The politics of race-blindness: (Anti)Blackness and Category-blindness in Contemporary France

Du Bois Review

Volumn 7, Issue 1, 2010, Pages 103-131

  Keaton, Trica Danielle ^a  

^a VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

Black Identity; Black Subjectivity; Blackness; Discrimination; Ethno racial Statistics; Race; Race blindness

Indexed keywords

EID: 79956229439     PISSN: 1742058X     EISSN: 17420598     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S1742058X10000202     Document Type: Article

References (92)

1. Aaron David (1995). Early Rabbinic Exegesis on Noah's Son Ham and the So-Call ‘Hamitic Myth’. Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 63(44): 721–759.
2. Adida Claire, Laitin David, and Valfort Marie-Anne (2010). Les Français musulmans sont-ils discriminés dans leur propre pays?: Une étude expérimentale sur le marché du travail: French-American Foundation and Sciences Po. (accessed March 3, 2010).
3. American Sociological Association (2003). The Importance of Collecting Data and Doing Social Scientific Research on Race. Washington, DC: American Sociological Association. Also available at (accessed April 4, 2010).
4. Auslander Leora and Holt Thomas C. (2003). Sambo in Paris: Race and Racism in the Iconography of the Everyday. In Peabody Sue and Stovall Tyler (Eds.), The Color of Liberty: Histories of Race in France, pp. 147–184. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
5. Baldwin James (1961). Princes and Powers. In Baldwin James (Ed.), Nobody Knows My Name, pp. 24–55. New York: Vintage Books.
6. Balibar Etienne (1988). Is There a ‘Neo-Racism’? In Balibar Etienne and Wallerstein Immanuel (Eds.), Race, Nation, Class: Ambiguous Identities, pp. 17–27. London: Verso.
7. Bally Aude and Peters Samuel (2009). Etre noir et français: L'impossible équation? Brune, Le Magazine, May–June, 2009, pp. 48–50.
8. Beauchemin Cris, Hamel Christelle, Lesné Maude, and Simon Patrick (2010). Les discriminations: une question de minorités visibles. Population & Sociétés, 46: 1–4.
9. Bell Joyce M. and Hartmann Douglas (2007). Diversity in Everyday Discourse: The Cultural Ambiguities and Consequences of “Happy Talk”. The American Sociological Review, 72(6): 895–914.
10. Bernasconi Robert and Lott Tommy (Eds.) (2000). The Idea of Race. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc.
11. Birnbaum Jean and Hopquin Benoît (2008). La ‘question noire’ française au miroir américain. Le Monde, September 20. (accessed October 10, 2009).
12. Blakely Allison (1986). Russia and the Negro: Blacks in Russian History and Thought. Washington, DC: Howard University Press.
13. Blakely Allison (1993). Blacks in the Dutch World: The Evolution of Racial Imagery in a Modern Society. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
14. Blum Alain and Guérin-Pace France (2008). From Measuring Integration to Fighting Discrimination: The Illusion of “Ethnic Statistics.” French Politics, Culture & Society, 26(1): 45–61.
15. Boittin Jennifer Anne (2009). Black in France: The Language and Politics of Race in the Late Third Republic. French Politics, Culture & Society, 27(2): 23–46.
16. Bondy Blog (2009). Patrick Lozès, le French-African so American. February 8. (accessed July 21, 2009).
17. Calhoun Craig, (Ed.) ([1994] 2003). Social Theory and the Politics of Identity. In Calhoun Craig (Ed.), Social Theory and the Politics of Identity, pp. 9–36. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers.
18. Carter Donald M. (1997). States of Grace: Senegalese in Italy and the New European Immigration. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
19. Castaldo André (2006). Codes Noirs: de l'Esclavage aux Abolitions. Paris: Éditions Dalloz.
20. Cediey E. and Foroni F. (2006). Les discriminations à raison de ‘l'origine’ dans les embauches en France: Une enquête nationale par tests de discrimination selon la méthode du BIT. Geneva: Bureau international du Travail. (accessed April 1, 2010).
21. Césaire Aimé ([1950] 2000). Discourse on Colonialism. New York: Monthly Review Press.
22. Césaire Aimé (2004). Négritude, Ethnicity et Cultures Afro aux Amériques. In Discours sur le colonialism followed by Discours sur la Négritude, pp. 87–88. Paris: Présence Africaine.
23. Clark Hine D., Keaton Trica Danielle, and Small Stephen (Eds.) (2009). Black Europe and the African Diaspora. Chicago, IL: University of Illinois Press,.
24. Conseil Supérieur de l'Audiovisuel (2009a). Baromètre de la diversité à la télévision, TFI, France 2, France 3, France 5, M6, Canal+, W9, France 4, BFM TV, NRJ 12, I Télé, Gulli, Virgin 17, TMC, Direct 8 et NTI September. (accessed January 3, 2010).
25. Conseil Supérieur de l'Audiovisuel (2009b). L'efficacité des statistiques ethniques dans la lutte contre le racisme, l'antisémitisme et les discriminations. CSA/UEJF/SOS RACISME telephone survey, March 4–5, p. 3. (accessed October 1, 2009).
26. Conseil Supérieur de l'Audiovisuel (2009c). Les français, les minorities visible et les discriminations. CSA/CRAN telephone survey, April 1–23, p. 6. (accessed October 1, 2009).
27. Constant Fred (Forthcoming). “Black France” and the National Identity Debate: How Best to be Black and French? In Stovall Tyler, Keaton Trica Danielle, and Sharpley-Whiting Tracy (Eds.), Black France-France Noire: Blackness, Diaspora, and National Identity Politics. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
28. Croller Catherine (2009) Patrick Weil: ‘pourquoi je refuse de participer au Comité sur la diversité’. Hexagone. (accessed August 30, 2009).
29. Dailymotion.com (2007). Les Candidats en Black. (accessed October 9, 2009).
30. Dawson Michael (2001). Black Visions: The Roots of Contemporary African-American Political Ideologies. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
31. Diouf Mamadou (1999). Entre l'Inde et l'Afrique: sur les questions coloniales et nationales. Écritures de l'histoire et recherches historiques. In Diouf Mamadou (Ed.), L'historiographie indienne en débats. Colonialisme, nationalisme et sociétés postcoloniales, pp. 5–36. Paris: Karthala-Sephis.
32. Diouf Mamadou (Forthcoming). The Lost Territories of the Republic: Historical Narratives and the Recomposition of French Citizenship. In Stovall Tyler, Keaton Trica Danielle, and Sharpley-Whiting Tracy (Eds.), Black France-France Noire: Blackness, Diaspora, and National Identity Politics. Durham NC: Duke University Press.
33. Dubois Laurent (2003). Inscribing Race in the Revolutionary French Antilles. In Peabody Sue and Stovall Tyler (Eds.), The Color of Liberty: Histories of Race in France, pp. 95–107. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
34. Dubois Laurent (2004). A Colony of Citizens: Revolution & Slave Emancipation in the French Caribbean, 1787–1804. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.
35. Du Bois W. E. B. ([1903] 2003). The Souls of Black Folks. New York: Modern Library.
36. Edwards Brent (2003). The Practice of Diaspora: Literature, Translation, and the Rise of Black Internationalism. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
37. Essed Philomena (1991). Understanding Everyday Racism: An Interdisciplinary Theory. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.
38. Essed Philomena and Goldberg David Theo (Eds.) (2002). Race Critical Theories: Text and Context. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers.
39. Eze Emmanuel Chukwudi (Ed.) ([1997] 2003). Race and the Enlightenment. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
40. Fassin Didier (2002). L'invention française de la discrimination. Revue française de science politique, 52(4): 403–423.
41. Fassin Didier (Ed.) (2010). Ni race, ni racism. Ce que racialiser veut dire. In Fassin Didier (Ed.), Les Nouvelles frontiers de la société française, pp. 147–172. Paris: La Découverte.
42. Fassin Didier and Fassin Eric (Eds.) (2006). De la question sociale à la question raciale? Représenter la société française. Paris: La Découverte.
43. Fassin Didier and Simon Patrick (2008). Un objet sans nom. L'introduction des discriminations dans la statistique française. L'Homme, 187–188: 271–294.
44. Fields Barbara (1982). Ideology and Race in American History. In Kousser Morgan and McPherson James M. (Eds.), Region, Race, and Reconstruction: Essays in Honor of C. Vann Woodward, pp. 143–147. New York: Oxford University Press.
45. Fields Karen (2001). Witchcraft and Racecraft: Invisible Ontology and its Sensible Manifestations. In Bond George and Ciekawy Clement and Diane M. (Eds.), Witchcraft Dialouges: Anthropological and Philosophical Exchanges, pp. 283–315. Athens, OH: University of Ohio Press.
46. Gaillard Jean-Michel (1989). Jules Ferry. Paris: Fayard.
47. Gilroy Paul (1993). The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
48. Gilroy Paul (2000). Against Race: Imagining Political Culture Beyond the Color Line. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
49. Gnammankou Dieudonné and Modzinou Yao (Eds.) (2008). Les Africains et leurs descendants en Europe avant le XXe siècle. Toulouse: Mat Éditions.
50. Goris Indira, Jobard Fabien, and Lévy René. (2009). Profiling Minorities: A Study of Stop-and-Search Practices in Paris. Open Society Justice Initiative. (accessed September 30, 2009).
51. Gueye Abdoulaye (2006). The Colony Strikes Back: African Protest Movements in Postcolonial France. Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, 26(2): 225–242.
52. Hale Dana S. (2003). French Images of Race on Product Trademarks during the Third Republic. In Peabody Sue and Stovall Tyler (Eds.), The Color of Liberty: Histories of Race in France, pp. 131–146. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
53. Hall Stuart (1989). Cultural Identity and Cinema Representation. Framework, 36: 68–81.
54. Hall Stuart ([1995] 2007). The West and the Rest: Discourse and Power. In Hall Stuart, Held David, Hubert Don, Thompson Kenneth (Eds.), Modernity: An Introduction to Modern Societies, pp. 184–228. Malden: MA: Blackwell.
55. Hegel G.W.F. (1956). The Philosophy of History. Translated by J. Jibree. New York: Dover.
56. Hondius Dienke (Forthcoming). Race in European History: The Persistence of Paternalism. Bloomington, IN: University of Indiana Press.
57. Hopquin Benoît (2009) Pap Ndiaye: Républicain de souche. Le Monde, January 3.
58. Irele Abiola (1990). Negritude and Nationalism. In Irele Abiola (Ed.), The African Experience in Literature and Ideology, pp. 67–89. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
59. Jordan Winthrop (2000). First Impressions. In Solomos John and Back Les (Eds.), Theories of Race and Racism, A Reader, pp. 33–50. New York: Routledge.
60. Keaton Trica Danielle (2006). Muslim Girls and the Other France: Race, Identity Politics, and Social Exclusion. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
61. Keaton Trica Danielle (2009). ‘Black (American) Paris’ and the ‘Other France’: The Race Question and Questioning Solidarity. In Hine Darlene Clark, Keaton Trica Danielle, and Small Stephen (Eds.), Black Europe and the African Diaspora, pp. 95–118. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press.
62. Kesteloot Lilyan (1991). Black Writers in French: A Literary History of Negritude. Washington, DC: Howard University Press.
63. Krieger Linda (2008). Un problème de catégories: Stéréotypes et lutte contre les discriminations. Paris: Science Po/French American Foundation Policy Report. (accessed April 13, 2010).
64. Le Monde (2009). Délinquance: d'où viennent les chiffres de Jean-Marie Le Pen? August 8. (accessed April 1, 2009).
65. Libération (2007). Engagement républicain contre les discriminations. (accessed April 1, 2010).
66. Lowe Kate (2005a). Introduction: The Black African Presence in Renaissance Europe. In Earle T.F. and Lowe K.J. P. (Eds.), Black Africans in Renaissance Europe, pp. 1–16. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
67. Lowe Kate (2005b). The Stereotyping of Black Africans in Renaissance Europe. In Earle In T.F. and Lowe K.J. P. (Eds.), Black Africans in Renaissance Europe, pp. 17–47. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
68. Lozès Patrick (2007). Nous les Noirs de France. Paris: Editions Danger Public.
69. Mamdani Mahmood (2001). When Victims Become Killers: Colonialism, Nativism, and the Genocide in Rwanda. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
70. McIntosh Laurie N. (2007). Citizenship, Race and Gender: The New Immigrant Experience in Norway and Iceland. In Anim-Addo, Joan, and Scafe Suzanne (Eds.), I Am Black/White/Yellow: An Introduction to the Black Body in Europe, pp. 206–211. London: Mango Publishing.
71. McIntosh Laurie N. (Forthcoming). Impossible Presence: Race, ‘Blackness’ and the Cultural Politics of ‘Becoming Norwegian.’ African and Black Diaspora: An International Journal.
72. Muthu Sankar (2003). Enlightenment Against Empire. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
73. Ndiaye Pap (2008). La Condition Noire: Essai sur une minorité française. Paris: Calmann-Lévy.
74. Nouvel Observateur (2006). Nous les Noirs de France. April 13.
75. Painter Nell Irvin (2010). The History of White People. New York: W.W. Norton.
76. Sabbagh Daniel (2008). The Collection of Ethnoracial Statistics: Developments in the French Controversy. Paris: French-America Foundation. (accessed September 30, 2009).
77. Sabbagh Daniel and Peer Shanny (2008). French Color Blindness in Perspective: The Controversy over “Statistiques Ethniques”. French Politics, Culture & Society, 26: 1–4.
78. Sharpley-Whiting Tracy D. (1999). Black Venus: Sexualized Savages, Primal Fears, and Primitive Narratives in French. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
79. Sharpley-Whiting Tracy D. (2002). Negritude Women. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
80. Shelby Tommie (2005). We Who are Dark: The Philosophical Foundations of Black Solidarity. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
81. Simon Patrick (2008). The Choice of Ignorance: The Debate on Ethnic and Racial Statistics in France. French Politics, Culture & Society, 26(1): 7–31.
82. Spivak Gayatri (1987) In Other Worlds: Essays in Cultural Politics. New York: Methuen.
83. Thomas Dominic (2007). Black France: Colonialism, Immigration, and Transnationalism. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
84. Tin Louis-Georges (2008). Who is Afraid of Blacks in France?: The Black Question, the Name Taboo, and the Number Taboo. French Politics, Culture & Society, 26(1): 32–44.
85. Todorov Tzvetan (1993). On Human Diversity: Nationalism, Racism, and Exoticism in French Thought. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
86. Tribalat Michèle, Simon Patrick, Benoît Riandey (1996). De l'immigration à la'ssimilation. Enquête sur les populations étrangères en France. Paris: INED/La Découverte.
87. Vergès Françoise (2005). Le Nègre n'est pas. Pas plus que le Blanc: Frantz Fanon, esclavage, race et racisme. Actuel Marx, 38: 45–63.
88. Walvin James (1996). Questioning Slavery. New York: Routledge.
89. Wieviorka Michel (1995). The Arena of Racism. London: Sage.
90. Wieviorka Michel (2002). The Development of Racism in Europe. In Goldberg David Theo and Solomos John (Eds.), Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, pp. 460–475. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
91. Wright Michelle (2004). Becoming Black: Creating Identity in the African Diaspora. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
92. Yade Rama (2007). Noirs de France. Paris: Calmann-Lévy.