Literary Analysis Essay on Citizen Outsider

Introduction

Citizen outsider is a book that discusses the troubles faced by immigrants in France, mostly the North African immigrants. The study entailed fieldwork and interview in Paris. The context shows how individuals are deprived of cultural citizenship due to their origin. She explains it in the context the reasons focused on the situation are due to race, cultural race, and ethnicity. She mainly focuses on race and ethnicity on the marginalization in French society.

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North African Origins in and of the French RepublicShe gives a precise analysis of the racial injustices faced by the blacks in France. The blacks are discriminated against due to their skin color. They are seen to be a problem in the eyes of the whites. One of the interviewees explained his encounter after he finished school. She differentiates between formal and cultural citizenship. She gives ethnographic evidence and interviews to validate the understanding of the physical presence that falls in significantly social life. She illustrates it from a historical condition supporting the subsequent racial tensions and political uncertainty. From David Theo Goldberg, the book provides an influential scenario of the social structures and expressions of racism in France at the moment.

The whites in France deceive themselves and the globe by stating they do not have institutional racism in the country, yet they do it. Jean Beaman reveals how racism without racist work in French society. Abdelkrim, a man with a north African origin (Beaman 1) is seen not to be French citizen and is discriminated by the whites. He even attended school and completed it. He also speaks French fluent but is he still felt he wasn't accepted in society. Only when he was abroad, that's when he thought he was a French (Beaman 3). The people would tell him he was French despite insisting he was an Algerian.

Education, Upward Mobility, and Connections Across Generations

The chapter starts by explains the life experiences of a girl Safia. The context explains her life at school and at home. She entirely faced a lot of struggles to be able to achieve her dreams (Beaman 29). Her experience in French since childhood had been a nightmare. Her parents also faced discrimination while she was young. All her life, she struggled to study to be able to overcome her troubles (Beaman 30). Her parents were poor, and the immigration status affected their living conditions in France. France has always seen itself as a white state. Numerous people staying in France can try to focus on the development of their life due to the poor background and ill-treatment.

Immigrate children tried to balance school home and other aspects of life. Zara from the Perpignan community born from an Algerian immigrant mother with a Moroccan father. A teacher from the elementary school she studied from could not understand the meaning of henna on her hand (Beaman 32). She was made to wash it off. She encountered her first cultural denial at that moment.

The siblings receive different information from their parents regarding the meaning of being French. At home, it provided a great feeling (Beaman 38). They got the encouragement at tools for cultural practices. It was the only place they could inherit their cultural traditions. To some point, others learn it in a hard way and embrace the position they are. Safia directly while also indirectly from her parents on the troubles accompanied by being an immigrant (Beaman 39). Abdelkrim was seen entirely different from others when he started his studies at the university. The education is a facilitator for the upward mobility into the middle class.

Work Cited

Beaman, Jean. Citizen Outsider: Children of North African Immigrants in France. Univ of California Press, 2017.