Throughout my first few weeks in France one thing that has stood out to me is the “frenchness” of the people. This may sound strange because, after all, I am in France so it is hard to describe this impression but this blog is my attempt to share what I think of the French identity as an outsider. As an immigrant of the United States I always found myself saying to people that I was Colombian although I had spend more than half of my life in the United States. It was not until I gained citizenship tw
o months ago that I began identifying as an “American”. On the other hand, my peers who had all been raised in the U.S. always seemed to have another descriptor before “American” a.k.a. African American, Mexican American, or that their parents were Italian, Irish, Polish, etc. This phenomenon I have come to realize is part of the American identity, which allows a person more flexibility to identify with various subsets of people. On the other hand, the French people pride themselves as having one culture, one language, and one nation: France. Being French comes before any race, religion, or ethnicity. The French state does not even collect statistical data on race or religion! It is an extensive topic that requires a deeper conversation about French history and political life but I must say that it has initially been a bit of a culture shock for me.