Lévy, un ami qui vous veut du bien: the (mis)appropriation of Islamic practices in Bernard-Henri Lévy’s fulfilling of France’s mission civilisatrice

This article analyses the dynamics of cultural (mis)appropriation underpinning Bernard-Henri Lévy’s (BHL) catchphrase islam des Lumières. Be it against the backdrop of global terrorism in Qui a tué Daniel Pearl?, that of Franco-French societal issues in Ce grand cadavre à la renverse, that of French interventionism in La Guerre sans l’aimer, or that of homegrown terrorism in “Le moment churchillien de la Ve république,” BHL warns against the danger of a certain form of Islam whilst advocating an “enlightened” Islam that is, for him, compatible with French republican values. To this end, he (mis)appropriates conspicuous Islamic practices by claiming that they have nothing to do with Islam. Thus, BHL’s islam des Lumières is invisible and reduced to a cultural heritage that is void of religious practices. Drawing from cultural studies, social sciences, postcolonial studies, and African American studies, this article will argue that BHL is a “well-meaning colonizer;” a paternalist who seeks to fulfil France’s mission civilisatrice by (mis)appropriating Islamic practices in order to tell Muslims how to live their faith.

The 9th Lawrence R. Schehr Memorial Award Winning Essay

In the nineteenth century, France was no nation of modern language learners. This was not by any means because France was isolated from other nations: on the contrary, its increasing desire to expand its colonies, its international links through diplomacy, trade, and culture, and significant levels of immigration into France, all positioned it at the heart of a multicultural, multilingual global network. However, for much of the century, modern languages were widely considered to be a rather decorative accomplishment; it was only with France’s devastating defeat by Prussia in 1871 that the dearth of language skills among the French population began to cause widespread concern and to be seen as a worrying national weakness. Although lengthy texts and speeches mediated and scrutinized this dramatic shift for the upper classes, for the popular audiences of workers, artisans, and lower-middle class clerks and shopkeepers it was often café-concert song that confronted its novelty and its strangeness. Dozens of songs were written between 1870 and 1914 about teachers, pupils, dubious accents, and mediocre exam results. This article explores these songs - about Spanish, German, and English - to question how they reflect upon attitudes to language learning, upon popular perceptions of France’s neighboring nations, and upon the audience’s own sense of identity as Parisians and as French citizens.

Ruins, rhizomes, palimpsests, and traces-mémoires: Guadeloupe’s Mémorial ACTe and the art(s) of representation

This study examines the degree to which the world’s largest slavery memorial and arts center enacts emerging theorizations of postcolonial memory to connect the Caribbean’s colonial history to legacies of human exploitation both transnationally and transtemporally. Situated literally on top of the former Darboussier sugar factory site, the Mémorial ACTe is a lieu de mémoire that invites a palimpsestic approach to its symbolic location, architecture, and museography. Through a consideration of contemporary art, first in the ephemeral occupation by artists of the Darboussier ruins pre-demolition and then in the MACTe’s permanent and temporary exhibitions, we argue that artists are not only uniquely positioned to preserve the memory traces of lesser-known histories, but that their work is particularly adept at articulating interconnections between various moments of racialized violence.

Does laïcité translate to the American classroom?

This essay reflects on the relevance of French laïcité for the American college classroom. It begins with a discussion of philosopher Catherine Kintzler’s radical interpretation of laïcité as a theory of political association that takes the classroom as its model. According to this view, the autonomous learning contingent on doubt and self-correction that ideally occurs there is the basis for an egalitarian and collaborative production of knowledge, a model of a res publica. The essay then turns to legal scholar and philosopher Anthony Kronman’s analysis of classroom conversation and the “ethics of depersonalization.” It considers the extent to which these notions can be viewed as American translations of Kintzler’s laïcité. The essay concludes with a reading of American essayist Ta-Nehisi Coates’s bestselling 2015 memoir as an endorsement of the autonomous abstract individual, the linchpin of republican universalism, laïcité, and liberal education.

The “art and magic” of Raymond Oliver (1909-1990): inventing the modern multimedia, mass-market celebrity chef

Raymond Oliver was far more than the first French TV chef. At the peak of Oliver’s popularity in the 1950s and 1960s, his marketing ventures spanned a broad range of endorsements, promotions, and products, while his protean media innovations likewise transcended his television appearances, encompassing a great diversity of forms. Focusing on this largely unexplored realm of Oliver’s mass-market presence and multimedia experimentation, I argue for a more capacious understanding of his place in the evolution of modern French food culture, especially in the rise of the modern celebrity chef as broad-based food personality. Oliver pioneered this substantial new role for the chef as public figure, however his marketing verve and multimedia escapades prompted both adulation and admonition. Ultimately, the title of his 1984 memoir, Adieu fourneaux, probes paradoxes still relevant today, as chefs, turned famous food personalities, leaving behind the original crucible of their renown, renegotiate their connection to the kitchen, while navigating between culinary street cred and celebrity for celebrity’s sake, as between education and entertainment.

Global and local rhetorics at a public-facing private company: Studiocanal and French cinema

This article utilizes Canal+’s film production and distribution subsidiary Studiocanal as a way to understand both companies’ impacts on French cinema since the formation of the subsidiary in the early 1990s. As such, the article is structured as a chronology and an analysis of the major films made in French and financed by Studiocanal in terms of their critical and popular reception. The article also examines the talent relationships underpinning this production and the trajectories of the various stars, writers, directors, and producers who worked on the films as well as the executives who oversaw them. Finally, the article analyzes the corporate rhetoric that was advanced by both Studiocanal and Canal+ over the years to position itself in the French and international markets. Synthesizing these branches of the analysis and noting certain cyclical patterns, the article argues that Studiocanal’s relationship to French cinema has been complex and changeable, at times limited in favor of pursuing the international market, at times devoting ample amounts of rhetoric and resources to pursuing success in its home market. Moreover, the article demonstrates that the company’s production activities have helped to mold a generation of French filmmakers and industry executives who have in turn gone on to influential careers. Looking forward, the article concludes by arguing that by virtue of its size and scale as a producer and distributor, Studiocanal will always be a significant player in French cinema.