Cultural Diversity in France
I am going to start this blog off with some scattered thoughts I have had throughout the trip thus far. France is a wonderful country, but in terms of cultural diversity vs. cultural pluralism, France tends to lean more towards cultural diversity. This means a country/culture seemingly has little tolerance for other cultures integrating into theirs. They have little empathy or interest in learning about other cultures as well. Now, I have a few Word documents containing my experiences, notes, and journal entries that are currently just organized chaos. Bear with me, for this is a lot I am taking in all at once.
On August 2nd, in Paris, I experienced the Metro for the first time ever. The Metro was an event all in itself — it was fast paced, filled with people, dirty, and if you do not get through the doors in time, you potentially become an amputee. We traveled through the metro to arrive in an area of Paris that looked more like France (compared to the business district our hotel was located). Here, we made our way to the “Institut del Monde Arabe”. This specific museum definitely opened my eyes to the foundation of the Arab culture. It was filled with decorations, clothing, jewelry, and artifacts and included a description of each piece. There were several floors, each with unique layouts and informational displays. Outside, there was a beautiful garden, enriched with an abundance of various flowers, trees, shrubs, and fountains. It was beautiful.
After the visit to the museum, the group had our first chance to truly immerse ourselves into the French culture. We went to an adorable little café and had a group lunch. We took this time to try and learn French, try the food, maybe drink a glass of wine, and so on. From that point, the girls and I went for a stroll down the Champs Eyléssén. The area was a giant shopping center, consisting of huge name brand stores, expensive dining, and pick-pocketers. Among the crowds, we did some power shopping, ate some gelato, and walked to make it to the Arc De Triumph. The day was incredible — I was seeing sights I never thought I would see. This is also where we ran into a bit of a concept we learned: cultural diversity. It was clear to the French natives that we were 1) not from France and 2) American. We were greeted by, “Hello, how are you doing?”… Yeah, it was obvious we were not from around here. With the group, I had more positive interactions with the French, but by myself not so much.
This leads me to the theme of this blog. Cultural Diversity. Again, my thoughts are a bit scattered, so bear with me… Paris was absolutely wonderful. There were people from all over the world, and the mix of people was great enough that I didn’t feel too terrible looking like an American. That being said, even if I tried to look and act like a French woman, the natives would not have appreciated it. I definitely felt this in Aix-En Provence, where the people there dressed very classy, had money, and happily flaunted it. (I was treated completely different wearing a dress and scarf vs. a v-neck and jeans) The people of French are certainly proud of their culture, (why shouldn’t they be?) but from my short observation, they do not seem to have empathy for other cultures. Cultural diversity is more of an attitude of not wanting to welcome other groups of people and their values, norms and beliefs in with yours. The ideal would be cultural pluralism, where a number of cultures can exist cohesively, display empathy, and show interest in wanting to learn about another kind of people from your own. I did not get this vibe from France — but I definitely enjoyed it, immersed myself as much as possible and would totally visit again!
~No matter where you go, there you are.~
