Schooling, Migration, & Racialization in France

France is often described as the birthplace of modern citizenship. Yet this claim cannot be understood apart from France's history as a colonial power and its experiences of postcolonial migration. An important aspect of political discourse in France is the question of migration and its political, economic, and cultural effects. Schools and other educational institutions are imagined as central sites for processes of immigrant ‘integration,’ and yet, the terms of this integration project are intensely debated in France. Set against the backdrop of Paris, you will explore cultural sites, visit schools to meet educators, and learn and discuss how schools are part of French society. This program is designed to explore several important social and political questions of our time: What does it mean to belong to a place? Who can belong? How do we reconcile the inclusive promises of citizenship, with realities of racialized exclusion and resentment?

You will stay in a student residential center in Paris. Upon arrival, you will be invited to a welcome dinner. Barring a lunch meal on a school visit, the remainder of meals and food and beverage options will be your responsibility.

January 15, 2024

Spring Break 2024: March 1–March 9, 2024.

This program has a spring semester on-campus course component.

This course focuses on the ways in which national identity is produced and policed in France. While the course looks at schools as a primary site of these processes, we will be taking an expansive approach to the topic in this course. Pre-departure and in-country learning will consist of film screenings, discussing graphic novels and historical and contemporary political events. These materials will cover topics of nationalism, colonialism, post-colonial migration, and racism in France. In-country, we will be visiting relevant sites and institutions that help students learn and understand how these relationships transpire in everyday settings in France.

Dr. Roozbeh Shirazi is an associate professor in the Comparative and International Development Education program in the College of Education and Human Development. His research with minoritized transnational youth has been informed by his previous work as a public school teacher in New Jersey. He has been conducting research in France since 2017, most recently on a digital storytelling project with newcomer, refugee, and undocumented youth in the Paris metropolitan area.

Excursions may include:

• National Museum of Immigration History
• Seine River/Pont Saint-Michel
• French school visits

For questions about the course content, please contact the course instructor, Professor Roozbeh Shirazi, at [email protected].

For application and program logistics, please contact Dr. Marina Aleixo, CEHD's Director of International Initiatives, at [email protected].

Spring Break 2024 fees forthcoming

The program fee may include international airfare, in-country program related transportation, housing, some meals, entrances to course-related excursions and site visits, program administration, and international health insurance.

You should plan for some additional expenses including passport, additional meals, and spending money.

The program cancellation timeline will follow the Learning Abroad Center cancellation policy timeline. However, CEHD will have a separate policy and process for cancellations and refunds.

Application Deadline: November 15, 2023