Abstract

What is the relationship between the state of postcolonial criticism in France and the French Republican and secular tradition? How can one explain the difficulty of many French intellectuals to constructively engage with the work of postcolonial criticism? What does French postcolonial thought look like? I will argue that responses to these questions need to take into account key elements of the history of French colonialism and postcolonial migration, as well as the impact of recent political debates and anti-racist movements.

Biog

Clemens Zobel was trained as an anthropologist at the University of Vienna, Austria and at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris, France. Initially focussing on the relationship between popular music and politics in urban postcolonial Mali, his academic interests subsequently turned to the history of political and religious institutions in rural areas. This work also led to a long lasting engagement with the study of Malian decentralization policy. Zobel has taught at the department of political science at the University of Paris 8 since 2003 and also spent several years doing research and teaching at CES. His research in Portugal namely dealt with the political engagement of foreigners in local elections. Current research interests include the engagement of youth in French migrant associations, the moral economy of the commons in Subsaharan Africa, and the epistemology of African and postcolonial studies. He has published Das Gewicht der Rede; Kulturelle Reinterpretation, Geschichte und Vermittlung bei den Mande Westafrikas (1997), and coedited The younger brother in Mande: kinship and politics in West Africa (1996); Postcolonialisme, Postsocialisme et Posterité de l'Idéologie (2001) et Eleitos e Eleitores estrangeiros nas Municipalidades e Freguesias Portugueses (2013).

Ativity within Doctoral Programme 'Postcolonialisms and Global Citizenship'