"When you get up in the morning, you don't necessarily wonder if you're French or not," explains historian Nicolas Offenstadt.
Asked about what it means to be French, he emphasizes that there are, in his view, several ways of being French: "the single national identity does not exist, it is plural, built by individuals, therefore made up of diversity of history, region, life experiences, commitment”.
Rights and duties
He also specifies that being French has a legal significance that cannot be overlooked: "first of all, being French is a fact, that is to say it is a nationality with rights and duties ;
so regardless of what you think, of the discussions, of the moral values, of the way in which you charge the notion of France and the notion of French, you are or are not in relation to the law”.
OUR “NATIONAL IDENTITY” FILE
“Today, a good conception of history in the public space is to say to yourself: “Yes, there are many stories that do not all have the same temporality”, underlines Nicolas Offenstadt.
There are people who have been in France for a very long time, who have been rooted in a village.
There are others who have arrived recently and who have contributed just as much to the history of the country!
So accepting plural stories is fundamental to create, obviously, a collective project”.
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This article is produced by Brut and hosted by 20 Minutes.
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