| Abstract | In this thesis, I show that pervasive prejudice and anti-immigration sentiments in Béziers, France create social and political impediments for migrant and refugees, as well as struggles for the aid organizations that seek to assist refugees in their plights to attain asylum in France. Additionally, grassroots movements aimed towards lessening anti-immigration sentiments in France appear to be a possible source of improvement for the heavy burdens on refugee-aiding organizations, the lacking integration efforts, and the sense of intolerance in France. By highlighting the operations and struggles of one particular branch in Béziers, I begin this analysis with a discussion of La Cimade, a non-profit and non-governmental organization that aims to protect the rights of French migrants and refugees. To provide some context, I then discuss the larger French setting in which the Béziers branch of La Cimade exists so that I may then demonstrate how the organization and its difficulties likely exist because Béziers is a microcosm of a larger French macro-context of intolerance. Next, I highlight some struggles that refugees and migrants face as foreigners due to macro-level discrimination and then address the Roma people in France, how their struggles differ from those of other migrants in France, and La Cimade's interaction with them in Béziers. Through an applied anthropological approach, I then identify a specific plan that may help La Cimade operate more efficiently and provide more effective assistance to the migrant and refugee populations of Béziers. My analysis concludes with a discussion of the importance of grassroots movements in France's fight to change negative mentalities towards multiculturalism and diversity, to end discrimination, and to provide Liberté, Egalité, and Fraternité to all. |
