of the overall immigrant population over the same period.” It is in this vein that this paper focuses on the socio-economic importance of Africans in France. The social unrests among African youths from the suburbs have and the provinces have raised the question of immigration and integration in the French societies. Can Africans born and breed in France be a productive part of the French societies? The large numbers of Africans who live there show that not only do they belong to dual cultures; they also play significant roles both in the economic growth and their countries of origin as well. However, the Cameroonian, Gaston Kelman’s book, “Je suis noir et je n’aime pas le manioc” (2004) has questioned the Sub-Saharan African’s existence in France. He claims that they have failed to integrate themselves into the system and this is one of the major reasons why they are unable to find jobs and make honest living for themselves. Kelman has made a point to re-examine the issue of race and discrimination against Africans in France. However, it has been condemned by a number of sub-Saharan Africans who felt that it is not an objective portrayal of their lives in France. Thus, this paper seeks to analyse the impact made by these Africans in the economic sustenance of the French Republic. Examples will be taken from some of the literature, music and cultural dialogues which have developed in the last few decades. Notable among them are those written by immigrant African authors like Tahir Ben Jalloun (French Hospitality: Racism and North African Immigrants 1999), Leila Sebbar (Parle mon fils, parle à ta mère 2005) as well as the French social critic Catherine Raissiguier (Troubling Mothers: Immigrant Women from Africa in France 2003).

Narrating the Diaspora and African Agency: Rethinking the French/African relationships in France