Minor Threats and the Biopolitics of Youth

In contemporary France, the problem of “immigrant youth”—French citizens, born to migrant parents, often from former French colonies—symbolizes the question of minority and national belonging. The development and disciplining of immigrants have, for several decades, formed the focus of sociological, anthropological, as well as political discourse, especially in the wake of the 2005 urban riots. Considering their case can help us to understand the history and the present-day predicament of “minority” in order to reimagine it beyond restrictive and racist frames.