Marie-Pierre Ulloa will present from her book Le Nouveau rêve américain, du Maghreb à la Californie [“From North Africa to California : the new American Dream] in which she investigates Maghrebi migrant trajectories (Muslim Arab and Berber Maghrebi and also Jewish Maghrebi itineraries) in California.

Unlike many other immigrant communities, Maghrebi migration to California is a complex case of triangulation between the mother country, the host country, and the country of the ex-colonizer, and some of these migrants embrace their multiple heritage by opening French and North African restaurants. But this France is an imaginary France, and the representation of North Africa is a phantasmagoric Maghreb rife with clichés. The immigrant saga recounted in the restaurant and hospitality business recalls the fluidity of identity negotiations and the integration narrative of making a new house feel like home.