Antillean students in Paris face a forced choice between white universality and dialect solidarity

Evidence

In a more limited group, when students from the Antilles meet in Paris, they have the choice of two possibilities: –either to stand with the white world (that is to say, the real world), and, since they will speak French, to be able to confront certain problems and incline to a certain degree of universality in their conclusions; –or to reject Europe, “Yo,” and cling together in their dialect, making themselves quite comfortable in what we shall call the Umwelt of Martinique; by this I mean–and this applies particularly to my brothers of the Antilles –that when one of us tries, in Paris or any other university city, to study a problem seriously, he is accused of self-aggrandizement, and the surest way of cutting him down is to remind him of the Antilles by exploding into dialect. This must be recognized as one of the reasons why so many friendships collapse after a few months of life in Europe. — Frantz Fanon, Constance Farrington, Black skin, white masks, 142 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Externally educated Antilles students face a forced choice between French and dialect — Frantz Fanon, Constance Farrington, Black skin, white masks, 142; Returning Antilleans signal allegiance through French speech or dialect; For the Antillean Negro, mastery of French proportionally increases perceived whiteness and humanity. (+2 more)

Related

• Externally educated Antilles students face a forced choice between French and dialect (similarity 0.95)
• Antillean writers reject dialect because their formation was wholly French (similarity 0.92)
• Returning Antilleans signal allegiance through French speech or dialect (similarity 0.90)
• Returning Antilleans are diagnosed by their dialect choice as European or unchanged (similarity 0.83)
• Antilleans going to France to confirm whiteness instead encounter their blackness. (similarity 0.82)
• Antilleans pursue French refinement to prove cultural adequacy to themselves (similarity 0.82)
• For the Antillean Negro, mastery of French proportionally increases perceived whiteness and humanity. (similarity 0.81)
• A few French phrases in Martinican education shape the young Antillean’s entire worldview (similarity 0.81)
• The colonial seeks French refinement to prove he has measured up (similarity 0.81)
• “He talks like a white man” is Martinique’s highest praise for mastering French. (similarity 0.80)
• The Antillean journey to France to become white reveals his real black face (similarity 0.79)
• The abroad-educated Antillean must choose between family and European society (similarity 0.79)
• A few classroom phrases form the young Antillean’s entire worldview. (similarity 0.79)
• Antilleans internalize European archetypes such that their anima and animus are white (similarity 0.79)
• Returning Antilles Negroes are diagnosed by family as European if French prevails (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Externally educated Antilles students face a forced choice between French and dialect #expands (0.75) — Frantz Fanon, Constance Farrington, Black skin, white masks, 142
• Returning Antilleans signal allegiance through French speech or dialect #expands (0.65)
• For the Antillean Negro, mastery of French proportionally increases perceived whiteness and humanity. #qualifies (0.55)