The evolving context of postcolonial studies in France: New horizons or new limits?

Abstract

This article examines the different ways in which postcolonial debates are being addressed and reformulated in France today, both within and beyond the field of intellectual discourse. It evokes the academic and social reactions to the promulgation of a law in 2005, on the interpretation of French colonial history, and shows how the ensuing debates led to the (limited and controversial) development of postcolonial perspectives in France. It concludes by distinguishing between two general types of postcolonialism that are emerging in French society and in French academic discourse, and that may lead to new studies as well as to renewed conceptions of social evolution in France.

Keywords:

• francophone
• postcolonial
• French literature and culture
• colonial and postcolonial history
• memory

Notes

1. For instance, when Alec Hargreaves gave a lecture at Lille University in the winter of 2006 he was able to illustrate his presentation on postcolonial studies with an impressive number of issues of Le Monde, Le Nouvel Observateur and other newspapers or magazines that were dealing with colonization on their front pages.

2. In France, the word “banlieues” evokes images of poverty‐stricken suburban zones that exist beyond the purview of Republican law and are dominated by gangs; it designates an underground world of joblessness and despair.

3. See 〈http://www.indigenes‐republique.org/spip.php?article835〉.

4. Concerning the growing influence of Sciences‐Po on French political and media circles, see Garrigou. It is worth noting that Centre d’Etudes des Relations Internationales (CERI) (which was the organizer of the symposium), collaborating with the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), is situated at the margins of Sciences‐Po.

5. The symposium was held at Sciences‐Po, CERI, Paris, on 4–5 May 2006. The proceedings of the event were later published (see Smouts).

6. See 〈http//www.histoire‐immigration.fr〉.