Which “us” denounces injustice? Politicising discrimination through racial or urban identifications in Paris and London
Druez, Elodie
Which “us” denounces injustice? Politicising discrimination through racial or urban identifications in Paris and London - 2022.
49
In this article, I compare the collective identifications mobilised by university graduates of sub-Saharan origin in Paris and London to politicise their experiences of discrimination. I reveal how these identifications echo French and British public policies and debates. While a black identification is clearly claimed in the “race-conscious” British context, it is scarcely politicised in the “colour-blind” French framework. Blackness is mobilised only by French respondents who are highly aware of race issues; others promote migrant or neighbourhood identities to denounce injustice. In effect, the spatialisation of social problems in France means that the politicisation of discrimination emerges more easily through a neighbourhood identification, albeit one into which a racial dimension is interwoven. Conversely, this kind of territorial belonging is not politicised in the United Kingdom, where racial segregation is less of a public issue.
Which “us” denounces injustice? Politicising discrimination through racial or urban identifications in Paris and London - 2022.
49
In this article, I compare the collective identifications mobilised by university graduates of sub-Saharan origin in Paris and London to politicise their experiences of discrimination. I reveal how these identifications echo French and British public policies and debates. While a black identification is clearly claimed in the “race-conscious” British context, it is scarcely politicised in the “colour-blind” French framework. Blackness is mobilised only by French respondents who are highly aware of race issues; others promote migrant or neighbourhood identities to denounce injustice. In effect, the spatialisation of social problems in France means that the politicisation of discrimination emerges more easily through a neighbourhood identification, albeit one into which a racial dimension is interwoven. Conversely, this kind of territorial belonging is not politicised in the United Kingdom, where racial segregation is less of a public issue.
Réseaux sociaux