The Commemoration of Slavery in France and the Emergence of a Black Political Consciousness

Camus, Jean–Yves

doi:10.1080/10848770600918281

Cited by 13 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…The selection of a case study allows for the examination of how communication works in a given context and at a given time (Flyvbjerg, 2007: 391; see also: Gerring, 2004;Stake, 1995;Ragin and Becker, 1992). The Dieudonné case is recent and there is a small pool of English-language research about it, from different angles such as studies on religion (Ben-Moshe, 2015), anti-Semitism (Grigat et al, 2016;Mazel, 2014; Clavane, 2014), law and hate speech (Tsesis, 2017;Lepoutre, 2017;Keck, 2016;Mchangama, 2015), social media (Leone, 2015), colonial studies (Alzouma, 2011), humour (Hietalahti, 2016), cultural studies (Boudana, 2015), and European studies (Camus, 2006). The selection of the Dieudonné case also provided an opportunity to examine different genres within communications studies as well as from other disciplines, such as the broader social sciences, philosophy, and the arts.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Considering Ethnic Group Tensions: The Symptomatic Case of French Comedian Dieudonné

Elliott-Harvey

2020

Open Library of Humanities

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article examines the 2014 case of French comedian Dieudonné and his purported incitement to hatred through his comedy act at the time, which hit national headlines and danced along the line of acceptable speech and making fun of the Holocaust. At the same time, Dieudonné's comedy appealed to a faction of French society that felt relegated and ignored by the French elite, a sentiment that was furthered by a clash between one religious group that has legal protections in place to protect it from Holocaust denial, versus another group that does not have similar protections in place for Islamophobic acts. This case study demonstrates how Dieudonné tapped into these sensitive areas of cultural life by engaging the communicative genres of humour and satire to draw attention to and toy with making fun of the Holocaust, though his comedy act, Le Mur (The Wall), a silly song about the Holocaust, and an arm gesture called the 'quenelle'. Using a textual thematic analysis of online newspaper articles collected at the time from Le Figaro and Le Monde, as well as transcripts from ten in-person, semi-structured interviews conducted in Paris with activists, journalists, politicians, a lawyer, and a comedian, what the findings point to is that while Dieudonné appealed to a disenfranchised audience as a 'provocateur', he also highlighted how key factions of French society are struggling with inclusivity and a lack of social cohesion in a political context where laïcité, the separation of religious life and political life, is sacrosanct. of the topic and the humourous treatment of it, and the dangers that this presents. This article focuses on how, and in what ways, the communicative role of humour and satire facilitated the journey of Dieudonné's comedy by not only undermining the Holocaust, but also as exploiting larger societal and cultural fractures in the French context. The Dieudonné case shows how a comedian, incentivised perhaps for financial reasons, tapped into the cultural frustrations of a group that felt marginalised and undermined, and was propelled by a form of inflammatory speech that was sure to receive attention. So, on the one hand, the issue then not only becomes one of challenging sensitive cultural mores about the remembrance of the Holocaust, but on the other hand requires us to acknowledge that a portion of the French population has not lived a similar history as those linked to the Holocaust. This presents unique challenges to how the cultural memory of an event like the Holocaust is preserved. In a national context where the lived memories of those generations that experienced World War II are being committed to time and history, the question of how events like the Holocaust will be remembered is an important one (Gorrara, 2018: 111). This is also taking into consideration what is sometimes described as a ' cultural obsession', which must acknowledge the tensions between individual memory, collective memory, and representation, because 'memories are constructed and mediated via specific culturally co...

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Considering Ethnic Group Tensions: The Symptomatic Case of French Comedian Dieudonné

Elliott-Harvey

2020

Open Library of Humanities

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…And there was widespread resentment that, even after the Taubira Law, they never obtained that equality. If they were rewarded with the national commemoration day they sought—approved by the president, Jacques Chirac, in 2006—they continued to be denied any right to financial compensation for the wrongs their people had suffered, whereas France had in 2000 complied with the demands of Jewish organizations for financial compensation to Holocaust survivors (Camus, 2006, p. 649). Their sense of hurt and resentment lived on, and it would be reactivated when, in 2013, 15 Caribbean nations drew up a plan demanding reparation from the European slaving nations, including France, for the wrongs they had suffered.…”

Section: A Demand To Be Heardmentioning

confidence: 99%

Remembering and forgetting: How France's slaving ports have come to terms with their past

Forrest

2020

History Compass

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In the decades before the French Revolution, France's Atlantic ports grew rich on the profits of colonial trade with the Americas, not least through the triangular trade in slaves between France, West Africa and the Caribbean. But by the Public memory is necessarily selective. It owes much to personal or communicative memory, to the experience of those who were there and experienced the events in question, especially when they went on to relate that experience in correspondence or memoirs. But their role fades over time, as histories are written, political positions defined and master narratives created (Dwyer, 2016). In 1815, France emerged weakened from a quarter century of revolution and war, a quarter century that had called for huge sacrifices and cost large numbers of lives. How would history judge these years? In discussing the Revolution, many French writers would emphasize the rights of man, not the injustices of the Terror, while in their accounts of the wars they concentrated on Napoleon's strategic triumphs

show abstract

“…L'analyse comparée des ressemblances et des dissonances, des alliances et des hostilités (dont l'antisémitisme des Blacks Muslims) s'impose, mais souvent, dans ces analyses, le caractère militant l'emporte. À titre d'exemple je signale deux articles relativement récents: Fauvelle-Aymar (2002) et Camus (2006). 3 J'estime approprié de renvoyer à la discussion de l'histoire du concept de représentation depuis Platon que Paul Ricoeur (2000) présente dans la première partie de son livre.…”

Section: Réinventer Le Monde Et Sa Représentationunclassified

La quête contemporaine de reconnaissance: quelques remarques sur les pratiques africaines noires entre l’universel et le cosmopolite

Jewsiewicki¹

2007

Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue canadienne des étud

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The quest for recognition of subjectivity and human dignity is at the heart of current social activism. Africans have struggled for recognition since they were stripped of human dignity, first by the slave trade and later by colonialism. Their struggle has been revealed essentially through writing and monotheism. This article suggests looking at the performative elaboration of the self. On the continent as well as in the diaspora, the construction of the subjectivity and dignity of the modern African / black person is represented in all its autonomy. The empirical example chosen is that of Central Africa. RésuméLa quête pour la reconnaissance de la subjectivité et la dignité est au coeur des mouvements sociaux actuels. Les Africains se battent pour

show abstract

The Commemoration of Slavery in France and the Emergence of a Black Political Consciousness

Cited by 13 publications

References 0 publications

Considering Ethnic Group Tensions: The Symptomatic Case of French Comedian Dieudonné

Considering Ethnic Group Tensions: The Symptomatic Case of French Comedian Dieudonné

Remembering and forgetting: How France's slaving ports have come to terms with their past

La quête contemporaine de reconnaissance: quelques remarques sur les pratiques africaines noires entre l’universel et le cosmopolite

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About