France and the African Diaspora

Since the early modern period, France has had a multifaceted role in the history of the African Diaspora. The country’s modern history was intertwined with the advent of the Atlantic Slave Trade and also the revolutionary forces that catalyzed the overthrow of slavery. It played a central role in the emergence of European empires in the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia, while it also created the conditions that catalyzed the dismantling of those empires. This complex history ensured that France would have a central place in thinking through questions of colonization and decolonization from the era of slavery to the present. Though much of this history has been well-documented by scholars, writers, and activists, it is only in recent decades that it has circulated beyond the realms of intellectuals and academia. This growing awareness of France’s colonial and racial legacy has been manifested in traditional sites of public memorialization, such as museums and other cultural institutions, as well as in the larger built environment.

This course explores France’s complex racialized colonial history by encouraging students to examine the ways the country helped constitute a racialized colonial empire and the ways it created the conditions the conditions to challenge it. The course encourages students to contemplate how France has figured into the creation of the African Diaspora and how diasporic movements for freedom have shaped France. The course will build upon the concept of vernacular landscapes to encourage students to examine how these histories are memorialized, or not, in France today. Topics to be explored will include: the impact of slavery on France, including its port cities including Nantes; the intertwined character of the French and Haitian Revolutions; the convergence of anti-colonial movements in Paris during the interwar period and beyond, and the experiences of Black expatriates in the country during the twentieth century. The course’s location at Reid Hall in Paris will give students ample opportunities to students to examine the reciprocal impact between France and decolonization and freedom movements.