Between Resistance and the State: Caribbean Activism and the Invention of a National Memory of Slavery in France

Lotem, I. 2018. Between Resistance and the State: Caribbean Activism and the Invention of a National Memory of Slavery in France. French Politics, Culture and Society. 36 (2), pp. 126-148. https://doi.org/10.3167/fpcs.2018.360206

TitleBetween Resistance and the State: Caribbean Activism and the Invention of a National Memory of Slavery in France
TypeJournal article
AuthorsLotem, I.
Abstract

Between 1998 and 2006, the memory of slavery in France developed from a marginalized issue into a priority of the state. This article examines the process in which community activists and state actors interacted with and against one another to integrate remembrance and the commemoration of slavery and its abolitions into a Republican national narrative. It focuses on a series of actions from the protests against the 150th anniversary of the abolition of slavery in 1998 to the creation of the 10 May National Memorial Day to Slavery and Its Abolitions in 2006. Basing its analysis on oral-history interviews and various publications, this article argues that “memory activists” – and particularly new anti-racist groups – mobilized the memory of slavery to address issues of community identity and resistance within the context of 21st-century Republicanism. In so doing, they articulated a new kind of black identity in France.

KeywordsMemory, slavery, abolition, anti-racism, colonialism, blackness, Republicanism
JournalFrench Politics, Culture and Society
Journal citation36 (2), pp. 126-148
ISSN1537-6370
Year2018
PublisherBerghahn
Accepted author manuscript
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.3167/fpcs.2018.360206
Publication dates
Published in print01 Jun 2018
Published online13 Aug 2018

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