Hospitality or hostility?
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Despite its high goals, Jacques Derrida's concept of hospitality draws attention to the limits of the state's and society's reception of refugees. MC Solaar's Lève-toi et rap demonstrates this conflict by contrasting vulnerability and arrogance, painting a nuanced portrait of his own identity in the face of institutionalized racism and violence in Paris. His thoughts on the normalization of racism in Paris provide valuable perspectives on how identity is shaped by daily encounters with exclusion.
By contrasting his experience as a Black American in Paris with that of Algerians living under French colonialism, James Baldwin's article adds still another level of complexity. The French hailed Baldwin as "civilized," but this was a covert attempt to defend their treatment of Algerians, whom they considered to be "uncivilized." The inconsistencies of French views on race and empire are exposed by Baldwin's observations on colonial nostalgia and its connections to anti-Blackness. His finding that Algerians maintained ties to their motherland in contrast to African Americans highlights the disparities in how displacement appears in colonial and post-colonial settings.
Interviews conducted by Lawrence Martin with individuals of African descent in France demonstrate how colonial legacies still influence how people identify themselves. Respondents talk about internalizing stereotypes, feeling like "forever foreigners," and struggling with "colonialism in the head." The ideas in Baldwin's and MC Solaar's writings, which emphasize how racialized people deal with colonial past on a daily basis, are reflected in this sense of alienation.
As the story moves to Montreal, Jérémy Mandin compares the experiences of Maghrebi migrants in Quebec to those in Europe. Many say they are relieved to be free of overt racism, but they also observe that reality in Quebec does not always match their expectations. In Quebec's linguistic environment, these narratives cast doubt on the French-English binary, complicating the province's identity and hospitality claims.
Historical background is given by Catherine Larochelle's work, which examines how racist and colonial ideas were reinforced in Québécois schooling. White Québécois children were trained to conceptualize and classify racialized people in ways that perpetuated colonial hierarchies, even in the absence of direct interaction with them. The idea that Quebec is a welcoming place for immigrants from former French colonies is complicated by this history.