Colonial Culture in France Since the Revolution

Pascal Blanchard is a historian and researcher affiliated with the Laboratoire Communication et Politique (Paris, France, CNRS) and co-director of the Groupe de recherche ACHAC (colonialism, immigration, post-colonialism).Sandrine Lemaire is a historian, enseignante-agrégée (France) and co-director of the Groupe de recherche ACHAC (colonialism, immigration, post-colonialism).Nicolas Bancel is professor of politics and social sciences at the University of Lausanne (Switzerland) and co-director of the Groupe de recherche ACHAC (colonialism, immigration, post-colonialism).Dominic Thomas is Madeleine L. Letessier Chair in French and Francophone studies at the University of California, Los Angeles.

• Introduction: The Creation of a Colonial Culture in France, from the Colonial Era to the "Memory Wars" Part I. The Creation of a Colonial CultureForeword: French Colonization: an Inaudible History 1. Anti-Slavery, Abolitionism, and Abolition in France from the End of the Eighteenth Century to the 1840s 2. Milestones in Colonial Culture under the Second Empire (1851-1870) 3. Exhibitions, Expositions, Media Coverage, and the Colonies (1870-1914) 4. Science, Scientists, and the Colonies (1870-1914) 5. Literature, Song, and the Colonies (1900-1920) 6. Entertainment, Theater, and the Colonies (1870-1914) 7. School, Pedagogy, and Colonies (1870-1914) 8. Dying: the Call of the Empire (1913-1918) Part II. Conquering Public OpinionForeword: History's Mark (1931-1961) 9. Dreaming: the Fatal Attraction of Colonial Cinema (1920-1950) 10. Spreading the Word: the Agence Générale des Colonies (1920-1931) 11. To Civilize: the Invention of the Native (1918-1940) 12. Selling the Colonial Economic Myth (1900-1940) 13. The Athletic Exception: Black Champions and Colonial Culture (1900-1939) 14. The Colonial Bath: Sources of Popular Colonial Culture (1918-1931)15. The Colonial Exposition (1931) 16. National Unity: the Right and Left "Meet" around the Colonial Exposition (1931)Part III. The Apogee of ImperialismForeword: Images of an Empire's Demise 17. Colonizing, Educating, Guiding: A Republican Duty 18. Promotion: Creating the Colonial (1930-1940) 19. Influence: Cultural and Ideological Agendas (1920-1940) 20. Education: Becoming "Homo Imperialis" (1910-1940) 21. Manipulation: Conquering Taste (1931-1939) 22. Control: Paris, a Colonial Capital (1931-1939) 23. Imperial Revolution: Vichy's Colonial Myth (1940-1944) 24. Colonial Economy: Between Propaganda Myths and Economic Reality (1940-1955)25. French Unity: The Dream of a United France (1946-1960) Part IV. Toward the PostcolonyForeword: Moussa the African's Blues 26. Decolonizing France: the "Indochinese Syndrome" (1946-1954) 27. Immigration: the Emergence of an African Elite in the Metropole (1946-1961) 28. Immigration: North Africans Settle in the Metropole (1946-1961) 29. Crime: Colonial Violence in the Metropole (1954-1961) 30. Modernism, Colonialism, and Cultural Hybridity 31. The Meanders of Colonial Memory 32. The Impossible Revision of France's History (1968-2006) 33. National History and Colonial History: Parallel Histories (1961-2006) 34.The Illusion of Decolonization (1956-2006) 35.The Impossible Colonial Museum Part V. The Time of InheritanceForeword: The Age of Contempt, or the Legitimization of France's Civilizing Mission 36. Trouble in the Republic: Disturbing Memories, Forgotten Territories 37. Competition between Victims38. The Army and the Construction of Immigration as a Threat (1961-2006)39. Postcolonial Culture in the Army and the Memory of Overseas Combatants (1961-2006)40. Republican Integration: Reflections on a Postcolonial Issue (1961-2006)41. Colonial Influences and Tropes in the Field of Literature 42. From Colonial History to the Banlieues (1961-2006) 43. Can We Speak of A Postcolonial Racism? (1961-2006) 44. From Colonial Stereotypes to the Postcolonial Gaze: the Need for an Evolution of the Imaginary 45. Post Colonial Cinema, Song, and Literature: Continuity or Change? (1961-2006)46. Ethnic Tourism: Symbolic Reconquest? (1961-2006) 47. Francophonie and Universality: the Evolution of Two Entangled Ideas (1961-2006)BibliographyContributorsIndex

Overall, Colonial Culture in France is a very wellwritten book that showcases the potential benefits of multi-authorship as well as the ability of scholars to simultaneously reach both academic and non-academic audiences. It could be recommended to readers interested in various aspects of France's (post-)colonial history as well those seeking to understand contemporary French society, whether in the Élysée Palace or the banlieues of greater Paris.(H-War)