The Colonial Legacy in France: Fracture, Rupture, and Apartheid

Debates about the legacy of colonialism in France are not new, but they have taken on new urgency in the wake of recent terrorist attacks. Responding to acts of religious and racial violence in 2005, 2010, and 2015 and beyond, the essays in this volume pit French ideals against government-sponsored revisionist decrees that have exacerbated tensions, complicated the process of establishing and recording national memory, and triggered divisive debates on what it means to identify as French. As they document the checkered legacy of French colonialism, the contributors raise questions about France and the contemporary role of Islam, the banlieues, immigration, race, history, pedagogy, and the future of the Republic. This innovative volume reconsiders the cultural, economic, political, and social realities facing global French citizens today and includes contributions by Achille Mbembe, Benjamin Stora, Françoise Vergès, Alec Hargreaves, Elsa Dorlin, and Alain Mabanckou, among others.

Nicolas Bancel is Professor at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, and codirector of the ACHAC Research Group.

Pascal Blanchard is a historian and researcher at the Laboratoire Communication et Politique (Paris, France, CNRS), codirector of the ACHAC Research Group, and a documentary filmmaker.

Dominic Thomas is Madeleine L. Letessier Professor and Chair of the Department of French and Francophone Studies at UCLA.

Alexis Pernsteiner is a freelance editor and translator: www.pernsteinertranslations.com. Her translations include Colonial Culture in France since the Revolution (IUP).