Who am I ?

Roseline RABIN
Youth leader, researcher, MA, Roubaix, France
Identity Construction for Teenagers in Multicultural Situations
The identity questions raised by migrations do not only concern migrants. They also challenge the identities of those who do not leave their countries.
Starting form a corpus of tales told by storytellers from Black Africa to an audience of children and teenagers living in the French region of Nord-Pas-de-Calais, we propose to study how this type of event contributes to the identity construction of children from French families of old stock as well as children of various origins. This kind of performance involves a significant democratic stake: we shall examine the promises, limits and dangers of this stake as far as social cohesion and minorities’ rights are concerned.
This analysis will be based on the content of the texts, the way the storytellers interpret them, the audience’s response, the context in which they are told and the pedagogic use that can be made of the shows. My professional experience as a teacher and group leader in a social centre will also allow me to offer a view of the tale in a multicultural situation.

Biographical note
Franco-Indian Roseline Rabin works with children and lives in Roubaix, a city that gathers 80 nationalities. Her MA dissertation, entitled Incompréhension et séduction. La Part du mythe dans le conte en situation interculturelle, is accessible at the Institut International Charles Perrault. She has published tales (Littera) and research articles (Peter Lang...).