Long repressed following the collapse of empire, memories of the French colonial experience have recently gained unprecedented visibility. In popular culture, scholarly research, personal memoirs, public commemorations, and new ethnicities associated with the settlement of postcolonial immigrant minorities, the legacy of colonialism is now more apparent in France than at any time in the past. How is this upsurge of interest in the colonial past to be explained? Does the commemoration of empire necessarily imply glorification or condemnation? To what extent have previously marginalized voices succeeded in making themselves heard in new narratives of empire? While veils of secrecy have been lifted, what taboos still remain and why? These are among the questions addressed by an international team of leading researchers in this interdisciplinary volume, which will interest scholars in a wide range of disciplines including French studies, history, literature, cultural studies, and anthropology.

Despite the loss of the French Empire, France and its former colonies are still bound by a common historical past. With the new global promotion of la Francophonie, the relation between the various constituencies of the French-speaking regions of the world is reexamined and debated in this book, through the conversation between scholars dealing with diverse texts and contexts that present the colonial contact and its imprint. The book illustrates how, in France and in its other worlds, that contact, its repercussions, and its memory are lived and expressed today in a variety of textual representations. The historical contact between France and its other worlds has given birth to new kinds of cross-cultural expressions in the arts, in literature, and in aesthetics, establishing interrelations and generating appropriations from both sides of the Hexagon frontier, highlighting the fluidity and the permeability of its cultural borders. The book subtext tells that the frontier between France and its other worlds is no more an unshakable geographical, political, and cultural limit, but rather a line that has become mobile, fluctuating, and permeable, and across which currents, ideas, sensitivities, and creativity are expressed, bearing testimony to vitality and diversity but also to a cross-fertilization of cultures and societies (re) crossing or meeting at that line. Seen from this latter perspective, the book comes also as an interrogation of the inclusiveness or exclusiveness of the words francophone and Francophonie, and, at an academic level, a mutual exclusion of French and Francophone Studies.

Religion and Politics in France and the United States compares the current status and views of Jews, Christians, and Muslims regarding political life in two states. Longstanding traditions of laicite and of constitutional law frame discussions of political speech, voting patterns, and attempts to deal with demographic and cultural shifts characteristic of French and American societies. Papers by leading scholars demonstrate the ways that historical experience sheds light on current events; how it is, for example, that previous efforts to deal with religious difference affect current approaches to the display of religious symbols in state schools, or how the struggles of minority groups for recognition affect voting patterns. One question running throughout the volume is, what can French and American policymakers and citizens learn from one another, as they seek to deal with the challenges presented by contemporary life? This book is suitable for advanced undergraduate and graduate students.

Long repressed following the collapse of empire, memories of the French colonial experience have recently gained unprecedented visibility. In popular culture, scholarly research, personal memoirs, public commemorations, and new ethnicities associated with the settlement of postcolonial immigrant minorities, the legacy of colonialism is now more apparent in France than at any time in the past. How is this upsurge of interest in the colonial past to be explained? Does the commemoration of empire necessarily imply glorification or condemnation? To what extent have previously marginalized voices succeeded in making themselves heard in new narratives of empire? While veils of secrecy have been lifted, what taboos still remain and why? These are among the questions addressed by an international team of leading researchers in this interdisciplinary volume, which will interest scholars in a wide range of disciplines including French studies, history, literature, cultural studies, and anthropology.

In recent years, Europe has had to constantly rethink and redefine its attitude toward new flows of immigrations. Issues of boundaries and identity have been integral to this reflection. Through a magnificent collection of essays, Migrant Cartographies examines both sites and conflicts and the way in which forms of belonging and identity have been reinvented. With careful analysis and exceptional insight, this volume explores the most recent literature on migration as seen from different European viewpoints. This book fills a conspicuous void in migration literature, as there are no comprehensive books on migrant literatures in Europe that address the full range of complexities of colonial legacies and linguistic productions.

In recent years, Europe has had to constantly rethink and redefine its attitude toward new flows of immigrations. Issues of boundaries and identity have been integral to this reflection. Through a magnificent collection of essays, Migrant Cartographies examines both sites and conflicts and the way in which forms of belonging and identity have been reinvented. With careful analysis and exceptional insight, this volume explores the most recent literature on migration as seen from different European viewpoints. This book fills a conspicuous void in migration literature, as there are no comprehensive books on migrant literatures in Europe that address the full range of complexities of colonial legacies and linguistic productions.

Ethnic minorities, principally from Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, and the surviving remnants of France's overseas empire, are increasingly visible in contemporary France. This text surveys the cultural practices now being forged by France's post-colonial minorities. The contributions cover both the ethnic diversity of minority groups and a variety of cultural forms ranging from literature and music to film and television. Using a diversity of critical and theoretical approaches from the disciplines of cultural studies, literary studies, migration studies, anthropology and history, the text explores the globalization of cultures and international migration.

Ethnic minorities, principally from Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and the surviving remnants of France's overseas empire, are increasingly visible in contemporary France. Post-Colonial Cultures in France edited by Alec Hargreaves and Mark McKinney is the first wide-ranging survey in English of the vibrant cultural practices now being forged by France's post-colonial minorities.
The contributions in Post-Colonial Cultures in France cover both the ethnic diversity of minority groups and a variety of cultural forms ranging from literature and music to film and television. Using a diversity of critical and theoretical approaches from the disciplines of cultural studies, literary studies, migration studies, anthropology and history,
Post-Colonial Cultures in France explores the globalization of cultures and international migration.

In a provocative 1985 cover story featuring the face of Marianne obscured by an Islamic veil, Le Figaro Magazine asked: "Serons-nous encore francais dans trente ans?". With those 30 years now spanned, where does France stand in relation to the fears, challenges and opportunities associated with changing perceptions of ethnic and cultural diversity within and beyond the nation's borders? Is the France of 2015 still French in the same way or to the same degree as the France of 1985? Where do the most significant challenges to "Frenchness" now lie? In lslamism? In the "banlieues"? ln European integration? In American hegemony? ls "Frenchness" itself, championed by political elites under the banner of "l'exception culturelle", an outmoded concept, destined to wither in the face of transnational forces? These are among the issues addressed by contributors to this volume, spanning a wide range of topics and disciplinary approaches including politics, literature, film and sport.