The Discourse and Teaching of Immigration History in France: Negotiations of Terminology, Ideology, and School Space

France, like its European neighbors, is struggling to integrate a diverse set of immigrants and their descendants. From public debates over national identity to bans on Muslim headscarves, immigration is at the forefront of public discourse on what it means to be French today. Although the school has traditionally been the primary institution through which France assimilates and forms citizens, little is known about how French schools incorporate the diversity of its population into curriculum and classroom practices. France is particularly interesting as it has a centuries long history of immigration, which recent curriculum reforms are just now starting to address. Through qualitative research in two ethnically diverse high schools in the Paris region, and in the Education Department of the newly opened National Center for Immigration History, I examine the way teachers and students address and interpret the topic of immigration in the school setting. Through classroom and museum observations, teacher and student interviews, and analysis of curricula and textbooks, my research probes how the French school system incorporates the history of immigration (and related issues such as colonization and discrimination) into the collective identity of the nation.Ope