Immigrants In France Research Articles

Family Formation and Employment Changes Among Descendants of Immigrants in France: A Multiprocess Analysis

This paper investigates the association between family formation and the labour market trajectories of immigrants’ descendants over the life course. Using rich data from the Trajectories and Origins survey from France, we apply multilevel event history models to analyse the transitions in and out of employment for both men and women by parity. We account for unobserved co-determinants of childbearing and employment by applying a simultaneous-equations modelling. Our analysis shows that women’s professional careers are negatively associated with childbirth. There are differences across descendant groups. The female descendants of Turkish immigrants are more likely to exit employment and less likely to re-enter employment following childbirth than women from other groups. The negative impact of childbearing on employment is slightly overestimated among women due to unobserved selection effects. Among men, the descendants of European immigrants are less likely to exit employment after having a child than other descendant groups. The study demonstrates the negative effect of childbearing on women’s employment, which is pronounced for some minority groups suggesting the need for further policies to help women reconcile work with family life.

Leur Algérie de Lina Soualem : Inscrire la mémoire de l’immigration algérienne dans « la France du vide »

This essay focuses on Leur Algérie, a 2020 documentary about remembering and representing the Algerian experience of immigrating to France’s “rural desert”—or to what geographer Roger Béteille calls “la France du vide.” The context for this analysis lies in the decline of the aging chibanis (North African “elders” or “grey hair”) population in France. While the social issues they face (ranging from lodging, to pension, health, and social benefits) have received media and political attention, questions about their memory and its place in contemporary France point to a “vide mémoriel” (memory void) that has largely been filled by French cultural figures of Maghrebi descent. Thus, with Leur Algérie (2020), filmmaker Lina Soualem delves into the history of her paternal grandparents. Originally from the Laaouamer area in rural Kabylia, they raised their family in France, specifically Thiers, a small French town in the sparsely populated mountains of the Massif Central. This essay examines how Soualem uses scenery and silence to symbolize a memorial void and absence. It relates images of desert-like emptiness and “non-places” in both Thiers and Laaouamer to the gaps in the grandparents’ narrative. Ultimately, it explores tensions between the experiences of Algerian immigrants in France and what Soualem identifies as their “invisibilization” in France’s memorial space.

We are not who they think we are! Examining responses of qualified Tunisian immigrants in France to country-of-origin based image discrepancies

In this paper, we examine the dimensions of country-of-origin based image discrepancies that qualified immigrants perceive at the workplace and their responses to such discrepancies. By country-of-origin based image discrepancies, we mean misalignments between immigrants’ own notions and their perceptions of how host country employees (HCEs) think about their countries-of-origin and themselves based on their countries-of-origin. Our findings reveal that immigrants perceive discrepancies pertaining to four domains: national distinctiveness, dietary sophistication, governance and development, and religious practice. Further, they respond to them through two broad sets of tactics. The first set of responses involve engagement with HCEs via discussing, misleading, and individualizing. The second set involves evading HCEs and includes striving, immigrant socializing, avoiding, and rationalizing. This study contributes to the literature on image discrepancies by highlighting the importance of country-of-origin, specifically for qualified immigrants, who respond to them through various tactics. Our results would be helpful to both qualified immigrants and their organizations in managing image discrepancies and eventually adjustment at the workplace.

Interrogating double absence in transclasse autobiography: Postcolonial identity in flux in Kaoutar Harchi's Comme nous existons

In 2014, philosopher Chantal Jaquet coined the term transclasse to describe a person who is in the process of changing their social class. In opposition to the perhaps more widely-known expression ‘transfuge de classe’ – popularised by writers such as Annie Ernaux and Édouard Louis – transclasse allows for a comprehension of the necessarily transient nature of social migration, encapsulating a vital element of flux. Importantly, Jaquet's term allows for an understanding that the transclasse is not a rigidly definable identity category, and instead reflects individual experiences of liminality. In this article, I demonstrate the continuing relevance of Jaquet's theorisations by analysing the ways in which Kaoutar Harchi's memoir Comme nous existons explores the unique position of double absence that she occupies as a transclasse who must also navigate her identity as the child of postcolonial immigrants in France, using Abdelmalek Sayad's work La double absence in dialogue with Jaquet and Harchi.

Fransa'daki Göçmen Topluluklar Arasında Miras Dili Olarak Türkçe

Language functions as the strongest bond connecting individuals to fundamental cultural elements of their society. In the context of immigrant communities, the heritage language plays a crucial role in protecting cultural heritage and transferring it to young generations; and thus, it should be attributed a special attention. The present study is conducted to explore the current state of Turkish language use among Turkish immigrants in France and their opinions regarding its protection and transference to new generations. For this purpose, the data gathered from Turkish immigrants (N=348) was analysed to identify the rates of Turkish language use and the degrees of importance attributed to protecting and transferring Turkish onto new generations. The findings and the implications are meant to shed light on the up-to-date dynamics in the state of Turkish among immigrant communities in France while contributing to the research focusing on heritage languages and the protection of cultural heritages.

Immigrants’ health empowerment and access to health coverage in France: A stepped wedge randomised controlled trial

Throughout Europe, migration-related health inequalities are mirrored by large inequalities in health coverage. There is a need to develop novel strategies to secure access to health insurance for immigrants in Europe, in order to meet the shared Sustainable Development Goal of universal health coverage. We evaluated the impact of an original health-related empowerment intervention on access to health coverage among vulnerable, mostly undocumented immigrants in France.As part of the MAKASI study, we adopted an outreach approach and developed a community-based intervention with and for immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa living in precarious conditions in the Greater Paris area. This participatory intervention was grounded in the theory of individual empowerment. Using a stepped wedge randomised design, we first conducted a robust evaluation of the effect of the intervention on access to health coverage at three and six months post-intervention. We then investigated whether the intervention effect was mediated by a health empowerment process.Between 2018 and 2021, a total of 821 participants – 77% of whom were men – were recruited in public spaces and followed up for six months. Participants had been living in France for four years on average, 75% of them had no residence permit, and 44% had no health coverage at the time of inclusion. The probability of accessing health coverage increased by 29 percentage points at six months post-intervention (p < 0.01). This improvement was partially mediated by a health empowerment process, namely a reinforcement of participants’ knowledge of and capacity to access available social and health resources.A health empowerment intervention largely improved access to health insurance among vulnerable immigrants in France. Our findings may be transferred to other settings where immigrants are entitled to health insurance. This study offers promising perspectives – beyond information provision and direct referral – to reduce migration-related inequalities in health coverage.

Which immigrant acculturation strategies are perceived as (im)moral? Consequences on the emotions and behavioral intentions expressed by host populations

IntroductionNorth Africans immigrants in France are devalued and discriminated. Research suggests that the acculturation strategy they adopt impacts the way they are perceived on the stereotype content model's warmth and competence dimensions and the emotions and behavioral intentions they elicit (BIAS map model). ObjectiveConsidering that the warmth dimension consists of two sub-dimensions — sociability and morality — the present study explores how perceived morality influences the BIAS map's predictions as a function of perceptions of acculturation. MethodWe randomly assigned 343 participants to one of four groups. Participants in each group read extracts from an interview with a male North African immigrant who expressed one of four acculturation strategies (integrationist, assimilationist, separationist, marginalist). They then expressed their perceptions of the immigrant (stereotypes) and the emotions and behavioral intentions he inspired. ResultsAs hypothesized, the assimilationist target was attributed more sociability than the separationist and marginalist targets and less morality than the integrationist and separationist targets. Unexpectedly, participants expressed strong active facilitating behavioral intentions (help and protect) both toward the least moral target (assimilationist) and toward the most moral targets (integrationist and separationist). ConclusionFirst, considering morality in addition to sociability and competence can enrich the BIAS map model's predictive capability. Second, although host populations may perceive assimilationist and separationist acculturation strategies as differing in terms of morality, these different perceptions may lead to similar helping and protection behavioral intentions. Some explanations are suggested.

An HIV prevention intervention helps immigrants open up about transactional sex. The Makasi study

Abstract Background Transactional sex is known to be an exposure factor for HIV acquisition among immigrants in France. We analysed the factors associated with the increase in the proportion of transactional sex among African immigrant men and women living in precarious situations in the greater Paris area. Methods Data were collected in the Makasi research project. Participants were recruited in public places based on their precarious situations, they were randomised into two groups (intervention and control) followed during six months between 2019 and 2021. We described the levels of transactional sex at each follow-up time (0, 3, 6 months) and used random-effects logistic regression models to analyse factors associated with the evolution of transactional sex participants. Results The majority of participants were men (76.5% (470/614)) and almost half of them arrived in France in two years prior to inclusion (49.8%). Transactional sex increased in both study groups: at inclusion, 1% of men in the control group and 0% in the intervention group reported having had transactional sex. At the six-month follow-up, 15% and 8% of men in the control and intervention groups respectively reported transactional sex. Among women, 7% in the control group and 8% in the intervention group reported transactional sex at baseline. They were 27% and 24% respectively to report transactional sex at the six-month follow-up in each group. We find that exposure to the intervention liberate the speech about transactional sex, especially among men. Conclusions Our results suggest that the proportion of transactional sex seems to be important among immigrants in precarious situations, especially among men, and that the empowerment intervention facilitated participants’ openness about their sexual activities. These results suggest that the social hardships and structural barriers faced by immigrants in precarious situations limit the effect of HIV prevention interventions in this population. Key messages • Social hardships experienced by immigrants must be addressed to reduce their exposure to HIV. • An empowerment-based outreach intervention facilitated participants’ openness about transactional sex.

Rogers Brubaker. Fransa ve Almanya’da Vatandaşlık ve Ulus Bilinci, Çevirmen: Ezgi Su Dağabak, GAV Perspektif Yayınları, 2022, s. 330, 120 TL, ISBN 9786057387714

Rogers Brubaker’in kitabı, Fransa ve Almanya’da Vatandaşlık ve Ulus Bilinci, 1992 yılında Harvard Üniversitesi yayınlarından çıkmıştır. Yazar, Kaliforniya Üniversitesi, Los Angeles’de seçkin bir sosyoloji profesörüdür. Adı geçen; sosyal teori, göç, vatandaşlık, ulus ve etnisite ile ilgili çalışmalarıyla tanınmaktadır. Bu eser, sonradan milliyetçilik üzerine yazacağı kitabın da kilometre taşı olan, vatandaşlık ile ilgili çalışmalarının ilk eseridir.

Examining the Securitization of Muslim Immigrants in France Under the Anti-Separatist Act of President Emmanuel Macron

The entrance of Muslim immigrants in France in search of employment gave rise to the problem of Muslim immigration in France. The French government initially welcomed the entrance of Muslim immigrants because it required laborers to complete post-war reconstruction. Due to the growing immigrant Muslim population, these individuals have gathered, constructed mosques, established Islamic organizations, and formed groupings. increasing the visibility of Muslim identity. This is viewed as an outsized challenge to Islamic ideology in terms of French secularist philosophy. The attack on the WTO building, which worsened the already negative perception of Muslims, made this situation worse. In addition, President Macron manipulates the debate over Muslim immigration to further his political agenda. Macron enacted anti-separatist laws and anti-immigrant policies, which further marginalized Muslim immigrants. Macron became a securitization actor and actively declared that Islam was a radical, terrorist, and separatist religion to further his interests. The overwhelmingly Islamophobic French society endorses Macron's remarks. Thus, by embracing Macron's proposal, the problem of Muslim immigration has reached the securitized point, at which point the government must address the problem by enacting anti-separatist legislation.

The Role of Language Attitudes in Language Maintenance: The Case of Kabyle Immigrants in France

The Role of Language Attitudes in Language Maintenance: The Case of Kabyle Immigrants in France

Bridging the knowledge gap of biomedical HIV prevention tools among sub-saharan african immigrants in France. Results from an empowerment-based intervention

IntroductionBiomedical HIV prevention tools are available in France to prevent new infections. However, evidence suggests a lack of knowledge of these tools among sub-Saharan African immigrants, who are particularly affected by HIV due to social hardship, an indirect factor of HIV acquisition. We analysed the impact of an empowerment-based intervention on the knowledge of treatment as prevention (TasP), pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) in a population of precarious sub-Saharan African immigrants. MethodsData were collected throughout the MAKASI project. Following an outreach approach, participants were recruited in public places based on their precarious situations and followed for six months (0, 3, 6 months) between 2018 and 2021. Participants were randomized into two groups and received an empowerment intervention sequentially (stepped wedge design). We used random-effects logistic regression models to evaluate the intervention effect on the knowledge of biomedical HIV prevention tools. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04468724. ResultsThe majority of the participants were men (77.5%), and almost half of them had arrived in France within 2 years prior to inclusion (49.3%). At baseline, 56% of participants knew about TasP, 6% knew about PEP and 4% knew about PrEP. Receiving the intervention increased the odds of knowing about PEP (aOR = 2.02 [1.09–3.75]; p < 0.026). Intervention effects were observed for TasP and PrEP only after 6 months. We found significant time effects for PEP (at 3 months, aOR = 4.26 [2.33–7.80]; p < 0.001; at 6 months, aOR = 18.28 [7.39–45.24]; p < 0.001) and PrEP (at 3 months, aOR = 4.02 [2.10–7.72]; p < 0.001; at 6 months, aOR = 28.33 [11.16–71.91]; p < 0.001). ConclusionsWe showed that the intervention increased the knowledge of biomedical HIV prevention tools. The effect of the intervention was coupled with an important time effect. This suggested that exposure to the intervention together with other sources of information contributed to increased knowledge of biomedical HIV prevention tools among precarious sub-Saharan African immigrants.

Identity investment in stand-up comedy and online sketches

The article focuses on identity investment in stand-up comedy and online sketches performed by Romanian (or of Romanian descent) comedians acting abroad (France and United Kingdom). It aims at highlighting various humorous strategies that could be construed around a shared feature: the importance of the performer’s stage identity (persona). The analysis is based on a theoretical framework which combines stance(taking) studies and discourse approaches to humour. Immigrant’s (as marginal performers) humour reveals subversive humour: a means of coping with reality, aimed to expose and challenge power structures. The comedians explore stereotypes regarding Romanian or Eastern European immigrants in France and the UK. The differences in staging the stereotypes depend on the comedian’s identity investment in the persona he creates during the humorous performance, as well as on the degree of marginality he assumes for that persona.

SEMANTICS OF RACE AND NATION IN CONTEMPORARY FRANCE

For centuries France has lauded a republican tradition that defines national belonging in terms of civic and legal parity. Within this conception of nationhood, race and ethnicity are seen as extraneous and inconsequential in extending the French citizenship to non-nationals. However, a historical survey of the politics of citizenship both within France and in the overseas departments yields a more complex narrative, where race and racialization have been problematically tethered to the practices and the politics of national belonging and the extension of the French civic parity. In the context of the recent presidential race, defined by the remarkable rise and appeal of the far-right, critical discussions around race and the racial politics of nation and national belonging have gained renewed currency, as several candidates mobilized longstanding themes of immigration and the anti-social impact of non-European ethnic settlement on meanings of Frenchness and the French national identity. This study seeks to analyze the recent electoral debates in light of the ongoing critical discussion around race and immigration in France. The prominence of immigration as a rallying point in electoral campaigning is viewed as a rather older development that can be traced back to at least the public discourse surrounding North African settlement in the 1980s and 1990s. An essential feature of this discourse is that it rearticulates and encodes “race” in more subtle, politically correct cultural idioms, notably “nation” and “endangered national French identity.”

The effect of language training on immigrants’ integration: Does the duration of training matter?

Language training programs have become a crucial part of immigrant integration policies in many developed countries. We examine whether the intensity of training, in terms of duration, increases the likelihood of integration, particularly labor market integration. We investigate a government-sponsored language training program for immigrants in France. Using both difference-in-differences (DiD) and matching-DiD, we find that, for employed immigrants, longer duration of training significantly increases their chances of having a formal-sector job and a permanent employment contract. We also find suggestive evidence that more effective conveyance of knowledge on labor market institutions, and greater opportunities to expand one’s social network during the program, underlie the benefits of longer training hours. These effects are more pronounced among more educated immigrants, but disappear for refugees.

Religion or language? How family socialisation shapes the influence of parental origin-country fertility norms on the ideal family size among children of immigrants in France

ABSTRACT How do immigrant parents transmit their origin-country fertility ideals to their children? Drawing on a national sample of immigrants and their children in France (the ‘Trajectories et Origins’ survey), this study argues that the two main aspects of cultural practices in migrant families, religion and language, influence the fertility socialisation of immigrant children in different ways. Religion, often regulating family life and sexuality, directly shapes the ideal family size of immigrant children. Among children of immigrants, those growing up in Muslim families and those in highly religious families desire more children. By contrast, the use of parental origin-country language does not directly affect ideal family size but instead moderates country-of-origin influence. Those who (solely or partly) spoke their parental origin-country language at home during childhood conform more closely to parental origin-country fertility ideals than those who grew up speaking French. These findings highlight that religion and language play different roles in fertility socialisation in migrant families.

Evolution of smoking rates among immigrants in France in the context of comprehensive tobacco control measures, and a decrease in the overall prevalence

BackgroundThe evolution of smoking rates according to migrant status has not been examined in France, despite a recent reduction in overall smoking rates.MethodsDePICT is a two waves (2016: n = 4356; 2017: n = 4114) nationwide telephone survey, representative of the French adult population. We compared smoking-related behaviors before and after implementation of tobacco-control measures (2017), according to the geographical region of birth.ResultsCompared to 2016, individuals originating from Africa or the Middle East had a slightly higher smoking prevalence in 2017 (34.7% vs 31.3%), despite a higher intention to quit or attempt in the preceding year (adjusted OR(ORa) = 2.72[1.90; 3.90]) compared to non-immigrants. They were also less likely to experience an unsuccessful quit attempt (ORa = 1.76[1.18; 2.62]).ConclusionTobacco-control measures could have widened smoking inequalities related to migrant status. The evolution of smoking-related behaviors among immigrants should be examined when studying the long-term effects of such policies.

Differences in birth weight between immigrants’ and natives’ children in Europe and Australia: a LifeCycle comparative observational cohort study

ObjectiveResearch on adults has identified an immigrant health advantage, known as the ‘immigrant health paradox’, by which migrants exhibit better health outcomes than natives. Is this health advantage transferred from...

Transformations and Navigations of Ethnoreligious and Cultural Identity and Belonging among Kabyle Immigrant Converts to Christianity in France

This article concerns diasporic Kabyle converts to Christianity in France, exploring how these immigrant converts, a Berber/Amazigh people, former Muslims originally from Algeria, North Africa, critically reflect on, revise, and debate their understandings of their conversion to Christianity and express a complex set of transformations and navigations of identity and belonging. Addressed here is a form of conversion from one world religion to another in contexts of migration and sociopolitical change. The analysis traces the changing imagery used by converts in sermons, interviews, sociality, and informal and guided conversations in response to shifting circumstances in both Algeria and France. These transformations show how Kabyle converts “juggle” multiple aspects of their lives, relations, and cultural backgrounds and, more broadly, suggest how these experiences might contribute contextual nuances to anthropological explorations of conversion, symbolism, and interstitionality. In effect, I argue, converts deal with continuities with their Islamic past by reframing them as cultural. Specific examples include converts’ images, attitudes, and practices pertaining to growth, fertility, sowing and reaping, eating, and fasting—in particular, their debates over fasting during Ramadan. These images, I show, act as signifying processes, a medium through which converts critically reflect on their position in France as interstitional in some contexts and as culturally Kabyle in other contexts. The evidence reveals conflicts, debates, and dilemmas, but also reconciliatory peacemaking efforts in converts’ uneasy situating between Berber/Amazigh opposition to Arabization policies back home in Algeria and diasporic opposition to Islamophobia and racism toward immigrants in France. More broadly, the article contributes to discussions of rupture, discontinuity, and continuity in the context of conversion in the anthropology of religion.

Health empowerment and access to health coverage among immigrants in France: the Makasi intervention

Abstract Background The Makasi community-based research project offered an innovative health-related empowerment intervention to immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa living in precarious situations in the greater Paris area, to reduce their social vulnerability and their exposure to HIV. Our objective is to evaluate the impact of the intervention on access to health coverage in this population. Methods Participants were recruited based on precariousness criteria in public places in Ile-de-France (squares, railway stations, markets, etc.) by mobile teams of social workers and health mediators. Following a stepped-wedge design, participants were randomised into two groups receiving the intervention sequentially (immediately in one group and 3 months later in the other). We evaluated the impact of the Makasi intervention on access to health coverage among 821 individuals observed at 0, 3, and 6 months, between 2018 and 2021. We implemented random-effects panel models - allowing for unobserved heterogeneity - using a Heckman selection approach to correct for attrition. Finally, we used seemingly unrelated regressions (SUR) to examine the extent to which the effect of the intervention was mediated by health-related empowerment. Results Participants - 77% of which were men - had been living in France for 4 years on average. 44% of them had no health coverage at the time of inclusion. Our results provided evidence for a significant impact of the Makasi intervention on participants’ access to health coverage, with an 18 percentage-point increase in the probability of accessing health coverage 6 months after having received the intervention (p &amp;lt; 0.01). The mediation analysis revealed that this effect operated partly through an empowerment process in terms of knowledge of social and health resources. Conclusions We showed that a health empowerment intervention provided by social workers and health mediators largely favours access to health rights for immigrants in precarious situations. Key messages • A health empowerment intervention improved access to health coverage among immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa living in precarious situations in France. • Improvement in access to health coverage was found to be partly mediated by reinforcement of participants’ health literacy in terms of social and health resources.