>>>>Dean Grillot: As we continue our discussion of society and culture, we're going to talk
today about European society and culture. To do that, I have with me Professor Dinah
Stillman. Professor Stillman is a professor of French language and literature and culture.
So thank you for joining me.
>>Professor Stillman: Thank you, I'm delighted.
>>Dean Grillot: So I know that you have have French background, although you were born
in Morocco. But have French heritage, spent a lot of time in France. You have a lot of
experience and teach classes on French culture and society, so can you tell us a little bit
about how we might characterize French culture and society?
>>Professor Stillman: There are the stereotypes, of course, of, you know, of the French and
their food culture and cheese and wine and sex, but there are other things that define
French culture. The French are related to their history. I mean, unlike America, that
is a people of immigrants, the French people are very conscious of their history, and sometimes
it's even mythological, like, you know, they are the descendants of the gods. But they
have that notion of being French and being intellectually so. [laughs]
>>Dean Grillot: So I mean because the French are very protective of their culture, are
they not? I mean, so so let's put France within the context of Europe for for a minute in
that we have this continent that has what we call the European Union and, you know,
borders that really kind of no longer exist. So people move around. The French can go,
you know, there you can travel from France to Germany, to other countries, and there
there are no borders. Yet there are really borders culturally, linguistically, right?
The French are very proud of their language. It used to be the the language of the world.
So do people within Europe feel European? Does European identity kind of trump French
identity or other identity? Do, do people refer to themselves as European within the
continent?
>>Professor Stillman: I don't think so. Historically speaking, all the countries in Europe, even
the tiniest, have their own language and their own history and their own culture, and they're
very proud of it. And of course they are French first, Italian first, Spanish first, German
first, rather than European first.
>>Dean Grillot: This plays into their politics and relations undoubtedly in terms of trying
to protect certain things like language and society. So let's talk a little bit about
French cinema. That's one of the areas that you you teach about. And how is it that French
film helps teach us about French culture or about what we might conceive of as a European
culture?
>>Professor Stillman: Well, through each film, we can see the culture and we can grasp what
is very particular in French society. And we can also have an idea of all the issues
of French identity nowadays.
>>Dean Grillot: So how might you describe that French identity?
>>Professor Stillman: Well, for example, there are you know, people who think we are French
at the root, you know, native French, and there are others that are, you know, immigrants
or descendants of immigrants. And although now they are French, they are not perceived
as French by some people who still have lingering attitudes from former colonization period,
and and sometimes they don't even think of themselves as French.
>>Dean Grillot: I think you raise a really important point here, and that is for example
mentioning colonial form- former colonial powers or France as a former colonial power,
and former members of their of their colonies. So let's say French Africans, right? People
from Morocco or other parts of Africa, sub-Saharan Africa that that may travel to France, but
you know speak French -- don't necessarily see themselves as French. They may even be
born in France and not really be seen as Fre- as French so I mean are there issues it sounds
to me like with assimilation in in France, and really being able to kind of include people
throughout society?
>>Professor Stillman: Yes, you're raising the point with assimilation. Because in in
France, you know, the ideal was not integrating immigrants but rather assimilating them to
the French culture, to make of them real French citizens with no outward religion, since France
is secular. And when we say secular, it's not exactly the same notion of secularism
as in America, for example. It's laïcité, and being laïque, secular in France means
almost never speaking about religion, and especially not in schools. Now the defining
change, I think, in French society started with Jules Ferry's law on education in 1882,
which actually applied about 100 years later, the principles of revol- of revolution. The
public schools were mandatory, free for everybody, and secular. And by secular, they meant never
studying religion. Actually they took out everything that was on French curricula that
related to religion. French society became a nation of, you know, people who were meant
to come together as one people, but had the same habits, the same language, the same standard
language because there were many dialects in France. But of course, they introduce you
know the standardization of French in a rather authoritarian manner, and now people in France
speak, you know, standard French.
>>Dean Grillot: So finally on this issue, do you think that this is something that you
see throughout Europe, that people are, as you mentioned, are kind of protective of their
of their own society and culture -- if you're German, if you're French, if you're Spanish,
if you're Italian? But this issue of assimilation and as people migrate and move around the
world and people particularly flow into Europe, this problem with assimilating or or welcoming
them even, into society is this something that you think is is happening across Europe
and is having an impact on the overall European identity as we know it today?
>>Professor Stillman: Well, I think people travel more, and they come across cultures
more often, and so they become more open to other cultures and more tolerant when they
are young. Well this idea of being European is something that we find more with the younger
people, because they travel more and they have these opportunities through European
institutions also to study abroad, to study in other European countries, and they meet
people from all over Europe there, and they become more tolerant. And I think they are
the ones who can say they feel French foremost, but they they they do feel that they have
a European identity.
>>Dean Grillot: I think you raise a very important point, and that is the generational aspect
of society and culture and how it changes over time, and so it'll be interesting to
see what happens in Europe as this younger generation comes up and is is part of the
leadership in Europe. Well, Professor Stillman, thank you so much for joining us to tell us
a little bit about European identity and French identity.
>>Professor Stillman: Thank you for having me.
>>Dean Grillot: So students -- tell us what you think. Now that you've heard a little
bit about European identity and particularly French identity, put those glasses on. See
the world from a French perspective perhaps or from another European perspective. How
do you see each other? How do you see your relations throughout the rest of the world?
Tell us what you think.