January 19: Explore the roots of racial confrontation and discontent in France with Didier Gondola

Prof. Didier Gondola of IUPUI helps explain the roots of ethnic identity and conflict in Africa

When: Friday, January 19 4:30 PM
Where: IUPUI Cavanaugh Hall room 508

As part of IUPUI's School of Liberal Arts Sabbatical Speakers Series, Prof. Didier Gondola will give a talk on “Transient Citizenship: The Othering and Indigenization of Blacks and Beurs within the French Republique” Here's Prof. Gondola's description:

Riots in 2005 wreaked havoc in several French banlieues [French suburbs that feel more like inner city slums than US suburbs such as Carmel]. This led some black and beur [second and third generation French who roots are in North Africa and other parts of the former French Empire] civic organizations — including “les Indigènes de la République” — have attributed the anger fueling the riots to the persistence of colonial relations between France and its population of African descent, the so-called français issus de l’immigration (first- and second-generation French) as opposed to Français de souche (“native” French). Needless to say, most French pundits and scholars quickly dismissed such an explanation not only as flawed but dangerous as well, a cipher likely to drive a wedge into French society. Instead, these pundits have turned the table on the rioters by putting forth arguments that range from the breakdown of African families living in France, to polygamy, rap music, and more generally their unwillingness or inability to assimilate as more accurate explanations for their marginalization.

Prof. Didier Gondola is a highly
regarded professor of history at IUPUI. Born the Congo and raised in Paris, Prof. Gondola is the author of The History of the Congo. For more information, contact: Annette Hill, 317-278-1839.

If this event sounds interesting, you should check out a couple of films at the IMA about the African experience elsewhere: from Brazil see "Favela Rising" February 8; from Mexico see "African Blood" February 22. For a sense of why Algerians might not be happy with the French, see the classic film Battle of Algiers March 22.

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