{Pasta & Social Identity}

This afternoon, five of us girls in the program decided that nothing calls for a girls’ day more than our first full day in Paris. We shopped around Champs-Élysées (a street with high end designer shops like Gucci and Louis-Vuitton), being careful to look — not touch! — the products that were way out of a college student’s price range, visited the Arc De Triomphe (see below!), and finished this daydream of a day by sitting outside of a cute little café for an incredible dinner. This dinner did more than just raise my standards for what ravioli should taste like; it provided a (tasty) parallel for the concept of social identity in France, one of the main focuses of our studies while abroad.

You might be thinking I’m crazy for comparing pasta with social identity, but stay with me for a minute. The reason my ravioli tonight was so incredible (sorry Chef Boyardee) was the intricate makeup of ingredients. When I think of ravioli, I think of noodles stuffed with something. Simple, right? But tonight I ate hand crafted ravioli noodles stuffed with fresh ricotta cheese all covered in a creme sauce made from heavy cream, black truffles, and fresh Parmesan cheese. My eyes were opened to how seemingly small components play a role in creating the whole dish. It’s the smallest details that create the whole.

The same is true for what we’re learning here in France. In order to study intercultural communication (the focus of the program), we’re analyzing Islam in Europe. We’ve found that a significant percentage of rhetoric surrounding Muslims in France is focused on their “failure to integrate.” Many news articles and politicians’ speeches present this idea that Muslims in France are all marginalized and never become part of society. With that we have to ask ourselves what successful integration would look like. Does a Muslim woman have to stop wearing her hijab? Does a Muslim teenager have to throw off the tradition he’s been taught to embrace a secular French lifestyle? What exactly must be done in order to become French when these people already speak the language, are citizens of France, and — for some — have lived in the country for three or four generations?

As our feet have hit the pavement and we’ve experienced Paris for ourselves, we’ve found that what the elite of France say about Muslims failing to integrate may not represent the views of the entire country. It turns out that, from my observations, the Muslim population in France is like one unique component in my ravioli that contributes to the whole. Many Muslims in France go about their daily lives as every other ordinary citizen. It’s not at all uncommon to see Muslim men and women heading to work on the metro, shopping in the Champs-Élysées district, or eating in French restaurants. Even the Louvre (the famous art museum) has an entire section dedicated to the art and history of Islam.

A disclaimer must be given with this observation. Although there are many Muslim men and women who are fully a part of Paris’ society, there is a significant issue surrounding first, second, and even third generation immigrant Muslims who have come to Paris seeking a better life, only to find few opportunities for success. Practicers of Islam in France have significant challenges and many struggle to rise out of poverty because of their religion or ethnicity. Stay tuned for future posts about these problems as they need to be looked at much closer before one can grasp what Islam in France truly looks like.