Americans in Paris

Travel is more than a destination. And despite the cliché, it’s more than the journey. The right travel companions can make a good trip into a great experience.

by Zachary Kelch

Travel is more than a destination. And despite the cliché, it’s more than the journey. The right travel companions can make a good trip into a great experience.

On Techer Alumni Tours, Caltech community members explore and learn together, making trips more memorable and rewarding. In April 2023, passengers on the trip to Paris, spotlighting the African American expatriate experience, will see the city with Jean-Laurent Rosenthal, PhD (PhD ’88), the Rea A. and Lela G. Axline Professor of Business Economics at Caltech. Techer talked to Rosenthal about his excitement to share his unique perspectives as a native of both the US and France, and as a scholar of European economic history.

Jean-Laurent Rosenthal

What excites you about sharing Paris with Caltech alumni?
Jean-Laurent Rosenthal: Having been born in the US but raised in France and now working in the US, I am an “immigrant” and a “native” in both countries. This has given me a nuanced perspective about a variety of issues, like notions of race and nationalism. I hope to share the joy I feel from just listening to how my two societies evolve without seeking to judge one better than the other.

What might it have been like for new immigrants to France 100 years ago as they built new lives?
JLR: When immigrants like Josephine Baker arrived in Paris after World War I, or right after World War II like Richard Wright, they found a very rich artistic and intellectual scene that neither conflict really changed. They also encountered a society that had been devastated by war and was thus, in a relative sense, poor. Parisians and tourists alike were quite avid to enjoy the performances of entertainers like Baker or jazz artists. Writers like Wright would have found it comparatively cheap to live in Paris compared to New York or Chicago. Less exalted immigrants of color surely encountered discrimination and racism.

Paris has a storied jazz scene. Are you a jazz fan?
JLR: Yes, I am a jazz fan! It’s about half of the music on my phone. I vividly remember going to a Miles Davis concert in the Roman arena in Arles.

Do you have any tips for Techers visiting Paris?
JLR: Walk the city and read the history in buildings. Have lunch at a neighborhood café. Visit the Sainte Chapelle late in the day or go to a concert there (the late light is best for the stained glass).

As a 1988 graduate, what advice would you give to new Caltech alumni?
JLR: Achieving a Caltech degree is incredible preparation for life. You can use the training to solve problems, to explore anything with confidence. The world is more complicated and people with technical and analytical skill are in ever greater demand.

Any thoughts you’d like to add and share with alumni?
JLR: This trip will be as much a discovery for me as for everyone else. I hope we can have great fun in the collision between the history of black artists and history of the Parisian economy.

If you’d like to join Rosenthal on the trip to Paris, or sign up for another Techer Alumni Tour, visit www.alumni.caltech.edu/travel

The Techer trip to Paris will highlight the influence of African-American expatriates on Parisian life, as well as visits to hear jazz, cruise the Seine, visit the Musée du quai Branly, and much more.

The Techer trip to Paris will highlight the influence of African-American expatriates on Parisian life, as well as visits to hear jazz, cruise the Seine, visit the Musée du quai Branly, and much more.

Steven Boyd Saum is a writer and editor with more than 25 years experience. He is at work on a book about California and edits WorldView Magazine. For more than a decade he edited Santa Clara Magazine, winning CASE gold medals for writing, design, and overall excellence, and he established the magazine for The Commonwealth Club of California.

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