Resurrecting Slavery: Racial Legacies and White Supremacy in France by Crystal Marie Fleming (review)

How can we understand the history of slavery and the present-day inequalities in France without asking the hard question: Is white French society inherently racist? Resurrecting Slavery traces the ways in which the contradiction between France's colorblind political narrative and its ongoing legacy of racial oppression impact the current political climate. A wide-ranging contribution to racial identities and relations, this book aims to rethink race from the perspective of sociology, history, and ethnicity, while considering the legacy of France's colonial and slave past. It also challenges our understanding of how we view France today, especially in light of ISIS-inspired terrorism of the past few years. Exploring this controversial topic from present-day inequalities to past oppression, this book's seven chapters make for a thought-provoking read. The author's observations, drawn from over a hundred interviews and archival work by communitarian groups, provide insight into the struggles encountered by French Caribbean and black French activists, including the challenges they face to connect historical racism with the exclusion they face in the present. Clear and precise in its arguments, this book raises thorny questions about ethno-racial boundaries and reparations, while tackling the initiatives of various French officials to "blackwash" slavery. One noteworthy chapter, "Racial Temporality in Action," explores how commemoration event organizers and participants subvert norms of color-blindness in France and widen the debate on the ideology of white supremacy. Moreover, the statistics, graphs, tables, and photographs give the reader a better understanding of the troubling reality faced by many French people of color. The conclusion turns some preconceived notions about France and French society on their head and delivers new arguments to fight racism. Overall, the book offers much food for thought, and the extensive bibliography and methodological references provide a wealth of information for further research in the field. Although some of the content may make the reader feel uncomfortable, as it should, the core of the study offers an invaluable opportunity to grapple with the injustices faced by black and brown people, a reality that extends beyond the borders of France. This book will appeal to scholars and students who need an entry point into the oftentimes overwhelming field of critical race theory, as well as to those who hope to fight systematic oppression from all walks of life.