French Dis-integration: New identity formation processes in 30° Couleur

Abstract

‘Integration’ expects immigrants to conform to a certain idea of Frenchness. While ‘integration’ has been and continues to be the watchword in French politics, recent directors contend that new and decolonized French identities are formed through different mechanisms. This article argues that Lucien Jean-Baptiste and Philippe Larue in 30° Couleur present a protagonist of Martinican descent who comes to terms with his previously compartmentalized Frenchness through a process that this research conceives as a process of dis-integration, challenging the perceived notion that ‘integration’ is the only valid path to being French. The process of dis-integration has three fundamental steps: (1) the physical dissociation of the protagonist from his space of integration, (2) the rediscovery and reconnection with a deep part of his identity that he had (un)consciously repressed and subsequently erased and (3) the acceptance of his double or plural identity and the creation of a space where these identities can co-exist without dominating or annihilating one another.