Donia Bergaoui ventures into AU

When Donia Bergaoui applied to spend a year teaching in the U.S. she didn’t know where she would end up.

“I didn’t choose. They chose me,” Bergaoui says of the lottery that would determine where she spent her first year in America, the country that had entranced her since childhood.

A master’s degree candidate in her native France, Bergaoui is specializing in American literature, particularly depictions of violence in African-American writing. She came here as a teacher’s assistant in the Modern Languages department last August, and will return to France later this month.

Fortunately, Professor Beach briefed Bergaoui on Alfred’s rural charm so that she wasn’t expecting a cosmopolitan setting when she arrived. One thing that did surprise her was to find such a big cultural gap between American and French culture.

“The biggest challenge to me in this experience was to find such a wide culture gap,” Bergaoui says.

Through her experience in the U.S. she has grown a deeper appreciation for France. She misses the intense bonds she has with friends and the more relaxed attitudes of Europeans.

“Students here are always rushing to the next thing,” she says. Bergaoui says that in France people are much more likely to while away the afternoon with friends at a café.

Despite missing France, Bergaoui has made the most of her time in Alfred. She taught classes about French youth and culture that she hopes broke down stereotypes and gave students a different perception of France. She’s also frank about her experiences growing up as a minority in France.

The daughter of a Tunisian father and Algerian mother, Bergaoui says that immigrants have a difficult time being accepted into French society. She grew up in the suburbs, which have a different significance in France. Many of them were built to house immigrants and have housing projects similar to what Americans see in inner-city urban areas.

“She managed to hold her head up and get to the university,” says Zakia Robana, assistant professor of French, “There were so many times when it would have been easier for her to not accomplish her goals, but she did it.”

Bergaoui acknowledges there are lowered expectations for what immigrant and first generation French citizens can accomplish, but that motivated Bergaoui to adapt and she realized that education would be her ticket out of the suburbs.

“I learned how to pick the best of both cultures,” she said.

Bergaoui enjoys the feeling of equality that she experienced in the United States. She has a love for American language and culture, especially the writing of Toni Morrison and Sapphire, and the music of Kanye West and Li’l Wayne.

She says that the best thing about her time in the U.S. is that it’s challenged her and helped her grow.

“I’ve become more open-minded, less judgmental,” Bergaoui says.

Even though she’s been in Alfred less than a year, Bergaoui also changed AU for the better. Speaking of her contributions to the AU community, Robana said she most admired Bergaoui’s “connectedness with the students and ability to change some people for the better.”

“I’ll miss her presence the most,” Robana says. “Donia has a heart of gold.”