Abstract
The study of the sociology of race and immigration has gained a new meaning within a global context. Given that ethnic diversity and issues such as immigrant accommodation are not exclusive to the United States (Marger 2000), the need to expand race and immigration theories outside the U.S. context is especially important. Citizen Outsider: Children of North African Immigrants in France contributes to this expansion through the utilization of ethnographic research conducted from 2008 to 2009 in Paris, France. By utilizing a cultural citizenship framework, Dr. Jean Beaman highlights the experiences of a predominantly middle-class, Mahgrebin second generation. Past research pertaining to second-generation immigrants has often analyzed employment and educational attainment as markers for immigrant incorporation and assimilation (Carter 2005; Patillo 2007; Portes and Rumbaut 2001). Focusing on the experience of this North African immigrant community under the cultural citizenship framework allows the author to describe its experiences within France, while also showing how immigrant groups can be labeled as being members of a society while remaining on its fringes. Those that fit this position, and the namesake for the book, are defined as being “citizen outsiders” (Cohen 2010; Dubois [1903] 1994; Lorde 2007). Beaman’s work also demonstrates how utilizing traditional sociological lenses of assimilation and immigrant integration are not sufficient when studying the experiences of the second generation.
This book consists of five chapters in addition to the preface, acknowledgment, conclusion, and methodology section. Within the book, the author seeks to address several key points. First, the author asks how ethnic minorities resist and navigate implicitly race-based definitions of French identity. Second, the work shows how the legacy of the French empire on self-identification can impact the second generation. It also seeks to understand the sociopolitical realities of the group, how it may (or may not) remain on the fringes of society, and what these different realities can tell us about race and ethnicity in France. Finally, as this book is predominantly interested in upwardly mobile, middle-class Maghreb-origin members, it seeks to understand how this group perceives its prospects and possibilities for participating in mainstream French society (p. 3).
The book begins with a preface on why the researcher chose Paris, France, as her site of study and discusses her previous experiences within the city as an American of color. In particular, the author highlights the struggle of being one of the few African Americans in her group and coming into contact with French-influenced stereotypes, images, and speech acts. Beaman discusses how her fascination with Paris would extend well through graduate school as she began to apply her sociological imagination to her own experiences as well as within the context of the Maghrébin immigrant community. Through her ethnographic work, the author hopes to show how race and ethnicity separate and label individuals within France as well as the United States.
Chapter 1, titled “North African Origins in and of the French Republic,” opens with an introduction of one of the interviewees. It describes his childhood and growing into adulthood. In doing so, the author shows how he has a disconnect between being born a French citizen and how he is perceived within French society. Using his story as a launch point, the author addresses her primary research questions and firmly introduces her theoretical framework to show how race, ethnicity, and culture intersect to determine who can claim citizenship rights and identify as French. This chapter also includes a section on the history of French colonialism in North Africa, the impact of citizenship due to colonial resettlements within France, significance of race and ethnicity in French society, and the demographic characteristics of the North African second generation. This chapter contains a strong section on the theoretical layout for the rest of the book by including a segment on the framework of cultural citizenship and how this ties into the racial-formation process within the context of France.
In chapter 2, the author evaluates second-generation childhood experiences for those who grew up in France. It shows how the second generation learns to navigate cultural settings from primary school through higher education and within family settings. The second-generation interviewees discuss how their methods of navigating these settings are connected to their future mobility. In navigating their lives at home, where they received messages from their family about what it means to be French, along with contrasting messages at school, these individuals had to learn how to bridge these two conflicting realities. In doing so, it also shows how the second generation begins to question its position within French society very early in life. The author strongly demonstrates how racial and ethnic minorities and their process of identity formation continues to be increasingly difficult to navigate. The interviewees demonstrate how they must situate themselves between dual cultural settings within a racial hierarchy. While they may receive certain middle-class standing, their racial identity continues to be a marker as always being a foreigner.
Chapter 3 expands chapter 2 further by exploring how individuals navigate the dual cultural settings mentioned previously. Often individuals do this through accessing different cultural scripts or codes based on specific context. In particular, the chapter shows how respondents’ status is often navigated within a context in which they are already labeled as “other.” This includes the workplace, residential neighborhoods, and public spaces and also through public perceptions of Islam. Relying on previous immigration theories, the second generation may appear to be structurally assimilated due to work and middle-class status, but it is not culturally assimilated. This chapter strongly argues for the necessity to consider how race and ethnicity play an important component in issues such as class and socioeconomic inequalities. In addition, it takes this a step further to show how marginalization can also be due to religion. Within France, religion is often a marker for race or ethnic difference. Thus, while North African individuals are viewed as culturally different from the majority, their Muslim identity is often used to represent that difference. Islamophobia can be seen as a form of racism as society argues that Muslims are too culturally different to be full members of French society. Thus, being Muslim is often used as a racial marker, challenging the ability to be both Muslim and French.
French society or republicanism often limits identity options, resulting in a tension between assigned identities by society and personal chosen identities. Chapter 4 delves into the topic of personal identity by demonstrating how being French makes up only a part of self-identity. The author reconsiders cultural citizenship to see how republicanism as an ideology and in practice creates boundaries in defining what it means to be French. Respondents also negotiate their identities through their ethnic origin as well as their relationship to the state, taking on a multitude of identities. Yet, the book once again demonstrates how individuals are limited in their ability to be a full citizen within French society.
Chapter 5 expands the notion of identity even further in order to understand how Maghrébin minorities invoke blackness based on the experiences of black populations in other locations around the world. In doing so, it demonstrates how notions of diaspora and transnational concepts of blackness apply within minority groups in France. The author argues that these diasporic connections are part of France’s racial project. Not only do they allow individuals to make sense of their position within French society, but they also allow them to locate themselves in the fight against racial inequality. Since France has no accepted language to discuss race issues, individuals can look toward other countries to make sense of racism within their own country.
The final chapter, “Sacrificed Children of the Republic,” provides a recap of the central thesis of the book. The book demonstrates that ethnic minorities in France remain at the margins of society, regardless of citizenship status. This is due to the salience of implicit and explicit racial and ethnic biases and the subsequent barriers that define who belongs and does not belong. Further, the marginalization of those interviewed in this book remains prevalent regardless of their middle-class status and attainment. This chapter suggests that there are similarities between the denial of cultural citizenship due to ethnic and racial biases within France and other Western countries, contributing to a greater theoretical underpinning of the sociology of race on a global scale.
Following the concluding chapter, the author includes in-depth information about her methodology and positionality for when she conducted her field research. By including information such as self- identity and race, the author shows how her positionality may have influenced her research, providing another example of how race operates in society. The position of being non-French also had implications on the author’s ability to conduct research, including difficulty in building rapport and access to communities to conduct interviews.
Overall, I highly recommend this book for professors teaching immigration, race and ethnicity courses, and courses on qualitative research methods. At the undergraduate and graduate levels, this book can serve as an excellent example for qualitative research methods. In particular, the book’s methodological section on conducting research is well illustrated, allowing a class to discuss issues pertaining to positionality, sampling strategies, and even immersion. If covering positionality or other complications with qualitative research, teachers can potentially assign just a chapter or two for discussion at both undergraduate and graduate levels.
A potential weakness of this book is that it assumes that readers are already familiar with some of the immigration theories it pushes against. While this may not be an issue for graduate-level courses, assuming that students already have background in some of the race and immigration theories, this book may be challenging for those at the undergraduate level who have no previous knowledge of the material. Thus, if this book is going to be used in race and immigration courses at the undergraduate level, it is best if students have previous course work on the topic. I recommend supplementing this book with additional readings, activities, and/or discussion that can familiarize students with concepts such as cultural citizenship as well as segmented assimilation. I recommend that students read at least sections of Portes and Rumbaut’s (2001) book, Legacies: The Story of the Immigrant Second Generation, for a better understanding of segmented assimilation. Articles such as Reynolds and Chun’s (2013) “Figuring Youth Citizenship: Communicative Practices Mediating the Cultural Politics of Citizenship and Age” can provide clarifications to the concept of cultural citizenship. Because this book involves discussion topics of race, state, and even globalization, priming students for a discussion, especially about Muslim individuals, is important. I recommend that prior to starting the book, professors prepare students to think about identity, race, and movement on an international level, as demonstrated by Jafar’s (2017) Teaching Sociology article.
Overall, this book is a methodologically sound, illuminating text that contributes to the literature on both immigration and the formation of racial theories at the global level. Its intersectional framework allows the readers to see how topics such as racial projects and culture can intersect, creating multiple sites of identity with pertinent consequences into the daily lives of individuals and society more broadly. It also strongly demonstrates how previous work on race and assimilation doesn’t necessarily ring true for some immigrant groups. Previous racial groups were allowed to culturally assimilate, yet this work shows how race continues to be a barrier or a physical marker of otherness.