Resurrecting Slavery: Racial Legacies and White Supremacy in France

by Crystal Marie Fleming

How can politicians and ordinary citizens face the racial past in a country that frames itself as colorblind? In her timely and provocative book, Resurrecting Slavery , Crystal Fleming shows how people make sense of slavery in a nation where talking about race, colonialism, and slavery remains taboo. Noting how struggles over the meaning of racial history are informed by contemporary politics of race, she What kinds of group identities are at stake today for activists and French people with ties to overseas territories where slavery took place? Fleming investigates the connections and disconnections that are made between racism, slavery, and colonialism in France. She provides historical context and examines how politicians and commemorative activists interpret the racial past and present. Resurrecting Slavery also includes in-depth interviews with French Caribbean migrants outside the commemorative movement to address the everyday racial politics of remembrance. Bringing a critical race perspective to the study of French racism, Fleming’s groundbreaking study provides a more nuanced understanding of race in France along with new ways of thinking about the global dimensions of slavery, anti-blackness, and white supremacy.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Race, Social Science

286 pages, Paperback

Published March 1, 2017

About the author

Crystal Marie Fleming, PhD, is a writer and sociologist who researches racism in the United States and abroad. She earned degrees from Wellesley College and Harvard University and is associate professor of sociology and Africana studies at Stony Brook University. Fleming writes about race, sexuality, and politics for publications including The Root, Black Agenda Report, Vox, and Everyday Feminism, and she has tens of thousands of followers on social media. She is the author of Resurrecting Slavery: Racial Legacies and White Supremacy in France.

Photo credit: Nicole Mondestin Photography

Reviews

[Kab · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a dissertation work on collective memory and commemorative activism. Although there are stretches of empirical research to wade through, it is fortunately also explicitly polemical. France is not unique as a country that refuses to acknowledge racial oppression (unless it's in America or unless it's 'reverse racism') and it clings to revisionist denial even as people justify its history of racism. This project is the start of hopefully many works of critical race theory looking at France that will infuse understanding of the racial legacies of colonialism and transatlantic slavery, connect these legacies to present-day power relations, and inspire resisting and dissolving the racial status quo.

Appendix note: I appreciated enormously her thoughts on emotional labour and the importance of affect in knowledge production.

[Tanya Boza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent. Resurrecting Slavery uses the French case to theorize global white supremacy and the relics of chattel slavery. By doing so, Fleming moves scholarship on French racism forward in new and exciting directions. I find impressive the fact that this manuscript is not only well-written but also filled with theoretical insights and analytical innovations that promise to move this field forward.

[Elizabeth]

As heard on Rough Translation:

https://www.npr.org/2019/04/30/718729...