La France, hron hron hron!

This blog will be taking on a new role as the place to dump some of my musings on living and researching in Paris. It has been a full two days now, and I have so much that I want to say that I feel like I could be up writing for days! Shit Happens to people everyday, but very few people take the time to think about them the way than an academic might. It could be good thing--wouldn't want a whole bunch of people running around over-thinking things, now would we...

My purpose in France is to get a sense of how Caribbeans view race and ethnicity in the context of a purportedly color-blind French society. The French, to put it bluntly, don't believe in racial identity the way that those of us in the US do (whether we are post-racial or not), so to talk about a Black France (as opposed to a Black America) is much more difficult. My goal over the course of a year will be to unpack the everyday experiences of French Caribbeans (notably Haitians, Martinicans, and Guadeloupeans) with the subject of race and ethnicity, and how this intersects with their national identity (be it French or Haitian or Antillean, or a combo).

I'm telling you this so you'll know why the heck I'm even in Paris in the first place, and understand the lens through which I will be observing French life. I'm open to questions, debates, and suggestions, since that will only make me a better researcher, and ultimately intellectual.

So, yeah, yeah, read on, and join me in my adventures (and trust, I always have adventures.)