The first decades of the new millennium have been marked by major political changes. Although The West has wished to revisit internal and international politics concerning migration policies, refugee status, integration, secularism, and the dismantling of communitarianism, events like the Syrian refugee crisis, the terrorist attacks in France in 2015-2016, and the economic crisis of 2008 have resurrected concepts such as national identity, integration, citizenship and re-shaping state policies in many developed countries. In France and Canada, more recent public elections have brought complex democratic political figures like Emmanuel Macron and Justin Trudeau to the public eye. Both leaders were elected based on their promising political agendas that aimed at bringing their countries into the new millennium; Trudeau promotes multiculturalism, while Macron touts the diverse nation and the inclusion of diverse ethnic communities to the national model. This edited collection aims to establish a dialogue between these two countries and across disciplines in search of such discursive illustrations and opposing discourses. Analyzing the cultural and political tensions between minority groups and the state in light of political events that question ideas of citizenship and belonging to a multicultural nation, the chapters in this volume serve as a testimonial to the multiple views on the political and public perception of multicultural practices and their national and international applicability to our current geopolitical context.

Offers an interdisciplinary study of recent political events (the refugees' crisis in the West, the laws regarding the veil, terrorist threats and Islamic radicalization among others) in the light of multicultural practices Welcomes a wide range of approaches and methodologies specific to contributors' disciplines in political science, literature, modern language, cultural studies, religion, etc. Provides an extensive overview of political, cultural and artistic representations of the interrogations on citizenship and belonging in France and North America over the last twenty years

Autorentext

Ramona Mielusel is Associate Professor of French and Francophone Studies at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, USA ****

Simona Emilia Pruteanu is Associate Professor of French in the Department of Languages and Literatures at Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada

Inhalt

1. Introduction: The Realities of Multicultural Societies.- Part I: Citizenship and Integration: Espousing or CombatingOfficial Political Discourses on Multiculturalism and National Identity.- 2. Nationalistic Secularism and the Critique of Canadian Multiculturalism in Quebec.- 3. Francophones, Multiculturalism and Interculturalism in Canada, Québec and Europe.- 4. The Regulation of Migration, Integration, and of Multiculturalism in Twenty-First-Century France.- 5. Representing French Citizenship and Belonging in La Desintégration (2011) by Philippe Faucon.- Part II: How Can One BeMuslim, Immigrant and French? Literary and Cinematic Expressions of Belonging in France and Québec.- 6. Redefining Frenchness: Thomté Ryam's Banlieue Noire and En attendant que le bus explose.- 7. The Integration of Muslim Maghrebis into Quebec: France as the Model not to Follow.- 8. Feminist Citizenship in the Banlieue: Houda Benyamina's Divines (2016).- 9. Let me explain: This is who I am: Interview with Anita Aloisio with Introduction by Dervila Cooke.- Part III Framing Identity and Nationality: Crimmigration, Islamophobia and the Politics of Ethnic Exclusion.- 10. Shy Elitism: A New Keyword in Critical Multiculturalism Studies.- 11. On the Islamophobic Mind and Its Agenda in France.- 12. Framing the Immigration Discourse and Drawing the Citizen: Concrete Representations of the Migration Crisis in Comics Journalism.- 13. Navigating Diversity: Multiculturalism as a Heuristic.