Quelle est l'autre rive du fleuve ? De l’autre côté du fleuve ? Qui est de l’autre côté ?

Abstract

The following ideas have been presented at the tenth anniversary of the meetings of the Laboratoire de Sociologie de la Culture Europeenne de Strasbourg and the Ludwig-Uhland Institut in Tubingen. From a question of Claudio Magris : The other bank of the river ? Who is on the other bank ? emerges a dialectic of identity and otherness. Theoretically, three constellations are possible : - I live on one bank and know the other bank. - I am situated between the two banks. - I am on my way to the other bank and no return is possible. Living on one bank of the river, one can consider the other bank with indifference, ignorance, hatred, tolerance, sympathy and even empathy. Living in the middle, is putting oneself between two cultures, no longer knowing who one is, and where one stands. Young immigrants try to solve the problem by choosing either to keep their former culture, or to assimilate to the new one. Often, they build up their own culture, between two worlds. The third constellation is the passage from one bank to the other, with no return, illustrated by the image of death