Frenchness and the African Diaspora: Identity and Uprising in Contemporary France - Softcover

Essential in order to accurately contextualize the complex reformulation of identities on the European landscape. -- Dominic Thomas * author of Black France * [This] compilation offers a wide perspective on the history and contemporary reality of French immigrant life and the prospects for future race relations in France. . . . [It] will be an important source of information on a pivotal moment in recent French history.Vol. 42, No. 1, Spring 2011 * Research in African Literatures * An important contribution to scholarship dealing with contemporary France and post-colonial identities. -- Lydie Moudileno * University of Pennsylvania *

In 2005, following the death of two youths of African origin, France erupted in a wave of violent protest. More than 10,000 automobiles were burned or stoned, hundreds of public buildings were vandalized or burned to the ground, and hundreds of people were injured. Charles Tshimanga, Didier Gondola, Peter J. Bloom, and a group of international scholars seek to understand the causes and consequences of these momentous events, while examining how the concept of Frenchness has been reshaped by the African diaspora in France and the colonial legacy.