Back to the homeland

Since the end of the 1950s, immigration to France has accelerated. Every summer, more and more North African families go back to the homeland. With the car filled to the roof with luggage and gifts, they're heading to Morocco, Algeria or Tunisia. These summer vacations look like a pilgrimage to the land of their ancestors. It is an opportunity to visit grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, to reconnect with the traditions, to celebrate a wedding or a birth. But the holidays always start with a meticulous preparation: the purchase of many gifts for the family back home and food to last during the long journey by car!

 

Homecoming is always synonymous with sunshine, happy reunions, family meals with those who have not been seen for a year or more. But if the immigrants themselves find the country where they grew up, for their children it’s another story... Sometimes the cultural gap is difficult to manage. 

 

Going back to the homeland is part of the French national heritage. It is an intimate story that crosses the great history, on both sides of the Mediterranean.