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I was working with a new group of people. I perceived that one woman was from from a French speaking African country. When I asked her where she was from, she said she was born in a Fench wine region and lived there for 15 years before going to... I stopped her, saying, because you are black I thought you are French African, but really you are French French!

I was surprised because I had been explaining - or framing - her behaviour, her actions, in terms of my stereotypes of Africanness, and as soon as I heard she was French, I saw how easily I could have explained her conforming to French stereotypes instead. Amazing how fluid those stereotypes can be when you want them to be!

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