The Color of Liberty: Histories of Race in France

France has long defined itself as a colour-blind nation where racial bias has no place. Even today, the French universal curriculum for secondary students makes no mention of race or slavery, and many French scholars still resist addressing racial questions. Yet, as this volume shows, colour and other racial markers have been major factors in French national life for more than 300 years. The 16 essays in The Color of Liberty offer a wealth of innovative research on the neglected history of race in France, ranging from the early modern period to the present. The Color of Liberty addresses four major themes: the evolution of race as an idea in France; representations of the other by French writers, artists, and business people; the international dimensions of French racial thinking, particularly in relation to colonialism; and the impact of racial differences on the shaping of the modern French city. The many permutations of race in French history - as assigned identity, scientific discourse, philosophical problem, by-product of migration, tool in empire building, or consumer product icon - here receive nuanced treatments confronting the malleability of ideas about race and the uses to which they have been put.