But cultural artifacts across Paris show this sentiment rings true across most aspects of French history.
Recently I visited the Museum of Immigration in Paris which (surprisingly) carries a shocking history itself. Reopening only recently in the summer of 2023, the museum is housed within the Palais de la Porte Dorée, the former site of France’s colonial exhibition beginning in 1931. The colonial exhibition profited off the often abusive spotlighting of native cultures across France’s colonial empire. The building now houses one of the world's first museums dedicated to the immigrant population within a country. For France, this is an interesting facet of Paris’ identity as the world's museum city. The Museum of Immigration traces immigration from the Napoleonic era to the 21st century, dissecting how the treatment of ‘foreigners’ has varied across time and how the national government has responded to mass influxes of foreign populations to French territory. France is distinct from the United States in that there is no hyphenated identity recognized by national authorities. No ‘French-Algerian,’ French-Haitian,’ or French-Swiss’ distinction made by national censuses or job applications, for example. The expectation is that immigrants assimilate once they migrate to France and become fully French—maintaining an attachment to their original national identity is viewed by many (especially the far right in France) as a threat to national cohesion. This commitment to the idea of assimilation is something that stems from France’s rich history, whether the Enlightenment, the 1789 French Revolution or the 1968 student protests—all events are viewed as distinctly French (even if immigrant populations were involved).
