Living in a conflictual transnational space

Abstract

In the French Republican ideal, French citizenship supposedly surpasses ethnic or racial backgrounds, and considers nationally mixed people as French and therefore perfectly ‘assimilated’. In this context, scholarship specifically focusing on mixed people is rare. Such a perspective eludes eventual transnational ties and how the contexts of lives in the countries at stake can impact mixed people. Transnational research has, however, proved the existence of multiple types of cross-border ties. In addition, nation-states are deterritorialized and implement their policies beyond their geographical borders, in relation to other states. How does mixed people’s ‘transnational space’ influence their life course? In order to answer this question, in this chapter we focus on one case study: the French-Algerians. In-depth interviews conducted with ten French-Algerians allowed for a better understanding of their transnational space of living and its effects on their life-course and self-perception. In addition to the broader negative perception of people of Maghrebin background in France, French-Algerians seem to live in a conflictual transnational space: the strong colonial and postcolonial intergroup tensions still affect their life-course, through ethno-racial discrimination and limited transnational mobility, for instance.