moving moment of national unity followed the brutal murder of history teacher Samuel Paty. “We will defend the freedom that you taught us so well and we will carry laïcité (secularism) up high” declared President Emmanuel Macron in the tribute for the teacher on Wednesday, October 21st, held at the Sorbonne, a venue chosen because of its symbolic links to education and the spirit of Enlightenment. Freedom of speech was reaffirmed alongside the core role of teachers in defending the French Republic against (Islamic) religious obscurantism and fanatism, and an emotional crowd sang along to a musical rendition of the Marseillaise.
Having spent more than half my life in France, as a student, a teacher, and an academic, I was deeply shocked and upset upon hearing this tragic news. As I watched the French Prime Minister Jean Castex stand in tribute to Samuel Paty at the Place de la République on October 18th and declare “we are not scared”, I was deeply moved, not because he was speaking as a politician or in the name of France, but because Jean Castex was once my teacher at the French institute of political science (Sciences Po). For a year, he got to know each-and-every-one of us and allowed our small class of 20 students to delve deep in discussion around difficult societal issues, whilst reflecting on the meaning and functioning of political institutions. Seeing him pronounce these words in the wake of Samuel Paty’s death, killed for having tried to engage with controversial issues, held a particular—very real—meaning for me, beyond all the political stance and turmoil it might represent. It also echoed difficult questions I have faced in my work as an academic in an English-speaking environment, about how to teach about controversial issues and the place of religion in France.
In the wake of this tragedy, which sent shockwaves across France, and in particular in the teaching profession, for whom freedom expression appears threatened and who feel that they might now “die from teaching”, French society faces some difficult questions about the strained relationship between education and religion, and the specific form of French secularism: laïcité.
Laïcité, as the legacy of the Enlightenment, is often presented as a move away from religious obscurantism and a pre-requisite for freedom. It has a long history in France. Established by the 1905 law on the separation between the Church and the State, it presupposes a distinction between what belongs to the public sphere and what is confined to the private sphere, with the aim of abstracting citizens from any particularisms. In schools, this has meant an abstraction from anything religious, often interpreted as a color-blind principle of “indifference to differences” based on universal values. Although it has been brandished as a unifying principle for French citizens and for the teaching profession; laïcité is also a difficult, at times ambiguous and contested concept. The political instrumentalization of laïcité by conservative or far-right groups into xenophobic or Islamophobic discourse has been strongly critiqued. In his controversial essay “Sociology of a religious crisis. Where is Charlie?” in 2015, historian and anthropologist Emmanuel Todd dubbed this phenomenon a form of “neo-republicanism”, which he holds responsible for current fractures in society. For philosopher and gender theorist Judith Butler, laïcité, by defining secular freedoms, marginalizes minority groups of Muslim faith, denying them the possibility of full legal or civic participation in French society. However, laïcité is also seen as the last bastion of the Enlightenment, and, as a fundamental and unnegotiable principle of the French Republic, is put forward as the way to protect French society from further division and fragmentation. It is thus significant that the government confirmed, in the wake of Samuel Paty’s death, that the Observatory of laïcité, created in 2013, will be maintained.
Education has long held a central role in promoting and defending laïcité. In the early 20th century, school played a central role in secularizing public institutions in France. In his tribute to Samuel Paty, President Macron reiterated teachers’ mission to protect Republican values of free speech and secularism, a discourse reminiscent of the hussards noirs of the Third Republic in the early 20th century, whose goals were to educate children to become citizens. However, since the 1980s, laïcité has held a contentious place in schools. Debates around the hijab (headscarf) in schools, which began in 1989 and culminated in the 2004 law banning ostentatious religious signs in schools, divided the intellectual community and educational world in France.
Although laïcité emerged as the affirmation of Republicanism and an emancipation from Catholicism and catholic education, in everyday contemporary discourse, laïcité has most often become opposed to Islam. This view has become more prominent in recent political discourse, where laïcité, as a fundamental Republican principle, is reaffirmed as the way to combat “Muslim separatism”, as expressed in a recent declaration by President Macron (10/02/2020). Policy shifts, such as the suppression of ELCO classes (Enseignement des langues et des cultures d’origines), which delivered language classes in children’s home languages, have been framed in a similar manner. This crisis around laïcité does not stand in a void. It is situated at the intersection of stereotypical media representations of Islam in France and forms of socio-geographical disadvantage in the French urban periphery (the banlieues) often presented in public discourse as an anomic, no-man’s land which fosters extremism. My own research in French primary schools showed that, symbolically, the principle of laïcité might participate in creating silence around religion in schools: in particular, because of the absence of discursive repertoires for teachers and students to speak about religion, identity and otherness, which soon become taboo in students’ minds. The principle of “indifference to differences” which stems from the ideals of universalism and laïcité also means that there might be a limited “language of difference” for teachers or students to draw on to engage with controversial issues
This crisis reveals the paradoxical place that education and schools occupy in Western Democratic states. On the one hand, schools are presented as a vector for integration, with the aim of equipping future citizens with the necessary skills to fully participate in society. On the other hand, it is well known that educational systems are responsible for reproducing deep social and cultural inequalities. Educational systems are inscribed in projects from a different era: historically part of an idealized national project from the nineteenth century, based on unitary values, often at odds with the reality of migration and mobility in current societies.
Laïcité in France paradoxically performs both a federating and an exclusionary function in education. It is a rallying principle for teachers to navigate an increasingly difficult educational and social landscape and strained relationships with students and parents. It is also, at times, a way to designate the illegitimate “other” in school and society. At the heart of this crisis is the question of how the French Republican model of education, and its underlying principle of laïcité respond to the new realities of cultural and religious diversity, whilst maintaining the fundamental values of respect and freedom of speech. There are no simple answers to these questions, and certainly none that polarized debates can easily answer, whether these are within the French political and intellectual context, or between the different takes on secularism that, put crudely, divide the English-speaking and French-speaking world. Some difficult considerations lie ahead. Today though, we stand in tribute to Samuel Paty, tragically “mort d’enseigner” #samuelpaty #jesuisprof.
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France's Struggle with Education and Religion
October 26, 2020
"In France, sir, the lights will not go out". But in which direction will they shine? France's struggle with education and religion.
A
moving moment of national unity followed the brutal murder of history teacher Samuel Paty. “We will defend the freedom that you taught us so well and we will carry laïcité (secularism) up high” declared President Emmanuel Macron in the tribute for the teacher on Wednesday, October 21st, held at the Sorbonne, a venue chosen because of its symbolic links to education and the spirit of Enlightenment. Freedom of speech was reaffirmed alongside the core role of teachers in defending the French Republic against (Islamic) religious obscurantism and fanatism, and an emotional crowd sang along to a musical rendition of the Marseillaise.
Having spent more than half my life in France, as a student, a teacher, and an academic, I was deeply shocked and upset upon hearing this tragic news. As I watched the French Prime Minister Jean Castex stand in tribute to Samuel Paty at the Place de la République on October 18th and declare “we are not scared”, I was deeply moved, not because he was speaking as a politician or in the name of France, but because Jean Castex was once my teacher at the French institute of political science (Sciences Po). For a year, he got to know each-and-every-one of us and allowed our small class of 20 students to delve deep in discussion around difficult societal issues, whilst reflecting on the meaning and functioning of political institutions. Seeing him pronounce these words in the wake of Samuel Paty’s death, killed for having tried to engage with controversial issues, held a particular—very real—meaning for me, beyond all the political stance and turmoil it might represent. It also echoed difficult questions I have faced in my work as an academic in an English-speaking environment, about how to teach about controversial issues and the place of religion in France.
In the wake of this tragedy, which sent shockwaves across France, and in particular in the teaching profession, for whom freedom expression appears threatened and who feel that they might now “die from teaching”, French society faces some difficult questions about the strained relationship between education and religion, and the specific form of French secularism: laïcité.
Laïcité, as the legacy of the Enlightenment, is often presented as a move away from religious obscurantism and a pre-requisite for freedom. It has a long history in France. Established by the 1905 law on the separation between the Church and the State, it presupposes a distinction between what belongs to the public sphere and what is confined to the private sphere, with the aim of abstracting citizens from any particularisms. In schools, this has meant an abstraction from anything religious, often interpreted as a color-blind principle of “indifference to differences” based on universal values. Although it has been brandished as a unifying principle for French citizens and for the teaching profession; laïcité is also a difficult, at times ambiguous and contested concept. The political instrumentalization of laïcité by conservative or far-right groups into xenophobic or Islamophobic discourse has been strongly critiqued. In his controversial essay “Sociology of a religious crisis. Where is Charlie?” in 2015, historian and anthropologist Emmanuel Todd dubbed this phenomenon a form of “neo-republicanism”, which he holds responsible for current fractures in society. For philosopher and gender theorist Judith Butler, laïcité, by defining secular freedoms, marginalizes minority groups of Muslim faith, denying them the possibility of full legal or civic participation in French society. However, laïcité is also seen as the last bastion of the Enlightenment, and, as a fundamental and unnegotiable principle of the French Republic, is put forward as the way to protect French society from further division and fragmentation. It is thus significant that the government confirmed, in the wake of Samuel Paty’s death, that the Observatory of laïcité, created in 2013, will be maintained.
Education has long held a central role in promoting and defending laïcité. In the early 20th century, school played a central role in secularizing public institutions in France. In his tribute to Samuel Paty, President Macron reiterated teachers’ mission to protect Republican values of free speech and secularism, a discourse reminiscent of the hussards noirs of the Third Republic in the early 20th century, whose goals were to educate children to become citizens. However, since the 1980s, laïcité has held a contentious place in schools. Debates around the hijab (headscarf) in schools, which began in 1989 and culminated in the 2004 law banning ostentatious religious signs in schools, divided the intellectual community and educational world in France.
Although laïcité emerged as the affirmation of Republicanism and an emancipation from Catholicism and catholic education, in everyday contemporary discourse, laïcité has most often become opposed to Islam. This view has become more prominent in recent political discourse, where laïcité, as a fundamental Republican principle, is reaffirmed as the way to combat “Muslim separatism”, as expressed in a recent declaration by President Macron (10/02/2020). Policy shifts, such as the suppression of ELCO classes (Enseignement des langues et des cultures d’origines), which delivered language classes in children’s home languages, have been framed in a similar manner. This crisis around laïcité does not stand in a void. It is situated at the intersection of stereotypical media representations of Islam in France and forms of socio-geographical disadvantage in the French urban periphery (the banlieues) often presented in public discourse as an anomic, no-man’s land which fosters extremism. My own research in French primary schools showed that, symbolically, the principle of laïcité might participate in creating silence around religion in schools: in particular, because of the absence of discursive repertoires for teachers and students to speak about religion, identity and otherness, which soon become taboo in students’ minds. The principle of “indifference to differences” which stems from the ideals of universalism and laïcité also means that there might be a limited “language of difference” for teachers or students to draw on to engage with controversial issues
This crisis reveals the paradoxical place that education and schools occupy in Western Democratic states. On the one hand, schools are presented as a vector for integration, with the aim of equipping future citizens with the necessary skills to fully participate in society. On the other hand, it is well known that educational systems are responsible for reproducing deep social and cultural inequalities. Educational systems are inscribed in projects from a different era: historically part of an idealized national project from the nineteenth century, based on unitary values, often at odds with the reality of migration and mobility in current societies.
Laïcité in France paradoxically performs both a federating and an exclusionary function in education. It is a rallying principle for teachers to navigate an increasingly difficult educational and social landscape and strained relationships with students and parents. It is also, at times, a way to designate the illegitimate “other” in school and society. At the heart of this crisis is the question of how the French Republican model of education, and its underlying principle of laïcité respond to the new realities of cultural and religious diversity, whilst maintaining the fundamental values of respect and freedom of speech. There are no simple answers to these questions, and certainly none that polarized debates can easily answer, whether these are within the French political and intellectual context, or between the different takes on secularism that, put crudely, divide the English-speaking and French-speaking world. Some difficult considerations lie ahead. Today though, we stand in tribute to Samuel Paty, tragically “mort d’enseigner” #samuelpaty #jesuisprof.
