Scholars across disciplines on both sides of the Atlantic have recently begun to open up, as never before, the scholarly study of race and racism in France. These original essays bring together in one volume new work in history, sociology, anthropology, political science, and legal studies. Each of the eleven articles presents fresh research on the tension between a republican tradition in France that has long denied the legitimacy of acknowledging racial difference and a lived reality in which racial prejudice shaped popular views about foreigners, Jews, immigrants, and colonial people. Several authors also examine efforts to combat racism since the 1970s.

Scholars across disciplines on both sides of the Atlantic have recently begun to open up, as never before, the scholarly study of race and racism in France. These original essays bring together in one volume new work in history, sociology, anthropology, political science, and legal studies. Each of the eleven articles presents fresh research on the tension between a republican tradition in France that has long denied the legitimacy of acknowledging racial difference and a lived reality in which racial prejudice shaped popular views about foreigners, Jews, immigrants, and colonial people. Several authors also examine efforts to combat racism since the 1970s.

Introduction: Race in France
Herrick Chapman and Laura L. Frader

PART I: REPUBLICAN FOUNDATIONS AND PRACTICES

Chapter 1. Republican Anti-racism and Racism: A Caribbean Genealogy
Laurent Dubois

Chapter 2. Albert Sarraut and Republican Racial Thought
Clifford Rosenberg

Chapter 3. Intermarriage, Independent Nationality, and the Individual Rights of French Women: The Law of 10 August 1927
Elisa Camiscioli

Chapter 4. The Strangeness of Foreigners: Policing Migration and Nation in Interwar Marseille 
Mary Dewhurst Lewis

PART II: REPUBLICAN RESPONSES AND POLICIES SINCE THE 1960S

Chapter 5. Culture-as-Race or Culture-as-Culture: Caribbean Ethnicity and the Ambiguity of Cultural Identity in French Society
David Beriss

Chapter 6. Immigration and the Salience of Racial Boundaries among French Workers
Michèle Lamont

Chapter 7. Anti-racism without Races: Politics and Policy in a 'Color-Blind' State
Erik Bleich

Chapter 8. A Tale of Two Countries: The Politics of Color-Blindness in France and the United States
Robert C. Lieberman

PART III: NEW DIRECTIONS IN POLICY

Chapter 9. Color-Blindness at a Crossroads in Contemporary France
Gwénaële Calvès

Chapter 10. Half-Measures: Anti-discrimination Policy in France
Alec G. Hargreaves

Chapter 11. Affirmative Action at Sciences Po
Daniel Sabbagh

Notes on Contributors
Bibliography
Index