Insertion sociale des réfugiés et demandeurs d'asile en Europe

Abstract

Insertion and socio-political management of cultural identity the West Indians in France Michel GIRAUD and Claude-Valentin MARIE The 1983 Assises pour insertion des originaires des DOM-TOM en France then the 1987 Etats Généraux des Associations des Originaires Outre-Mer are turning point in the of fidai policy towards these groups Their specific problems were acknowledged and the will to take them into account was expressed But these conferences were also aimed at controlling claims and expectations which were up to then rejected These claims corresponded to reassertion of their identity and to their mobilization as group in reaction to their marginalization and their subsequent disillusions This evolution rst observed in the field of labour and trade-union conflicts shifted to group associations and expressions of cultural identity dances concerts theater plays It corresponded to change in the socio-political strategies of the West Indians aimed at improving their insertion into French society Class or occupational solidarities yielded group and community links partly because of the inability and the reluctancy of trade-unions to take into account their specific claims Thus cultural identity turned into apolitical instrument Claims addressed to the government and to the host society were legitimated by the assertion that they were different from the other French people However this dynamic process is hindered by the social hetero geneity of the group which is split between two different strategies though they are sometimes and somewhat paradoxically pushed simultaneously that of integration into the Republic and that of difference based on group identity But how long will that split last