The commemoration of General Thomas-Alexandre Dumas in Paris offers a striking lens through which to examine the intersection of history, memory, and the ongoing reckoning with colonial legacies. Focusing on three key phases of his memorialization – from the 1912 ghostly statue, melted during the Occupation, to the 2009 towering shackles, and finally, to the forthcoming resurrection of the military officer – this study explores how these shifts reflect the complexities of public memory, emphasizing the broader societal and political tensions inherent in the selective commemorative process. By analyzing the semiotics and artistic choices behind these monuments, the article argues that the 2009 statue, while engaging with postcolonial discourse, confines Dumas’s legacy to a reductive narrative of victimhood, raising concerns about how Black and Brown figures are often commemorated in ways that highlight their suffering rather than their contributions. Ultimately, this analysis underscores the power of public monuments in shaping collective historical memory and exposes how contemporary needs often influence the representation of historical figures and their impact on national consciousness.
This article offers a novel intervention in decolonial museology by foregrounding animal representation and natural history collections as critical yet overlooked sites of epistemological violence in Belgium's Royal Museum for Central Africa (RMCA). Drawing on interdisciplinary methods, including site visits, digital analysis, and theoretical frameworks from Critical Animal Studies, colonial historiography, and decolonial thought, it demonstrates how the RMCA's post-renovation exhibitions continue to reproduce colonial logics through the curatorial treatment of animal bodies. By extending decolonial critique beyond anthropocentric frameworks, this article challenges prevailing approaches to institutional decolonization and expands the conversation to include multispecies colonial entanglements. Cet article constitue une intervention originale en mus & eacute;ologie d & eacute;coloniale en mettant en lumi & egrave;re la repr & eacute;sentation animale et les collections d'histoire naturelle comme sites critiques, mais largement n & eacute;glig & eacute;s, de violence & eacute;pist & eacute;mologique au sein du Mus & eacute;e royal de l'Afrique centrale (MRAC) en Belgique. En mobilisant une m & eacute;thodologie interdisciplinaire incluant des visites de terrain, l'analyse des dispositifs num & eacute;riques, et des cadres th & eacute;oriques issus des & eacute;tudes animales critiques, de l'historiographie coloniale et de la pens & eacute;e d & eacute;coloniale, l'& eacute;tude montre comment les expositions post-r & eacute;novation du MRAC continuent de reproduire des logiques coloniales & agrave; travers le traitement mus & eacute;al des corps animaux. En d & eacute;passant les approches anthropocentriques, cet article appelle & agrave; repenser la d & eacute;colonisation institutionnelle en y int & eacute;grant les dimensions multispecies des h & eacute;ritages coloniaux.
Fatima Daas’s debut novel, La Petite Dernière ( The Last One ), has been both lauded and attacked for its autofictional representation of a Muslim lesbian growing up in Paris’s marginalized suburbs. Analyses of this work have focused on the protagonist Fatima’s multi-faceted identity as a young woman struggling to reconcile her faith and sexuality. This article shifts the focus from identity to affect by putting La Petite Dernière in dialogue with Sara Ahmed’s theorization of emotion’s social functions. The novel’s reception showcases the limited cultural narratives available to queer Muslim subjects: either reject faith and find fulfillment in individual freedom or reconcile it harmoniously with queerness. Daas expands these possibilities through a “poetics of ambivalence” that exposes the complexity and discomfort of Fatima’s feelings without offering tidy resolutions. Fatima discovers that ambivalence, when shared with a partner, is more than a mere cause of social isolation, and can become the basis of a meaningful relationship. Ultimately, literary explorations of bad feelings can provide minoritized authors with a subtle form of resistance to the affective demands of sexual nationalisms.
If trust and belief are at the root of the documentary experience, what happens if a documentary encourages the spectator to adopt a point of view that is unethical - at least according to the viewer? What if the director violates the viewer's moral autonomy? Taking her own experience of spectatorial resistance watching Claude Lanzmann's The Last of the Unjust as a case in point, Nathalie Rachlin explores the limits of the documentary pact and uses the concept of "imaginative resistance" developed by analytic philosophers to further investigate and theorize the role moral agency plays in spectatorship. Si la confiance et la croyance sont & agrave; la base de l'exp & eacute;rience documentaire, que se passe-t-il si un documentaire encourage le spectateur & agrave; adopter un point de vue contraire & agrave; l'& eacute;thique - du moins selon le spectateur? Que se passe-t-il si le r & eacute;alisateur viole l'autonomie morale du spectateur? Prenant comme exemple sa propre exp & eacute;rience de r & eacute;sistance spectatorielle devant Le Dernier des injustes de Claude Lanzmann, Nathalie Rachlin explore les limites du pacte documentaire et utilise le concept de << r & eacute;sistance imaginative >> d & eacute;velopp & eacute; en philosophie analytique pour th & eacute;oriser le r & ocirc;le que l'& eacute;thique personnelle joue dans l'exp & eacute;rience du spectateur.
This article focuses on two films by Cameroonian documentary filmmaker Rosine Mbakam, Chez Jolie Coiffure (2018) and Les Pri & egrave;res de Delphine (2021). I examine her work in relation to the Eurocentric, positivist epistemological traditions associated with colonial documentary filmmaking about Africa. I suggest that her films advocate instead for an Afrocentric epistemological approach based on Black women's ways of knowing and relating to the world. "Anchored in the flesh of everyday experiences," Afrofeminist theorists emphasize the body as an alternative source of knowledge production and validation (Larcher 311). In Chez Jolie Coiffure and Les Pri & egrave;res de Delphine, we meet two Cameroonian women who migrate to Brussels and engage in sex work and hairdressing in order to survive, and consequently, embodied exchanges are central to our understanding of their experience as African female migrants in Europe. By focusing on various private acts of hairdressing and grooming, the films acquaint us with the ways in which subjugation and sexual violence have been marked and materially inscribed upon the Black female body. However, through the depiction of these same gestures of bodily administration and care, Mbakam's films create a sense of community and solidarity with her protagonists and present them as agents of self-knowledge, capable of shaping their own representation onscreen. In this way, Mbakam's films create a sense of diasporan solidarity, and offer more empathetic and dialogic methods of generating knowledge through documentary practice. Cet article se concentre sur deux films de la documentariste camerounaise Rosine Mbakam, Chez Jolie Coiffure (2018) et Les Pri & egrave;res de Delphine (2021). J'examine ces films en relation avec la tradition eurocentrique et positiviste associ & eacute;e au cin & eacute;ma documentaire colonial sur l'Afrique. J'avance cependant l'hypoth & egrave;se que les films de Mbakam pr & ocirc;nent une approche & eacute;pist & eacute;mologique afrocentrique fond & eacute;e sur les fa & ccedil;ons qu'ont les femmes noires de conna & icirc;tre et de se rapporter au monde. << Ancr & eacute;es dans la chair des exp & eacute;riences ordinaires >>, les th & eacute;oriciennes afrof & eacute;ministes mettent en valeur le corps comme source alternative de production et de validation des connaissances (Larcher 311). Chez Jolie Coiffure et Les Pri & egrave;res de Delphine racontent l'histoire de deux femmes camerounaises, qui migrent & agrave; Bruxelles et survivent gr & acirc;ce & agrave; la coiffure et au travail du sexe, et par cons & eacute;quent le corps est essentiel pour comprendre leurs exp & eacute;riences de femmes migrantes africaines en Europe. Les films portent principalement sur diverses activit & eacute;s d'ordre priv & eacute; comme le fait de se coiffer et se maquiller, & agrave; travers lesquelles nous comprenons comment la subjugation et la violence sexuelle ont & eacute;t & eacute; marqu & eacute;es et inscrites sur le corps de la femme noire. N & eacute;anmoins, & agrave; travers la repr & eacute;sentation de ces m & ecirc;mes gestes de soin du corps, les films de Mbakam cr & eacute;ent un sentiment de solidarit & eacute; diasporique avec les protagonistes en les pr & eacute;sentant comme d & eacute;tentrices d'une connaissance d'elles-m & ecirc;mes et capables de fa & ccedil;onner leur propre repr & eacute;sentation & agrave; l'& eacute;cran. Ainsi, les films de Mbakam pr & eacute;sentent des m & eacute;thodes plus empathiques et dialogiques pour g & eacute;n & eacute;rer des connaissances dans la pratique documentaire.
There are moments in French film history when the distinction between documentary and fiction becomes less important - the mid-1940s to the early 1970s, for example - and others, like the present, when the border is sharper, more perceptible, and more vexed. In the hopes of bringing this shifting boundary into clearer focus, my paper returns to a film from the very beginning of the new millennium, Dani & egrave;le Huillet and Jean-Marie Straub's Elio Vittorini adaptation Operai, Contadini (2001). Drawing on writing by Jean-Louis Comolli and Jacques Ranci & egrave;re, I consider how the conceptual origins of Huillet and Straub's project connect to this long postwar period, to an understanding of cinema that leads from midcentury realism to a totalizing vision of cin & eacute;ma direct. I explore how their film stages political and aesthetic oppositions and how its approach to representation is tied to a particular conception of dialectical reasoning. The final section considers the present-day relevance of this postwar French tendency to view documentary not as genre, but as practice. Dans le champ des & eacute;tudes cin & eacute;matographiques, la distinction entre documentaire et fiction a aussi son histoire. Si les inqui & eacute;tudes contemporaines qui entourent de termes comme "v & eacute;rit & eacute;" ou "authenticit & eacute;" ont remis cette distinction au c oe ur de notre pr & eacute;sent, elle n'y a pas toujours & eacute;t & eacute;. & Agrave; d'autres moments - du milieu des ann & eacute;es 40 au d & eacute;but des ann & eacute;es 70, par exemple - la s & eacute;paration entre ces deux champs est moins nette. Pour mieux comprendre cette indiscernabilit & eacute;, mon article examine un film en particulier, Operai, Contadini (2001) de Dani & egrave;le Huillet et Jean-Marie Straub. En m'appuyant sur le travail de Jacques Ranci & egrave;re et de Jean-Louis Comolli, j'analyse ses rapports avec des convictions esth & eacute;tiques & eacute;labor & eacute;es dans l'apr & egrave;s-guerre et je consid & egrave;re la pertinence de sa d & eacute;marche au 21 & egrave;me si & egrave;cle.
Once confined to specific fields of expertise (sciences, medicine, surveillance, the military), operative images have started to populate our screens. In relation to the human body in particular (still the conventional measure and reference in film), there is no denying the capacity of these images to question and renew cinematic forms. In this article, I explore the ways in which operative images extend the boundaries of film aesthetics while troubling, in fundamental ways, the relation between the visible and the legible. Of particular interest will be El & eacute;onore Weber's Il n'y aura plus de nuit, 2020, and Verena Paravel and Lucien Castaing-Taylor's De Humani Corporis Fabrica, 2022, two films where operational imaging is prevalent, but comes from specific areas of activity resulting in distinctive visual productions and cultures: the military and the medical. Autrefois confin & eacute;es & agrave; des champs d'expertise sp & eacute;cifiques (sciences, m & eacute;decine, surveillance, arm & eacute;e), les images op & eacute;ratoires peuplent d & eacute;sormais nos & eacute;crans. Dans leur relation & agrave; l'apparence du corps humain en particulier (la figure humaine reste la mesure et la r & eacute;f & eacute;rence du cin & eacute;ma classique), il est ind & eacute;niable que ces images ont la capacit & eacute; d'interroger et de renouveler les formes cin & eacute;matographiques. Dans cet article, j'explore les fa & ccedil;ons dont les images op & eacute;ratoires repoussent les limites de l'esth & eacute;tique cin & eacute;matographique et, ce faisant, mettent en cause, de mani & egrave;re fondamentale, la relation entre le visible et le lisible. Un int & eacute;r & ecirc;t particulier sera port & eacute; & agrave; Il n'y aura plus de nuit, 2020, d'El & eacute;onore Weber, et & agrave; De Humani Corporis Fabrica, 2022, de Verena Paravel et Lucien Castaing-Taylor, deux films o & ugrave; l'image op & eacute;rationnelle est pr & eacute;valente, mais provient de domaines d'activit & eacute; sp & eacute;cifiques qui donnent lieu & agrave; des productions et des cultures visuelles distinctes: le militaire et le m & eacute;dical.
David Dufresne's Un Pays qui se tient sage (2020) offers a critique of French police violence, particularly in relation to the Gilets Jaunes protests. The film is set in a viewing space where participants (including protesters, sociologists, lawyers, and police representatives) analyze footage of the protests, which primarily consists of mobile phone recordings shot by the protesters themselves as well as television reports from the mainstream media. This article argues that rather than understanding these images as representations of pre-existing events, they should instead be understood as politics in action. Drawing on critics such as Aurora Hoel, John Durham Peters, and Jacques Ranci & egrave;re, the article proposes that documentary film scholars move away from the idea of images as re-presentations (Hoel's paradigm of "images-of") and toward an understanding of images as "civilizational ordering mechanisms" (Peters). Avec Un Pays qui se tient sage (2020) David Dufresne nous offre une critique de la violence des forces de l'ordre fran & ccedil;aises, en particulier dans le contexte des manifestations des gilets jaunes. Le film se d & eacute;roule dans une salle de visionnage o & ugrave; divers participants (y compris des manifestants, des sociologues, des avocats, et des repr & eacute;sentants de la police) analysent et d & eacute;battent des images film & eacute;es pendant les & eacute;meutes, soit par les manifestants sur leurs t & eacute;l & eacute;phones portables, soit par les journalistes de cha & icirc;nes grand public. Au lieu de consid & eacute;rer ces images et ces discussions comme la re-pr & eacute;sentation d'un & eacute;v & eacute;nement pass & eacute;, l'article propose de les comprendre comme & eacute;tant elles-m & ecirc;mes de la politique en train de se faire. S'appuyant sur des textes d'Aurora Hoel, John Durham Peters et Jacques Ranci & egrave;re, l'article sugg & egrave;re qu'il est temps pour les & eacute;tudes documentaires de passer de l'id & eacute;e de l'image comme re-pr & eacute;sentation (le paradigme de "l'image-de" (Hoel)) & agrave; celle de l'image comme "m & eacute;canisme d'agencement civilisationnel" (Peters).
This article examines how ethical decisions involved in filming confined subjects shape the aesthetic strategies of Raymond Depardon's documentary cinema. Focusing on San Clemente (1982), D & eacute;lits flagrants (1994), 10e chambre, instants d'audience (2004), and 12 Jours (2017), the analysis reveals a fundamental paradox at the heart of Depardon's practice: the cinematic frame operates simultaneously as a prison and as a potential site of resistance. While his static, rigorously composed shots reflect the institutional confinement of his subjects - psychiatric patients, defendants, and detainees - these very constraints give rise to moments of unstructured agency and unscripted presence. The frame, far from being a neutral boundary, becomes a space of ethical and political tension where institutional power is both visualized and momentarily subverted. Through this poetics of visual confinement, Depardon's observational cinema challenges prevailing regimes of representation and compels a deeper critical engagement with the ethics of spectatorship in contemporary documentary practice. Cet article analyse comment les d & eacute;cisions & eacute;thiques li & eacute;es au tournage de sujets enferm & eacute;s influencent les choix esth & eacute;tiques du cin & eacute;ma documentaire de Raymond Depardon. En se concentrant sur San Clemente (1982), D & eacute;lits flagrants (1994), 10e chambre, instants d'audience (2004) et 12 Jours (2017), l'& eacute;tude met en lumi & egrave;re un paradoxe central : le cadre cin & eacute;matographique agit & agrave; la fois comme une prison et comme un espace de r & eacute;sistance potentielle. Si les plans fixes et rigoureux de Depardon traduisent l'enfermement institutionnel de ses sujets - patients psychiatris & eacute;s, pr & eacute;venus et d & eacute;tenus - ces m & ecirc;mes contraintes visuelles laissent appara & icirc;tre des instants d'agentivit & eacute; non structur & eacute;e et de pr & eacute;sence impr & eacute;vue. Loin d'& ecirc;tre une simple limite formelle, le cadre devient un lieu de tension & eacute;thique et politique o & ugrave; le pouvoir institutionnel se manifeste tout en & eacute;tant bri & egrave;vement d & eacute;r & eacute;gl & eacute;. Par cette po & eacute;tique de l'enfermement, le cin & eacute;ma observationnel de Depardon interroge les r & eacute;gimes de repr & eacute;sentation dominants et invite & agrave; une r & eacute;flexion critique sur les responsabilit & eacute;s du regard dans la pratique documentaire contemporaine.
This article focuses on the documentaries of Alice Diop, foregrounding La Permanence/On Call (2016), which was filmed in a medical center for refugees and migrants in the banlieues of Paris. Positioning the film in relation to Diop's wider oeuvre, the article considers her approach to those she films, which she speaks of in interview in terms of an ethics attached to a duty of care, respect, and full awareness of the power of the camera, and which is based on an exchange, "not just the filmer filming the filmed" (Choudhury 2022). Concerning itself with Diop's documentary ethics, the article revisits my earlier study of ethics, French documentary, and the philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas. Drawing now upon interconnected discussions of multiplicity and care across the work of different thinkers - & Eacute;douard Glissant, Fred Moten, William Kentridge, and Maggie Nelson - I explore how the selfless cinema that I interrogated in that earlier work relates to the cinema of multiplicity that I conceptualize here. Cet article se concentre sur les documentaires d'Alice Diop, en mettant en avant La Permanence (2016), film & eacute; dans un centre m & eacute;dical pour r & eacute;fugi & eacute;s et migrants en banlieue parisienne. Situant ce film par rapport & agrave; l'oe uvre plus large de Diop, l'article explore la mani & egrave;re dont elle filme les gens, et dont elle parle en interview en termes d'une & eacute;thique li & eacute;e au soin, au respect, et & agrave; la pleine conscience du pouvoir de la cam & eacute;ra, et qui repose sur un & eacute;change, "pas seulement le filmeur qui filme le film & eacute;" (Choudhury 2022). En scrutant l'approche & eacute;thique de Diop, l'article revisite ma propre discussion ant & eacute;rieure sur l'& eacute;thique, le documentaire fran & ccedil;ais, et la philosophie d'Emmanuel Levinas. En s'appuyant maintenant sur des discussions interconnect & eacute;es sur la multiplicit & eacute; et le soin dans l'oe uvre d'& Eacute;douard Glissant, Fred Moten, William Kentridge, et Maggie Nelson, l'article interroge comment le "selfless cinema" de cette oe uvre ant & eacute;rieure se rapporte & agrave; un cin & eacute;ma de la multiplicit & eacute;.
The article explores the theme of post-paranoia in French animation, with a focus on the film Avril et le monde truqu & eacute; by Christian Desmares and Franck Ekinci. It defines post-paranoia as a contemporary form of paranoia that operates within a framework where the self is constantly threatened by an evolving and protean other. This shift from classical paranoia, which deals with clearly defined oppositions (e.g. East vs. West), to post-paranoia, reflects the complexities of modern political and social life. The article examines how French animation, including dystopian and post-apocalyptic narratives (Tante Hilda!, La proph & eacute;tie des grenouilles), reflects this theme of post-paranoia, often portraying worlds manipulated by deceit, conspiracy, and distrust. In Avril et le monde truqu & eacute;, set in a steampunk, alternate history, the protagonist faces a world governed by falsification and manipulation. The narrative blends post-paranoia with themes of uchronia (alternate history) and steampunk, raising questions about truth, reality, and power. The article discusses how the film's aesthetic and narrative, drawing heavily from the graphic style of Jacques Tardi, underscore the sociopolitical critique present in the film. It also ties this theme to broader concerns about scientific ethics, ecological destruction, and authoritarianism, situating the film as a form of political and cultural critique within the broader context of French animation.
This article explores how the French Republic is invoked in public and political discourse, arguing that it operates as an implicit state religion. The author examines how secularism and republican values are used to justify policies and measures that often target specific populations, particularly the Muslim community. The paper traces the evolution of republican rhetoric since the early twenty-first century, showing its transition from a political tool to a rigid and prescriptive language. Through examples such as the “Islamo-leftism” controversy and the assassination of teacher Samuel Paty in 2020, the author highlights the increasing ideological weight of republicanism. The study suggests that the Republic functions as a doctrinal framework shaping social and political debates, potentially excluding diversity and enforcing a uniform model of society. To support this argument, the author proposes a discourse analysis of various texts invoking the Republic.
In 1931, famous journalist Louis Roubaud (1884–1941) published Vietnam : La tragédie indochinoise , a roughly two-hundred-page collection of articles published from July to October 1930 in Le Petit Parisien newspaper. Roubaud begins his text with the execution of the men who led the Yên Bái revolt in February 1930 and then widens his focus to investigate the exploitative, often violent conditions for colonial subjects in Indochina that had led to the outbreak of violence in the first place. Vietnam belongs to a now largely forgotten genre called grand reportage , defined by the author’s self-referential quest to root out and right abuses of power, during which he is expected to present conflicting perspectives without disclosing personal opinions. Adherence to such genre conventions allows Roubaud to articulate a robust critique of French colonialism on the front page of the most widely read Parisian daily at the time. Yet, these same conventions, coupled with the paper’s conservative leanings, limit the extent of that critique. To illuminate the nuances of Roubaud’s position, this article places Vietnam in dialogue with three major tenets of the philosophical current known as the ethics of care. In doing so, I demonstrate that through his attention to the particular, his undermining of state narratives, and his text’s evocative structure, Roubaud succeeds in attacking the foundation of the colonial relationship despite refusing to call for independence. Reading Vietnam through the ethics of care therefore reveals Roubaud’s ability to transcend left-wing militant circles and transmit a veritable anticolonial message to a wide swath of the French population, an accomplishment that has been largely overlooked but which merits recognition.
L’article explore le thème de la post-paranoïa dans l’animation française, en se concentrant sur le film Avril et le monde truqué de Christian Desmares et Franck Ekinci. Il définit la post-paranoïa comme une forme contemporaine de paranoïa qui opère dans un cadre où le moi est constamment menacé par un autre en constante évolution et protéiforme. Ce passage de la paranoïa classique, qui traite d’oppositions clairement définies (par exemple, Est contre Ouest), à la post-paranoïa reflète la complexité de la vie politique et sociale moderne. L’article examine comment l’animation française, y compris les récits dystopiques et post-apocalyptiques ( Tante Hilda! , La prophétie des grenouilles ), reflète ce thème de la post-paranoïa, dépeignant souvent des mondes manipulés par la tromperie, la conspiration et la méfiance. Dans Avril et le monde truqué , situé dans une uchronie steampunk, la protagoniste fait face à un monde gouverné par la falsification et la manipulation. Le récit mêle la post-paranoïa avec des thèmes d’uchronie (histoire alternative) et de steampunk, soulevant des questions sur la vérité, la réalité et le pouvoir. L’article discute de la manière dont l’esthétique et la narration du film, fortement influencées par le style graphique de Jacques Tardi, renforcent la critique socio-politique présente dans le film. Il relie également ce thème à des préoccupations plus larges sur l’éthique scientifique, la destruction écologique et l’autoritarisme, situant le film comme une forme de critique politique et culturelle dans le contexte plus large de l’animation française.
This article contextualizes Robert Bresson’s 1977 film Le diable probablement within environmental discourses circulating at the time of its release. Historians of this period have shown how the French state and adjacent actors “invented” the environment in the late 1960s and early 1970s by constituting social conflicts related to nature’s destruction as objects of technocratic power. Environmentalism, in this historiographical paradigm, names a set of generally held beliefs that legitimated such an invention. Bresson’s characters feel a bedeviled environmentalism, this article’s name for an affective situation deriving from the inarticulation or derealization of environmentalism’s convictions. Bedeviled environmentalism arises precisely at the moment of the environment’s invention: while emerging from an experience of authoritative speech about the environment, bedeviled environmentalism seeps into everyday life, inflecting the meaning of words and sounds. Proceeding through a close analysis of three key scenes in Bresson’s film, this article delineates the progression of this bedeviling. In the process, it reveals Le diable probablement to be the site of a complex and historically situated reflection on the environment that has echoes in contemporaneous writings of Georges Perec and Guy Debord. Via the concept of bedeviled environmentalism, this article thus opens new connections between Bressonian criticism, ecocriticism, sound studies, and French environmental history.
