Bwogger Eliza Staples attended A French Family: from the Caribbean to Dunkirk by way of Algeria – A Talk by Audrey Celestine on Tuesday night at the Maison Française.

People of all ages and from all walks of life convened in Buell last night to hear from Audrey Celestine, a Martinican scholar, on her new book A French Family: from the Caribbean to Dunkirk By Way of Algeria. In this work, she traces the stories of four generations of her family across almost 100 years, and their varying experiences with racism, French identity, migration and what family means. The talk was moderated by Emmanuelle M Saada, of the French department at Columbia, and was hosted by the Maison Française. 

Celestine is a maître de conférences at the Université de Lille (located just outside Paris) and is a junior member of the Institut Universitaire de France. She is currently a visiting professor in the French program at NYU. She published two books in 2018: La Fabrique Politique d’Identité, which relates to her dissertation work on Afro-Caribbean social movements in mainland France, and similar movements by Puerto Ricans in the United States; and A French Family: from the Caribbean to Dunkirk By Way of Algeria. The subject of last night’s talk was the latter, specifically her writing process and the importance of telling her family’s stories. 

At the Université de Lille, Celestine instructs courses in American Studies and US History, often to students who don’t have a background in the social sciences. She highlighted this experience as one that reminded her of the power of literature to teach about heavy topics, such as race.

The French publishing house Éditions Textuel approached Celestine about writing a French Version of the book Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. Celestine noted that she was intrigued by this offer, and liked many parts of Coates’ work. However, she was adamant that Coates’ work couldn’t simply be transposed to a French readership: her book would have to address France’s colonial past. 

Celestine is deeply proud of her Martinican roots – she fondly related her time spent in acting classes at a cultural center in Fort de France, and it is the place she calls home. However, in passing this cultural identity on to her young daughter, Celestine realized that her daughter was not just Martinican. Her daughter was born in Paris; her daughter’s father is from the South of France, and his family traces their roots to Algeria. Her father also feels very strongly about his identity. In this moment, Celestine realized that “your child is not just your own”: that to best help her daughter understand her identity, Celestine’s book would have to address both sides of their family.

Celestine noted that “the public sphere in France is saturated by racism” and that this is frustrating if not utterly debilitating for young black people including her daughter, nieces, and nephews. For Celestine, A French Family was a way to let these young people know, “No, you’re not crazy”: crazy, that is, for feeling systematically rejected by an entire nation. “I needed to tell them, and tell people who look like them that they belong to this country, that they don’t have to justify their presence.” Celestine questioned the idea of referring to France as <<mère patrie>> (“motherland”) when it is exclusionary for so many people. Additionally, this book demonstrates the human experiences behind the history of racism and colonialism, to see “all the intimate reasons why race matters.”

A French Family is organized as a series of anecdotes, one for each of twenty-odd members of Celestine’s family. Each anecdote focuses on a particular theme, such as motherhood, school, or moving, for example, for the direct ancestors of Celestine’s daughter – parents, grandparents, and great grandparents. Originally, the book was arranged in a linear, chronological fashion; however, the published edition jumps around in history to allow her the most flexibility in telling these stories. There are many common points amongst these stories. The generation of great grandparents were all children of war, whether fleeing to Algeria during the Spanish Civil War or living in Dunkirk during World War II. In the 1960s, many of the family members moved into public housing, which provided some of their first experiences with privacy and improved living conditions. 

During the talk, Celestine was prompted by Saada to read an extract from the novel entitled << Aspects de Quotidien: Des Années 1930 à Nos Jours >>, or “Daily Life: From the 1930s to Today.” This was a list of the racist and xenophobic remarks Celestine and her family have heard over the years, ranging from stomach-churningly explicit comments (“punch in the stomach” remarks, as Celestine called them) to more insidious statements that Celestine qualified not as microaggressions, but “macroaggressions”. I was struck by this choice of extract to read. It made sense: it was short and required little context to understand. Celestine herself said that this was often the passage people asked her to read. However, I wondered if it was the truest representation of her families’ stories.  There are also heart-warming stories of sisterhood and love, which are equally important to the author. The deleterious effect of racist remarks like these cannot be understated, yet Celestine does not dwell on only the negative in her writing: thus I was surprised that this was the extract she chose to read.

This talk was on a fascinating subject: the personal dimensions of race and history, and was well delivered by an engaging speaker. A French Family is currently available only in French, but Celestine hopes to release an English translation soon.

Une Famille Française via Eventbrite