INTRODUCTION
LUSO-FRANCE: CULTURAL PRODUCTIONS BY AND ABOUT THE PORTUGUESE AND LUSO-DESCENDANTS IN FRANCE
Martine F. Wagner, Michèle Koven
Abstract This introduction to the Special Issue provides a synthetic overview of scholarly and mainstream discussions about the Portuguese presence in France, while addressing how the different articles collectively and individually expand our understandings of the Portuguese in France as themselves highly reflexive producers of culture. We review common images of the Portuguese presence in France, including how Luso-French participants and cultural producers have responded to and contested such images. In particular, we discuss the following: 1. the relative (in)visibility of Portuguese migrants and their descendants from public life in both Portugal and France, as compared to other migrant and postmigrant groups; 2. how Luso-French cultural producers navigate their families’ transnational lives and intergenerational relations as material for cultural production; 3. the politics surrounding the (il)legitimacy and differential circulation of various forms of Portuguese and Luso-French cultural products. We hope that the issue’s focus on Luso-French cultural productions will allow fresh perspectives, and invite new questions to be asked about the legacies and future directions of Luso-France.
RETOUR À SAINT-FONS OU LA VIOLENCE ET LA HONTE DE NAÎTRE DANS UNE FAMILLE D’IMMIGRÉS PORTUGAIS EN FRANCE DANS L’ENFANCE DE LA CHANTEUSE CATHERINE RIBEIRO
Martine F. Wagner
Abstract. Published during Nicolas Sarkozy’s presidency, L’Enfance (Childhood) is an autobiographical and pamphletary text in which French-Portuguese singer, Catherine Ribeiro, reflects on the links between her (artistic) freedom, her political activism and the lack of personal, national, and professional recognition. In this article, I argue that, like other writers of working class origins inspired by sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, such as Annie Ernaux (recently in Retour à Yvetot) or Didier Eribon in Retour à Reims, Ribeiro returns to her childhood in Saint-Fons, not so much to make a critique of her abusive mother and absent father, but rather to do an “auto-socio-[ethno-] analysis” of her Portuguese immigrant upbringing in the suburbs of Lyon in the forties and fifties. Her original autobiography, mixed with excerpts of her protest songs, allows the reader to better understand the roots of her politically engaged life and career. Ultimately, she argues for a recognition of Portuguese immigrants and their descendants’ contributions in France, including her own.
Résumé. Publié pendant la présidence de Nicolas Sarkozy, L’Enfance est un texte autobiographique de style pamphlétaire dans lequel la chanteuse française d’origine portugaise, Catherine Ribeiro, réfléchit sur les liens entre sa liberté (artistique), son activisme politique et le manque de reconnaissance personnel, national et professionnel. Dans cet article, je montre qu’à l’instar d’autres écrivains issus de la classe ouvrière inspirés par Pierre Bourdieu, comme Annie Ernaux (récemment dans Retour à Yvetot) ou Didier Eribon dans Retour à Reims, Ribeiro retourne à son enfance à Saint-Fons, non pas tant pour faire une critique de sa mère violente ou de son père absent, mais plutôt pour faire une sorte d’« auto-socio-[ethno-] analyse » de son enfance dans une famille immigrée portugaise dans la banlieue de Lyon dans les années 40 et 50. Son autobiographie originale, mêlant des extraits de ses chansons contestataires, permet au lecteur de mieux comprendre les racines de sa vie et de sa carrière engagées. Son but ultime est la reconnaissance de la contribution des immigrés portugais et de leurs descendants en France, y compris la sienne.
A PASSAGEM DAS FRONTEIRAS E OS SEUS INTERVENIENTES NA PROSA DOS AUTORES PORTUGUESES DURANTE O ESTADO NOVO
Marie-Isabelle Vieira
Abstract. Based on Eduardo Lourenço’s observation regarding the lack of studies on the Portuguese of France, a sociocritical analysis of two Portuguese novels evoking the clandestine passage (popularly known as “o salto”) published under the dictatorship is proposed, replacing them in the difficult context of a censorship instituted in Portugal, with literature being under close surveillance. The first novel, A salto (1967) by Nita Clímaco, describing the trajectory of a man migrating to France, reveals a negative discourse on emigration, opposing two social groups: peasants and “others”, those who leave, and discloses the role of smugglers and canvassers (angariadores). The second, Fronteiras (1973) by António de Assis Esperança, precursor of Neorealism, depicts a fifty-year-old woman on the road to emigration to Germany and France by differentiating between two groups, those who regularly travel with a passport and those who are undocumented, which corresponds to the division between power-knowledge / poverty-ignorance. The clandestine passage of the border appears tragic under the pen of our writers, and intermediaries are seen as crooks, while the “salto” becomes notorious by becoming the matter of a fiction.
Resumo. Com base no relatório de Eduardo Lourenço sobre a falta de estudos sobre os Portugueses da França, propõe-se uma análise sociocrítica de dois romances portugueses que evocam a passagem clandestina (popularmente denominada « o salto ») publicados sob a ditadura, analisando-os no contexto difícil de uma censura estabelecida em Portugal, sendo a literatura sob vigilância elevada. O primeiro livro, A Salto (1967) de Nita Clímaco, descrevendo a trajetória de um homem emigrando para a França, revela um discurso negativo sobre a emigração, opondo dois grupos sociais: os camponeses e « os outros », aqueles que partem no exterior, e revela o papel de engajadores e angariadores. O segundo, Fronteiras (1973) de António de Assis Esperança, precursor do neorrealismo, descreve uma mulher de 50 anos no caminho da emigração para a Alemanha e a França, diferenciando dois grupos, aqueles que viajam regularmente com um passaporte e aqueles que são indocumentados, correspondendo à divisão entre o poder-conhecimento e a pobreza-ignorância. A passagem da fronteira clandestinamente é trágica sob a caneta de nossos escritores e intermediários são vistos como criminosos, mas o « salto » passa para a posteridade por ser objeto de uma ficção.
FOOTBALL, IDENTITÉ ET CULTURE: LE FOOTBALL PARMI LES PORTUGAIS ET LEURS DESCENDANTS EN FRANCE
Victor Pereira
Abstract. Based on a historical and ethnological survey conducted since the early 2000s, this article seeks to explain the power of soccer in identification processes among many Portuguese and Portuguese descendants residing in France. Indeed, this sport is massively practiced and followed by Portuguese migrants in this country. Hundreds of “Portuguese” football teams have been created over the last fifty years, and the Portuguese national team and Portuguese football clubs are closely followed by thousands of Portuguese and Portuguese descendants living in France. Why is this sport assimilated by many as an element of Portuguese “identity” and how was it constructed in France as a “know-how” and a cultural commodity?
Résumé. A partir d’une enquête historique et ethnologique, qui s’est déployée depuis le début des années 2000, cet article cherche à expliquer la puissance du football dans les processus d’identification parmi de nombreux Portugais et descendants de Portugais résidant en France. En effet, ce sport est massivement pratiqué et suivi par des migrants portugais dans ce pays. Depuis cinquante ans, des centaines d’équipes de football « portugaises » ont été constituées et les parcours de l’équipe nationale portugaise ainsi que ceux des principaux clubs de football portugais sont attentivement suivis par des milliers de Portugais et descendants de Portugais vivant en France. Pourquoi ce sport est-il assimilé par beaucoup d’entre eux comme un élément de l’« identité » portugaise et comment a-t-il été construit, en France, comme un « savoir-faire » et une marchandise culturelle?
Frederic Leveziel
Abstract. In the context of the need for recognition and the role it plays on the construction of identity in contemporary societies, an unpretentious ethnic comedy sheds some relevant light on this phenomenon—in an astonishing way. In The Gilded Cage directed by Ruben Alves, through the character of Maria (a concierge), we see the dichotomy between social invisibility and the attempt to be recognized emerge in the Portuguese subculture in France. However, even if this demand for visibility generally leads to a confrontation, it can also promote social integration and prompt the formulation of an identity paradigm. It can create a transnational community (or at least an imagined one) that becomes part of the public debate about identity in France and other societies. Therefore, let us salute this comedy; while making us laugh as it deconstructs stereotypes, it also gives us plenty of food for thought.
Résumé. Dans la mouvance actuelle du besoin de reconnaissance et du rôle qu’il joue dans la construction de l’identité dans les sociétés contemporaines, de manière étonnante, c’est une comédie communautaire sans prétention qui vient nous apporter un éclairage pertinent sur ce phénomène. C’est ainsi que dans La Cage dorée de Ruben Alves, à travers la dialectique entre l’invisibilité sociale et la lutte pour la reconnaissance de la concierge Maria, se profile la lutte pour la reconnaissance des Portugais de France. Cependant, même si cette revendication de visibilité conduit généralement à une lutte, celle-ci peut aussi promouvoir l’intégration sociale en débouchant sur la formulation d’un paradigme identitaire, la formation d’une communauté transnationale, une communauté imaginée, qui appartient au questionnement identitaire qui agite le débat public en France et dans de nombreuses autres sociétés. Saluons donc une comédie, qui tout en nous faisant rire et sourire en déconstruisant bon nombre de stéréotypes nous donne matière à réfléchir.
ENACTING THE MULTIPLE SPACES AND TIMES OF PORTUGUESE MIGRATION TO FRANCE IN YOUTUBE HUMOR: CHRONOTOPIC ANALYSIS OF RO ET CUT’S VAMOS A PORTUGAL
Michèle Koven, Isabelle Simões Marques
Abstract We examine the production and contested reception of a YouTube comedic performance by France-based comedic duo, Ro et Cut, involving Portuguese migrants in France. Specifically, we analyze Vamos a Portugal, a video which depicts one Portuguese migrant family’s preparation for their annual summer return trip from France to the Portuguese “homeland.” We use Bakhtin’s notion of chronotope, i.e., discursive formulations of space, time, and person mobilizable in interaction, to analyze how performers and commenters construct spatio-temporally situated images of Portuguese migrants, while simultaneously positioning themselves spatio-temporally in relation to these images. In particular, we compare how France-based Luso-descendant and nonmigrant Portuguese commenters construct and react to the video. Many Luso-descendant commenters embrace the video as evoking a nostalgic personal, familial, and Portuguese past, from the perspective of an urban French present. However, nonmigrant Portuguese viewers in Portugal reject the video as evoking an outmoded and illegitimate version of Portuguese culture, from the perspective of a contemporary Portuguese present. Our comparison of the chronotopes through which differently positioned commenters interpret the video illuminates the contested politics surrounding performances of Portuguese migrant and national culture in the diaspora in France versus in Portugal.
InterDISCIPLINARY Journal of Portuguese Diaspora Studies (IJPDS) with print and online versions: https://portuguese-diaspora-studies.com/index.php/ijpds/indexThe following refereed volumes have been published since the journal’s inception in 2012:
Vol. 6 (2017):118 pp.
Vol. 5. (2016):172 pp.
Vol. 4.2 (2015):464 pp.
Vol. 4.1 (2015):172 pp.
Vol. 3.2 (2014):158 pp.
Vol. 3.1 (2014) :294 pp.
Vol. 2 (2013):175 pp.
Vol. 1 (2012):217pp.
[NOTE: European research report on diaspora Pētījums elektroniski ir pieejams Latvijas Universitātes Diasporas un jan 27, 2015 http://www.diaspora.lu.lv/fileadmin/user_upload/lu_portal/projekti/diaspora/1_DMPC_petijums_politiska_parstavnieciba_300115.pdf]