Is the place that I live in part of my identity?

I read an article posted on The Gaurdian called “America accepted me -an Algerian Muslim- in a way France never did by Melyssa Haffaf (2016). In this article, Haffaf talks about her childhood growing up in Algeria and how she had to relocate to France due to the civil war happening

between armed Islamic groups and the Algerian army and state. After relocating, she there was a disconnect in identity between herself and the French culture despite being fluent in the language. Upon moving the the States, she later realizes that this is where she belongs.

I found this whole article very relatable because a lot of what she was talking about and experiencing throughout her life also applied to me in one way or another. Although I was born in America and never lived in France like she did, the disconnect she felt while living in France

was something I felt growing up in the United States. I grew up in the predominantly white community of Dublin so there wasn’t a lot of variety in culture to experience. Although I can say for the most part that I have grown up American, there is a sense of detachment from everyone

else because I know that I can never fully integrate into the society that I am surrounded by

everyday.

When I visit France, I can still feel the disconnect but it is much more subtle and I think that it because there is a larger Arab population over there. I can connect this to our lesson about the Arab Diaspora in foreign countries like England and France. In the article, Haffaf talks about her experience immigrating to France and states, “I did not know then, considering my age, the complicated intricacies inherited from colonial times.” A large population of Arabic chose to migrate to these countries because they believe that it will be easier to integrate into society due to the shared culture. But what many don’t realize is that there is still discrimination and racism to a lot of these immigrants because of history of colonization of Europe to Arab countries. In the article, Haffaf also mentions how although there wasn’t a lot of relatability among her peers when moving to America, she still felt as if there was free to be whoever she wanted because of the heterogeneous society and there was no set

identity that you had to fit into. This is one of the many scenarios that arab immigrants face when moving to a foreign country to settle.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/30/america-acceptance-muslim-france