Colonial Metropolis

Jennifer Anne Boittin is an associate professor of French, francophone studies, and history at Pennsylvania State University.

• Introduction                                            1. Josephine Baker: Colonial Woman                               2. Dancing Dissidents and Dissident Dancers: The Urban Topography of Race                           3. A Black Colony? Race and the Origins of Anti-Imperialism         4. Reverse Exoticism and Masculinity: The Cultural Politics of Race Relations                          5. In Black and White: Women, La Dépêche Africaine and the Print Culture of the Diaspora                         6. "These Men's Minor Transgressions:" White Frenchwomen on Colonialism and Feminism                    Conclusion                                                      NotesBibliography

"The excellent analysis of race and gender is a noteworthy strength of this book. . . . Highly readable."—Jeffrey H. Jackson, American Historical Review“Methodologically innovative and skillfully researched, Colonial Metropolis supports the author’s contention that the grand European city itself had become colonized. In demonstrating the profoundly complex, intertwined, and shifting roles that gender and race played in this colonization, Boittin’s work recasts our understanding of the metropole and its place in the empire during this period.”-Carolyn J. Eichner, French Politics, Culture, and Society  "[Colonial Metropolis] offers insightful and original analysis of the links between the vogue nègre and anti-imperial politics, and of the important role of the city of Paris in facilitating such a nexus."—Kate Marsh, H-France Review “Colonial Metropolis should be required reading for all scholars of French empire in the twentieth century, as well as for graduate students working on twentieth-century European imperialism. This book is consciously in dialogue with the richer literature on gender and race in the British Empire, so its value goes beyond specialists of France.”-Jeremy Rich, Itinerario "We now have Boittin's provocative study to guide us toward a fuller understanding ofthe love affair, now passe', between France and the African peoples who for better or worse fell under its tutelage in the age of empire."—Susan Gilson Miller, The Journal of Modern History "Examining performers such as Josephine Baker, black and feminist print culture, and police records about anti-imperial activists, the author connects diverse threads regarding race, gender, and colonialism."—Choice "Jennifer Anne Boittin's Colonial Metropolis represents a bold assertion of the centrality of colonial relationships to the political and cultural history of interwar Paris."—Ian Germani, H-Urban "Colonial Metropolis should be required reading for any scholars of French empire in the twentieth century, as well as for graduate students working on twentieth century European imperialism. This book is consciously in dialogue with the richer literature on gender and race in the British Empire, so its value goes beyond specialists of France."—Jeremy Rich, Itinerario