France in the Twenty-First Century: New Perspectives/La France au xxi esiècle: nouvelles perspectives (review)

This bilingual collection has developed from a similar volume published in 2000 devoted to France at the threshold of a new century. A decade later, the ‘new perspectives’ identified have emerged especially from the suburban protests of autumn 2005: symptom, symbol, or catalyst of crisis. There are twenty-two chapters, including a review of available resources. Chapters are arranged under seven headings, from politics, economics, and society, through France in Europe and the world, to artistic expression — a patchier section covering only novels, cinema, and popular music. The volume will primarily serve teachers and students of French at advanced school level and as a set text on undergraduate ‘civilization’ courses. Some in academia might approach a book with so many subdivisions and so familiar a remit a little warily, but in this case that would be a mistake. Whether in French or English, chapters are invariably readable, avoid jargon or abstruseness, and have something to say. The periodization varies slightly, with some stopping in 2007 and others managing to slip in references to 2009. But the authors and editors have ensured that each topic works effectively as a platform for subsequent updating, so the volume’s usefulness should last. There is a slightly condescending tendency in French literary studies to think of work on ‘civilization’ topics as ‘descriptive’, that is, short on the kind of ‘research’ content restrictively defined in UK research assessments. This is often the case, and it is here in a few cases. But most of the contributors find a judicious balance between description and analysis. Christopher Pinet, for instance, exemplifies the book at its best. He methodically unpicks the contemporary-historical origins of growing government intolerance of religious ‘signs’ (like the Islamic headscarf and niqab) from 1989 to the 2004 legislation banning the wearing of such signs in school. Things have, of course, moved on considerably since then, with a new act in 2011 outlawing the covering of the face in all public places. Yet the chapter retains its pertinence in that it plots an ideological itinerary without which the 2011 legislation cannot be properly understood. Other contributors adopt divergent approaches to their exposition: an interview with the 2007 president of Ni Putes Ni Soumises, a theatrical case study illustrating administrative decentralization, or a whistle-stop but illuminating tour of American non-fiction writing on France including books, press articles, and blogs. Occasional chapters even succeed in integrating significant ‘research’ findings. Olivier Bourderionnet provides a pedagogically useful, informed overview of French popular music while identifying and critically interpreting three embryonic phenomena of the first decade of the current century: the nostalgic return of la chanson française, the apparent though deceptive success of the radio quotas, and the recent feminization of popular song. With such a diversity of ‘new perspectives’, then, although some lecturers will be exasperated to find elements of this book (not least the ample statistical data) recycled in student essays for years to come, there is also plenty here to illuminate and inspire both their students and themselves.