The Conundrum of Cohesion: France’s North African Question

Abstract

The level of social polarization between native French and North Africans in France in an enduring dilemma. The prospect for effective social cohesion is challenged by factors including staunch French secularism, laïcité, and the deep wounds of the Algerian Revolution. In order to understand the situation, this paper employs two interpretive frameworks: the politics of difference and the politics of home. In the former, a long-held notion of colonial superiority manifests itself in structural and interpersonal modes of social subordination aimed towards North Africans. In the latter, many native French lash out against North Africans for the threat that they pose to established French values. In response to both, a heightened sense of communalism permeates North Africans communities, often resulting in pronounced instances of fundamental backlash. The goal of this thesis is to view the reasons behind polarization in equitable housing, economic inclusiveness, and religious expression, and posit whether the myriad of outlooks, from the French Left and Right to North Africans themselves, can resolve France’s social woes.