Yale
Annual Lecture in Memory of Naomi Schor
PATRICK WEIL
Centre national de la recherche scientifique, Paris I-Sorbonne, Yale Law School
"Being French: The Four Pillars of Nationality"
Abstract:
Is there a French national identity? At the conclusion of a controversial, presidentially-led public debate, historian and political scientist Patrick Weil takes on the subject. Four pillars, he argues in his most recent essay (January 2011), have served as a shared reference and a common socio-political project for France and the French. The principle of equality, the French language, the positive memory of the French Revolution, and the principle of laïcité: all products of French history, having resisted numerous challenges, survived many constitutions and even more governments, these foundational principles are still goals to measure up to. They are attractive and inclusive rather than grounds for exclusion.
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