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13 The athletic exception Black Champions and Colonial Culture (1900–1939) timothée Jobert, stanislas Frenkiel, and nicolas Bancel Black athletes from the French colonies began to appear in metropolitan France in the early twenties.1 They were represented in the media according to two models: black american champion-athletes, who had become popular in France toward the end of the nineteenth century, and black colonial subjects. The image of the colonial black athlete was elaborated at the intersection of these two imaginaries. However, the progressive stereotyping of these black athletes cannot be reduced exclusively to race. instead, given the varying contexts in which these stereotypes were produced, their reversible and ever-evolving character, we would do well to consider the different ways in which black athletes were represented depending on the period in question.2 discourse on black athletes during the interwar period was inextricably intertwined with a discourse meant to legitimize colonization: the black athlete— as well as colonial athletes—stood both for the importance of socio-racial divisions within colonial society, for the guardianship that the metropole offered the black population, which was “still in a state of childhood,” and also for the ineluctable progress of assimilation made possible by the civilizing mission. Colonial historiography has all but neglected these images of the colonial black athlete, which were representative of the “success” of French colonization, similar to the manner in which immigrant athletes would later be touted as exemplary figures of France’s integration model. our aim is thus to better understand the ways in which representations of black athletes were constructed in the metropole, from the beginning of the twentieth century until the interwar period. We shall then focus on colonized african athletes, by looking at the example of the soccer player larbi Ben Barek (1917–1992), also known as the “Black Pearl of Casablanca.” This chapter primarily relies upon two sources, both sports periodicals: L’Auto and Le Miroir des sports. We shall also make use of the ubiquitous Paris-Soir. 189 190 | Jobert, Frenkiel, and Bancel Multiple Processes of identification discourse on athletes from african and West indian colonies was in large part developed in the 1920s. This was preceded, during the first decades of the Belle Époque, by a discourse on great african american champion-athletes, who were at the forefront of the international scene, and who had shown their prowess in the rings and on the tracks of the French capital. The most famous at the time were Marshall taylor, who won the 1899 track cycling championship, and who began participating in annual tournaments in 1901, and famous boxers such as sam Mcvey, “the Parisian idol,” Joe Jeanette, middleweight world champion sam langford, and the famous heavyweight champion Jack Johnson.3 These champions, through a process of racial identification, were considered assimilable with their african “brothers in race.” Whether they came from the French overseas empire, the British empire, or the other side of the atlantic, the French saw them as a community that shared the same future—this, because of their african heritage. indeed, lexicometric studies of the periodical L’Auto during the first half of the twentieth century show that differences in stereotypes linked to the national origin of these athletes were of little importance next to the image of the athletic black man. This suggests that the category of “race” subsumed those of geographic origin and, a fortiori, of nationality. Meanwhile, during the Belle Époque, the social representation of black athletes was markedly better than that of black africans. But contrary to what such an observation could suggest, these athletes were not simply understood in terms of race. different parameters of identification were used, a complex alchemy concocted. The determining factor in describing and understanding these athletes was what we have dubbed a socio-athletic status: a social status for the athlete, a status directly linked to his trajectory within the world of sports. The example of Battling siki perfectly illustrates this trajectory, and the social category of identification to which these black athletes belonged.4 Though he arrived in France at the tender age of eight, and had his first fights in the south of France before the war, louis Mbarick Fall (1897–1925) was unknown until after the war, after four years of service in the eighth Colonial regiment of toulon. after the armistice, he went on a european tour, during which he collected many national european championships (in Germany, italy, Belgium, etc.), and even fought in...

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