On Wednesday, May 7, Trica Keaton will present "The Social Significance of Race in France: The Case of the 2005 Uprisings in Life and Art" from 2:00-3:30 in the Geneva H. Southall Library (Social Sciences Tower 815). [Presentation Abstract]
While much has been written about the 2005 "riots" in France, precious few accounts have incorporated the perspective of those most directly affected by these events, that is, the surviving members of Bouna Traore and Zyed Benna families, the boys from Clichy-sous-Bois whose deaths ignited uprisings across the country and beyond. In this presentation, Professor Keaton seeks to document this critical perspective not only to draw attention to the lived implications of these events, but also to demonstrate how the tradition of revolt in French society transforms into racialized “rioting� when emanating from those equally racialized as "les jeunes de banlieue," young people –- often of color –- who inhabit poverty-stricken suburbs or "outer-city" space. Additionally, Keaton aims is to humanize these happenings from the perspective of the subaltern who can indeed speak and name their oppression. The deaths of Bouna and Zyed were a watershed in the politics of "colorblindness" in French society, politics coupled with a complicated "race" consciousness that conjugates with class in the "other France."
