Frenchness and the African Diaspora: Identity and Uprising in Contemporary France ed. by Charles Tshimanga, Didier Gondola, and Peter J. Bloom (review)

Abstract

Charles Tshimanga, Didier Gondola, and Peter J. Bloom, eds, Frenchness and African Diaspora: Identity and Uprising in Contemporary France. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2009. 352 pp. In November 2005, was struck by violence in cites, projects at outskirts of cities primarily populated by African migrants and their offspring. While that particular uprising has been presented in media as politically important, it should be noted that rioting as a way for young people in banlieues to protest injustice has been occurring frequently over last twenty-five years, without much attention being paid to or underlying social causes. Even as recently as June 2011, violent clashes between young people and police occurred in cite des Tarterets in Corbeil-Essonnes. As a whole, this social unrest attests to relations between particular groups--the citizens born from African migrant parents and sovereign power--as well as revealing treatment of difference in contemporary France. The reaction of successive governments to social unrest has been to draw a line between and us: that is between those who they deem unworthy of or unable to access and those who are properly French and Republicain. In this vein, a powerful discourse, more or less dooming cites to become lawless zones (zones de non droit) has gained acceptance; at same time as this discourse became prevalent, parliament tried to pass a law recognizing grandeur in colonies. Frenchness and African Diaspora endeavors to shed light on challenges that African Diaspora is bringing to Frenchness, by raising extremely pertinent questions on identity in contemporary France. Divided into three parts of four chapters each, book, edited by Charles Tshimanga, Didier Gondola, and Peter J. Bloom, stands out as an important contribution to scholarship on postcolonial identities. In that light, editors make it clear that though diverse in their approaches to notion of Frenchness, [the essays in volume] explore a complex range of tensions that preside over obliteration of 'True France' and emergence of a new, multicultural France (9). The book's impact derives from its diversity of approaches and of contributors whose areas of expertise range from history, media studies, and sociology to philosophy and political sciences. In order to scrutinize complex developments of national identity in and its relations with citizens of African descent, Frenchness and African Diaspora starts with essays aiming at understanding 2005 riots in France, then moves on to its second section to examine key moments of France-Africa relation, such as colonization, citizenship, and containment. The third and final part of book is dedicated to what editors have called Visions and Tensions of Frenchness. Among merits of Tshimanga, Gondola, and Bloom's edited work is an understanding of contemporary that is strongly rooted in colonial history of country of human rights. Thus, volume stresses importance of understanding how concept of Frenchness has been reshaped both by colonial experience and offspring of African descendants who are citizens. Frenchness and African Diaspora could be summarized as an attempt to understand youth resistance culture in contemporary France, for as Didier Lapyronnie suggests in his article, 2005 urban riots introduced a new dimension to history of social unrest in France. Lapeyronnie identifies rioting as a collective action, one that belongs to normal repertoire of political activity; despite their depiction as monstrous anomalies by media and officials, youth violence, vandalism, and looting are justified ordinary behaviors of political resistance. They serve as a valid response to injustice, for the discrimination is exacerbated by general impression that police enjoy impunity, which, in eyes of young, allows officers to strip of all rights and exert unrestricted power over them (30). …