Dissertation Research: Cultural Identity and Political Struggles: Antillean Migrants and Ethnicity in France

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This dissertation research project will investigate the issue of ethnic identity in pluralistic nation-states by studying how migrants from French Antilles promote their ethnic identity in France. The project investigates how political legitimacy (in particular, citizenship) relates to defensive claims of ethnic independence. A student in cultural anthropology will study Antillean migrants in France for a year, using ethnographic interviews, participant observation and consulting archives on Antillean and other immigrant cultural organizations. The interaction of citizenship, race, class and cultural legitimacy or "Frenchness" will be analyzed as they impact the groups' activities in defensive ethnic independence activities. The student will also study the home base of the immigrant organizations through fieldwork in the Antilles. This research is important because ethnic group immigration is a fact of life in all countries, and an increasing fact in the Basic social-scientific understanding of the issues that impels ethnic groups to protest their ethnic-cultural independence is important if policies are to be formulated that satisfy legitimate goals.