France Noire - Black France
History, Politics, and Poetics
June 6-7, 2008
Paris, France
In Memoriam:
Aimé Césaire, Michel Fabre, and Ousmane Sembène
Conveners:
Tyler Stovall, University of California, Berkeley
Trica Danielle Keaton, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
Marcus Bruce, Bates College
Keynote Address:
Friday, June 6, 2008 -- 17h00-18h00
Madame Christiane Taubira
Member of Parliment
Députée de Guyane
Introduction by Fred Constant
Professor of Political Science, Université des Antilles et de la Guyane (France) and
French Minister of Foreign Affairs
Opening Remarks by Tyler Stovall
Professor of History, University of California, Berkeley
Closing Tribute to Aimé Césaire by Abiola Irele
Professor of African and Afro-American Studies and Romance Languages and Literatures at Harvard University
http://www.theroot.com/id/45959
Conference Location:
Columbia University Institute for Scholars
Reid Hall
4 rue de Chevreuse
75006 Paris
Metro: Montparnasse
For more information, please contact the conveners:
tstovall@berkeley.edu; tkeaton@umn.edu; mbruce@bates.edu
Colloquium Mission
The last few years have seen an extraordinary flowering of Black consciousness in France. Individuals and collectives have organized around questions pertaining to the memory of slavery, "race" and anti-black racism, the Black condition, and what it generally means to be Black in contemporary French society. At the same time, there has been a new wave of scholarship on Blacks in Europe and a (re)theorizing of "blackness" in the African diaspora relative to European society and history. Paris, in particular, has always been a center of Black life worldwide, from the Négritude movement of the past to the myriad formations of Black empowerment specific to this moment. On June 6 and 7, 2008, a gathering of leading international scholars will meet in Paris to examine what we identify here as "Black France," that is, the Black presence and condition in French society. Madame Christiane Taubira, the esteemed member of the French Parliament whose very name is now synonymous with legislation that recognizes slavery and the slave trade as crimes against humanity--The Taubira Law--will deliver the keynote address as the prelude to an exciting and stimulating series of discussions. We encourage all those interested in the African diaspora and French society to join us for what will be an historic event.
Colloquium Schedule -- June 6-7, 2008
Friday, June 6, 2008
9h00 -- 9h25
Opening Remarks
Tyler Stovall -- University of California, Berkeley
Session I - Theme: Black Ontology in Formation
Questions & Answers at Conclusion of Session
9h30 -- 10h30
Hortense Spillers -- Vanderbilt University
"The Idea of Black Culture"
Elisabeth Boyi -- Stanford University
"Identité problématique et identitification productive"
Allison Blakely -- Boston University
"Black Identity in France in a European Perspective"
10h30-10h40
Pause
10h40-11h40
Michelle Wright -- University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
"Reconsidering Paris: The Physics of Blackness in the Postwar Era"
Arlette Frund -- Université François Rabelais, Tours
"Site-ing Black France: discourses and the making of identities"
Brent Edwards -- Columbia University
"The Unheard Voice of Black Paris"
Chair: Tiffany Ruby Patterson -- Vanderbilt University
Lunch
Session II - Theme: Black France: Presence, Protest, and Prosperity
Questions & Answers at Conclusion of Session
13h30-14h30
Abiola Irele -- Harvard University
"Black France in the Thirties"
Jennifer Boittin- Pennsylvania State University
"The Militant Black Men of Marseille and Paris during the Interwar Years"
Gary Wilder - Pomona College
"Federalism as the Future Past of Black France: Revisiting Senghor's Postwar Vision"
14h30-14h40
Pause
14h40-15h40
Marcus Bruce -- Bates University
"The New Negro in Paris: Booker T. Washington, The Paris Exposition of 1900, and The American Negro Exhibit"
Tracy Sharpley-Whiting- Vanderbilt University
"Bricktop's Paris: African American Women Expatriates in the Jazz Age"
Bennetta Jules-Rosette -- University of California, San Diego
"Reflections on the Future of Black Paris: Hues of the Rainbow in a Global Village"
Chair: Denis-Constant Martin - Senior Research Fellow, CEAN-Sciences Po Bordeaux-FNSP
17h00 --18h00
Keynote Address
Christiane Taubira
18h30-19h30
Opening Reception: A Tribute to Michel Fabre
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Session I - Theme: The Social Significance of Race, Racialization, and Racism
Questions & Answers at Conclusion of Session
10h00-11h00
Mamadou Diouf -- Columbia University
TBA
Eric Fassin -- Ecole Normale Supérieure
"France in Black and White? The Emergence of Racial Categories in the Color-Blind Republic"
Tyler Stovall -- University of California, Berkeley
"No Green Pastures: The 'African Americanization' of France"
11h00-11h10
Pause
11h10-12h10
Jean-Paul Rocchi - Université de Paris VII
"Frantz Fanon, the Masquerade of (Anti) Racism, and the Discipline of Jouissance - A Reading of Conservatism"
Patrick Lozès -- Conseil Repréntatif des Associations Noires (le CRAN)
TBA
Rémy Bazenguissa-Ganga - Centre d'études africaines- EHESS TBA
TBA
Chair: Ramon Grosfoguel - University of California, Berkeley
Lunch
Session II - Theme: Black Exclusion - Black Belonging: Contemporary Questions and Dilemmas
Questions & Answers at Conclusion of Session
14h00-15h00
Fred Constant - Université des Antilles et de la Guyane
"Black France and the debate over 'discriminations positives"
Dominic Thomas -- University of California, Los Angeles
"Black France: Immigration and National Identity"
Michel Giraud - école des Hautes études en Sciences Sociales
"Memories of Slavery among the French Antilleans: Silence or Amnesia?"
15h00-15h10
Pause
15h10-15h50
Veronique Helenon - Florida International University
"The poetics of Hip Hop"
Fatimata Wane-Sagna - Journaliste à France 24 Chaîne d'actualité internationale
" La question noire dans les médias en France depuis les émeutes en banlieue de 2005"
Chair: James Cohen - Université de Paris VII
Session III - Theme: Black France: The Writers' Landscape
Questions & Answers at Conclusion of Session
16h30-17h30
Daniel Maximin, Novelist, Poet, and Essayist
TBA
Barbara-Chase Riboud, Novelist and Artist
Alain Mabanckou, Novelist, Professor- The University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA)
17h30-17h40
Pause
17h40-18h20
Jake Lamar, Novelist
Simon Njami, Art Critic, and Curator
Chair: Geneviève Fabre - Université de Paris VII, Director of the Center of African American Research.
19h00-20h30 -- Closing Remarks and Reception
Abiola Irele -- Harvard University
Presenters
Allison Blakely - Boston University
Jennifer Boittin - Pennsylvania State University
Elisabeth Boyi - Stanford University
Marcus Bruce - Bates University
Barbara Chase-Riboud
Denis-Constant Martin - Université de Bordeaux, Montaigne
Fred Constant Universite des Antilles et de la Guyane
Mamadou Diouf - Columbia University
Brent Edwards - Columbia University
Eric Fassin - Ecole Normale Supérieure
Arlette Frund - Université de Paris, Tours
Michel Giraud - École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales
Ramon Grosfoguel, University of California, Berkeley
Veronique Helenon - Florida International University
Abiola Irele - Harvard University
Bennetta Jules-Rosette - University of California, San Diego
Jake Lamar
Patrick Lozes - Conseil Représentatif des Associations Noires (CRAN)
Alain Mabanckou, University of California, Los Angeles
Simon Njami
Jean-Paul Rocchi - Université de Paris VII: Denis Diderot
Tracy Sharpley-Whiting - Vanderbilt College
Hortense Spillers - Vanderbilt College
Christiane Taubira, member of Parliament, France
Dominic Thomas - University of California, Los Angeles
Fatimata Wane-Sagna - Journaliste à France-24 Chaîne d'actualité internationale
Gary Wilder - Pomona College
Michelle Wright - University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
This event has been made possible by the generous support of the following individuals and institutions:
-The Ford Foundation
African American and Diaspora Studies; The Center for Ethics, and The Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities "Black Europe" Seminar at Vanderbilt University
The Office of the Senior Vice The President for System Academic Administration and the Office of the Vice President and Vice Provost for Equity and Diversity at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
Office of the Dean of Faculty at Bates College
