Jimia Boutouba presents her paper “Anti-Racist Activism and the Practice of Democratic Politics in Contemporary France”
Prof. Boutouba recently presented a research paper at the North East Modern Language Association Annual Conference (NeMLA) entitled “Anti-Racist Activism and the Practice of Democratic Politics in Contemporary France”. This paper examines how, since the 1980s, minority youths, artists and activists have ushered in new forms of civic and political engagement in their fight against racism, police brutality and judicial discrimination. The rise in political and civic activism in the form of graffiti, music, concerts, theatre, and increasing associative action demonstrates what French philosopher Jacques Rancière defines as "democratic politics" (Rancière, 1999), a transformative process that allows minorities to reject the prevailing social distribution of roles and places and to become visible and audible as political subjects.