“Black” French Studies is a capacious field that merits exploration along multiple lines of inquiry. One of the most compelling questions to arise in this field is the matter of how race and gender have long intersected, shaping the lived experience of “Black” French women, girls, and non-binary people. The inaugural BLACK | FRANCE | NOIRE symposium offers a series of roundtables that address this question from a variety of angles – from intellectual history to contemporary media, from art and performance to activism, from storytelling to sport.

Over two days of dialogue, study, critique, provocation, and celebration, COLLECTIF BLACK | FRANCE | NOIRE will consider intellectual, creative, and political possibilities that are both rooted in the past and committed to fashioning more just futures. Thinking in a transoceanic frame, participants will take up specific pistes de réflexion concerning the crucial and longstanding contributions of gendered and racialized individuals and communities within the francophone world.

Participants

Alexis Peskine, Assa Traoré, Audrey Celestine, Aya Cissoko, Brent Hayes Edwards, Christelle Bakima Poundza, Christiane Taubira, Collectif Cases rebelles, Collectif Mémoire Coloniale et, Lutte contre les Discriminations, Corine Labridy, Denise Murrell, Diaty Diallo, Elsa Dorlin, Eva Doumbia, Fania Noël, Frank Guridy, Jacqueline Couti, Jennifer Padjemi, Jessica Balguy, Joao Gabriel, Johanna Montlouis-Gabriel, Keithley Woolward, Laurent Dubois, Léa Mormin-Chauvac, Nacira Guénif-Souilamas, Olivette Otele, Peggy Pierrot, Pratima Prasad, Rebecca Chaillon, Rokhaya Diallo, Shanna Jean-Baptiste, Sika Fakambi, Terri Simone Francis, Trica Keaton, and Yolaine Parisot

Click here for the full program