Every year thousands of bodies are being repatriated from France to the Maghreb, as Muslim families return their loved ones to the soil of their original home. It is a costly and complicated business, involving flights, consular administrators and specialist funeral providers. It also prompts the question: why not get buried in France?
After all, France is the country where these families are now destined to live. Would it not be a sign of successful integration if France were also where they chose to rest when they died?
The answer to that question has to do with the complexities of national identity in a world of mass migration.
But also with France's own obsession with secular "republican" values, and its reluctance to give ground - literally - on matters of faith. » | Hugh Schofield | BBC News, Paris | Monday, July 22, 2012
