Race, racisme et (neo-)républicanisme en France

Race, Racism, and (neo-)Republicanism in Contemporary France

Call for papers



Political Studies Association (PSA) - French Politics Specialist Group

2024 Annual Workshop - Tuesday 17 September 2024, University of Bristol


It has become commonplace, when French politics are discussed within and beyond France, to note the threat posed by Marine Le Pen and the Rassemblement national. Yet, two decades after the earthquake of Jean-Marie Le Pen reaching the second round of the presidential election of 2002, his daughter doing the same now seems comparatively unremarkable. Indeed, with 2027 on the horizon, the possibility of a far-right President in France, together with its racist narratives and politics, arguably now seems more plausible than at any previous point since the inauguration of the Fifth Republic.

In France or elsewhere, however, racism cannot be understood purely through reference to the far right. An increasing body of scholarship has emerged underlining the role of the parties of the traditional right and left, not to mention the current centrist government, in ‘mainstreaming’ racist discourses (Mondon & Winter 2020; Mondon 2022; Brown 2023). In the 2022 presidential elections, the candidacy of Éric Zemmour saw Le Pen outflanked on the right; however, at a time of rising Islamophobia within and beyond France, not only Zemmour but also current Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin has accused Le Pen of being ‘un peu molle’ (‘a little soft’) in relation to Islam(ism). Discourses of ‘Islamo-gauchisme’ and of a putative ‘séparatisme’ have been reproduced not only in the far right, but also by members of the current government (Bechrouri 2023; Zia-Ebrahimi 2023).

These dynamics can usefully be situated within a broader, transnational rise, or resurgence, of racist politics. The role of French racism(s) in influencing racists beyond France’s borders has been shown, in tragic fashion, by the series of white supremacist mass murderers who have adopted the ‘grand remplacement’ conspiracy theory named as such by Renaud Camus. The influence of other nations, and particularly those in the Anglosphere, on France has however been underlined through the adoption, by French reactionaries, of English-language terms like ‘le wokisme’ (Amer Meziane 2023).

This workshop aims to bring together scholars working on race and racism in France to explore how racist politics have manifested in the French context; in what ways racist politics in France may be distinctively French; and how French racism relates to racism elsewhere. We encourage proposals for 20-minute papers. Topics may include, but are not limited to: 

• Why is it so difficult to talk about ‘race’ in France?
• Weaponised (neo-)republicanism: how far is French racism distinctively French?
• Can republican language and concepts be salvaged for anti-racist ends?
• In particular, what role does ‘laïcité’ play in French racism and are there ways to salvage the concept beyond it?
• Transnational ‘culture wars’: how are French discourses influenced by/an influence on other nations?
• ‘Culture wars’, racism, intersectionality: how do racist discourses intersect with other forms of bigotry (e.g. transphobia, misogyny, homophobia)?
• Antisemitism and Islamophobia: how can both be situated in their contemporary, international, and French contexts?

Abstracts of 200-300 words should be sent to the PSA French Politics Specialist Group’s co-convenors: Salomé Ietter (Salome.Ietter.1@warwick.ac.uk) and Fraser McQueen (Fraser.McQueen@bristol.ac.uk) by Friday 31st May. Selected contributors will be notified mid-June.