2. 2
Leaving Certificate History
Race relations in France in the 1980s:
exploring causation with students
Cultural & Environmental Education
3. 3
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
Exploring causation with students
• Increasing focus on students’ ability to think critically
• The enquiry-focused approach: rationale
4. 4
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
The enquiry-focused approach
Aims
• To give a clear focus to a series of lessons
• To clarify for all concerned what the learning
purposes are
• To ensure that the sequence of lessons is leading to
improved understanding on the part of the students
5. 5
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
European retreat from empire and the
aftermath, 1945-1990
• Key concepts include
• assimilation
• racism
• identity
6. 6
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
French colonialism in the 19th
and 20th
centuries: an overview
• 19th
century spurs to growth of French colonialism
• Impact of World War I on growth of empire
• Growth of independence movements in the colonies
prior to and following World War II
• Significance of defeat in Indochina and Algeria
• Immigration from former colonies and the tensions it
created
7. 7
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
French and other colonies in Africa, 1914
http://history.howstuffworks.com/african-history/history-of-africa4.htm
8. 8
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
Independence for French Colonies and
Possessions in Africa
Tunisia
Morocco
Guinea
Malagasy Republic
Gabon
Congo
Cameroun
Chad
Central African Rep.
Niger
Burkina Faso
Mali
Ivory Coast
Senegal
Togo
Mauritania
Algeria
Djibouti
1956
1956
1958
1960
1960
1960
1960
1960
1960
1960
1960
1960
1960
1960
1960
1960
1962
1977
9. 9
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
How France is governed: an overview
• Constitution of the Fifth Republic, 1958
• De Gaulle’s 1962 amendment
• President: term of office, powers
• Roles of the National Assembly & Constitutional
Council
• Cohabitation and its implications
• Secular conception of citizenship vs. religious
identities of ethnic communities
10. 10
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
Political developments in France in the
1980s
• Political unrest and the success of the Socialist Party
• Mitterand: background; bases of his popularity?
• Rise of Jean Marie Le Pen and the Front National
• Mitterand’s responses to the rise of the FN
• Cohabitation: Mitterand’s acquiescence in working
with Jacques Chirac as prime minister
• The 1988 presidential election: Le Pen’s impact
• The ‘headscarf affair’ and on-going racial tensions
11. 11
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
Glossary
• Political groups: acronyms
• Glossary of terms
12. 12
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
Biographical notes
• Mitterand
• Le Pen
• Chirac
http://www.memo.fr/Media/Mitterrand.jpg
http://www.enjoyfrance.com/content/view/1135/0/
http://www.zimbio.com/pictures/2f0ftDfKCL/French+Vote+First+Round+Presidential+Election/61BH0wMnecU/Jea
n-Marie+Le+Pen
14. 14
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
The Irish Times digital archive
• Availability
• Extensive coverage of subject matter of case study
• Advice on use
15. 15
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
Race relations in France in the 1980s
• Proposed enquiry:
Why did the issue of race relations spark
controversy and violence in France in the
1980s?
• A possible hook: Images relating to Marche
des Beurs, October-December, 1983
16. 16
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
Marche des Beurs, 1983
http://lyonroyal.over-blog.com/article-30434554.html
17. 17
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
Marche des Beurs, 1983
http://quineditmot.free.fr/index.php/2009/10/27/la-marche-des-beurs-de-1983-sexpose-a-lyon/
18. 18
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
Marche des Beurs, 1983
http://www.politis.fr/La-Marche-des-Beurs-25-ans-apres,5017.html
19. 19
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
Enquiry, Step 1
• What background factors underlay the emergence
in France in the 1980s of race relations as a
contentious issue?
• Potential benefits of using this question to focus
on the subject matter of the case study?
20. 20
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
What background factors underlay the
emergence in France in the 1980s of race
relations as a contentious issue?
Relevant factors
• Increasing immigration from Maghreb, 1950s-
1980s
• Social and economic conditions experienced
by immigrants
• Impact of 1970s recession on immigrants
21. 21
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
What background factors underlay the
emergence in France in the 1980s of race
relations as a contentious issue?
Increasing immigration, 1950s-1980s
• Historical roots
• Impact of French Union, 1946, and French
Community, 1958
• Impact of the ‘Glorious Thirty’
22. 22
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
What background factors underlay the
emergence in France in the 1980s of race
relations as a contentious issue?
Social and economic conditions of immigrants
• Emergence of bidonvilles (shanty towns)
• Establishment of hostels
• Replacement of bidonvilles by high-rise tower
blocks (cités)
23. 23
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
What background factors underlay the
emergence in France in the 1980s of race
relations as a contentious issue?
Living in a ‘bidonville’
24. 24
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
What background factors underlay the
emergence in France in the 1980s of race
relations as a contentious issue?
Impact of 1970s recession on immigrants
• Why immigrant workers were hardest hit by
recession
• Developments that triggered an increase in
racial tensions
• Government moves to restrict immigration
25. 25
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
The Algerian War: an overview
Implications for race relations in the 1980s
• Pieds noirs support for National Front
• The harkis and their descendants
• Lingering trauma of conflict
28. 28
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
What background factors underlay the
emergence in France in the 1980s of race
relations as a contentious issue?
Secondary Source 2
The word ‘Beur’ had emerged in the 1970s with the second
generation of immigrants from the Maghreb (mainly Algeria,
Morocco and Tunisia). It was an assertion of identity, a
backslang corruption of the pejorative term ‘Arabe’. The
initial surge of popular sympathy for Beur equality and
presence reflected the enthusiasm in 1981 for an expansive
and inclusive cultural identity for modern France … [with the
Beurs] bringing their own infusion of Maghrebi origin.
Rod Kedward, La Vie en Bleu: France and the French Since 1900 (London: Penguin, 2006, p.503).
29. 29
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
Enquiry, Step 2
• Why did growing racial tensions become more
tense and, occasionally, violent in the 1980s?
• Potential benefits of using this question to focus
on the subject matter of the case study?
34. 34
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
Enquiry, Step 3
• What were the main political responses to
deteriorating race relations?
• Potential benefits of using this question to focus
on the subject matter of the case study?
35. 35
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
What were the main political responses to
deteriorating race relations?
Relevant factors
• National Front performance in 1984
(European), 1985 (local), 1986 (general) and
1988 (presidential) elections
• Mitterand’s efforts to limit support for
National Front
38. 38
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
What were the main political responses to
deteriorating race relations?
Secondary Source 7
On the major issues of immigration and law and
order, he [Le Pen] had indeed set the agenda. It
seemed clear that, for the foreseeable future,
the Front National and its leader would have a
significant role to play in national politics.
Roger Price, A Concise History of France (Cambridge University Press, 2005, p.432)
40. 40
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
Enquiry, Step 4
• What was the impact of the ‘headscarf affair’ in
France in the 1980s (and beyond)?
• Potential benefits of using this question to focus
on the subject matter of the case study?
41. 41
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
What was the impact of the ‘headscarf affair’ in
France in the 1980s (and beyond)?
• Principle of laicité vs. Islamic religious
principles
• French model of integration (contrast with
British model of ‘multiculturalism’)
• Spread of France Debout and rise in violence
involving disaffected ethnic minorities
44. 44
The PDST is funded by the Department of Education and Skills
under the National Development Plan, 2007-2013
Why did the issue of race relations spark
controversy and violence in France in the
1980s?
Your conclusions on the enquiry
Booklet p.46