June 8-9 2023
“Colonial Legacies and Racial Formations: France In Comparative Perspective”
Conference at École Normale Supérieure
Despite claims to an egalitarian colorblindness, French policy has long rested on accenting and institutionalizing ethnic, religious and racial difference, at the domestic and foreign policy levels. In recent years developments from Mali to Lebanon have revived interest in the effects of colonial policy in former French colonies. This conference will reflect on the following questions: How are former French colonies trying to undo institutional and discursive formations inherited from France? How does France’s colonial past inform current policies towards its minority populations, and shape debates around Islamophobia and ethnic statistics? How do American debates on “race” resonate in France? How do cultural producers in France address questions of empire and social exclusion?
This international conference will bring together scholars from around the world to discuss racial formations and colonial legacies in France and former French colonies in a comparative perspective.
The conference will take place at:
Room R2-01
École Normale Supérieure
48 boulevard Jourdan
75014 Paris
Organized by Hisham Aidi, Marwan Mohammed, Marc Lynch and Zachariah Mampilly
(Program on African Social Research, Political Science of the Middle East, and École Normale Supérieure)
To RSVP, click HERE.