In a Parisian theater, hundreds of excited spectators, mainly of Ivorian origin, shout for their favorites in the election of Miss Côte d’Ivoire/France 2024 – one of the many beauty contests where the African diaspora of France celebrates its dual culture.
On the floor as well as in the three tiers of overhanging baskets, a prim crowd proclaims its support for the 19 potential Misses.
“I would like to thank the diaspora. Our parents have had beautiful children in Europe,” warms one of the hosts of the ceremony.
The beauties follow one another in fashion shows – wax dresses, swimsuits, evening dresses – in a buzzing room.
The finalists speak. After four hours of joyous suspense, the ax falls: “It’s number 18!”
Lyse Amissah, armband 18, cries with joy. “I am very moved, very grateful and very proud to wear this scarf and this crown,” said smiling, her makeup streaked with tears, the 22-year-old student, born in France to Ivorian parents.
A few weeks earlier, during a Miss rehearsal, the slender young woman with short dyed blonde hair said she wanted, through the election, to “get as close to (her) roots as possible”, she who had “always bathed in in Ivorian culture.
“We live in France, we are very proud to be French and we are also keen to show our Ivorian culture,” observes Flora Sy, president of the Miss Côte d’Ivoire/France committee. “And in Ivory Coast, we also want to show that it is a mix of cultures, an emigration that is happening very well.”
– ‘Model’ –
A diametrically opposed observation was at the origin of the first Miss African competition in France, in this case Miss Mali/France, in 2002, according to its founder Mams Yaffa.
Still tormented by President Jacques Chirac’s unfortunate tirade on “the noise and the smell” allegedly generated by African immigrants in France, the Malian community was moved in 2001 by the broadcast of a film, “Fatou la Malienne” , recounting the forced marriage of a Franco-Malian woman to a cousin in Mali.
“We experienced a hyper-stigmatizing perception. Malians were seen as uneducated people, who live outside, in unsanitary conditions. At that time, when a young Malian went out in the evening in Paris, she said that she was Senegalese or Ivorian “, remembers Mams Yaffa.
The first election of Miss Mali/France was therefore intended to be a positive event, “a framework for carrying out militant actions”, says this now deputy mayor of the 18th arrondissement of Paris, where a large African community lives. Miss Mali/France is “an ambassador of double space, of co-development, a model for our little sisters,” he says.
The candidates present a humanitarian project, the opposite of “be beautiful and shut up”, believes Mams Yaffa. Fight against skin depigmentation, promotion of hygiene, health, education… Themes also highlighted in the other Miss Diaspora elections.
In recent days, Miss Senegal/France spoke in Dakar with dozens of young Senegalese about “the impact of illegal immigration, to prevent them from getting on a boat”, recounts Mamadou Thiam, the president of the Franco-Senegalese organizing committee, who accompanied him.
She also made two television appearances to spread her message. “We do things on our own small scale, without sponsors” but with a lot of good will, he notes.
– Pride –
Lyse Amissah, Miss Ivory Coast/France 2024, explains that she wants to help “break the taboo” of endometriosis – a disease usually resulting in severe pain during periods and/or fertility disorders – in his country of origin.
In the crowd, Miss Peul, Miss and Mister African beauty listen to her, but also a number of Miss Africans from France or their runners-up: Senegal, Mali, Togo, Gambia, and the two Congos.
Countries with which Paris maintains sometimes stormy relations. In Mali, a military junta thus ousted French troops, who had been present there for ten years as part of an anti-jihadist operation, to turn towards Russia.
A diplomatic quarrel of which the Malian community of France refuses to be “the collateral damage”, underlines Mams Yaffa, adding that Miss Mali/France participates every year in Bamako in the election of Miss Mali. “It’s governments that are the problem, not their populations.”
While Franco-Ivorian relations are in good shape, Lyse Amissah will compete, in June, in the election of Miss Côte d’Ivoire in Abidjan.
She is already dreaming of new success there. “I am proud to be Ivorian. I am also proud to be French,” she says. “But I am especially proud to be able to represent Côte d’Ivoire internationally.”
