feature: ‘blending french and african identities’

Check out this new article from The New York Times Lens blog, a write up exploring the balancing act that many first generation French-Africans face juggling their French and African identities. The article, written by Whitney Richardson, features photos from Carolina Arantes’ ongoing photo-documentary project “First Generation,”which captures the daily lives of young Afro-French women. The Brazilian photographer states, “I wanted to know how it was for them to be living between these two cultures”. See some images from the project and excerpts from the article below (read it in full here).

By Alexander Aplerku, AFROPUNK Contributor

.

“There are almost no Africans or blacks on television or in politics,” said Ms. Mbonou, who started her own clothing boutique in Paris and travels to Cameroon once a year. “It’s like we are here, but we don’t really exist.”

Unlike the United States, where issues around race relations are openly debated, race has remained in France a relatively taboo topic in public conversation.

Because there are so few black pop stars in France, many of the girls look for cultural references to the United States to keep up-to-date on hip-hop culture and fashion.

“As an immigrant, you are always learning and you have to submit yourself to the other culture”

,

Photo credit: Carolina Arantes www.carolinaarantes.com

Photo credit: Carolina Arantes www.carolinaarantes.com

Photo credit: Carolina Arantes www.carolinaarantes.com

Photo credit: Carolina Arantes www.carolinaarantes.com

Photo credit: Carolina Arantes www.carolinaarantes.com