A “New” Black Nationalism in the USA and France

Abstract

This essay examines the relationship between Black Nationalism and demographic change in the Black population of the USA and France. It shows that, unlike previous generations, most Blacks in France are born in France and share common sociopolitical and cultural reference points. As a result, this Black French population deploys new Black Nationalist expressions advocating that Blackness is an integral part of the French nation and that Black citizens are entitled to the same opportunities as Whites. Subversively, people of African descent are inserting Blackness into a supposedly color-blind nation. In contrast to France, the African Diaspora in the USA is increasingly diverse. But due to the misrepresentation of African-American identities and cultural differences, many Black migrants seek to distance themselves from African Americans, a relationship that ironically mirrors intra-Black relations in France of the 1960s and 1970s. Like France, however, demographic change within the Black population in the USA has also reconfigured the parameters of Black Nationalism. I contend that Black Nationalism in the USA is increasingly transnational in character. Indeed, in the post-civil rights era, the Caribbean and African migration has expanded the scope of Black Nationalism from primarily focusing on empowering Black America to offering Caribbean and African countries a better place in the global village. In the process, as the activities of the numerous African chambers of commerce reveal, not only do these “new” transnational Black Nationalist expressions flirt with neoliberal policies but they also adopt a color-blind perspective.