Éric Fassin (Université Paris-8)
Speaker(s): Éric Fassin (Professor of sociology and gender studies, Paris-8 University (Vincennes-Saint-Denis)
Co-Sponsored by the French Culture Workshop and the Services culturels de l’Ambassade de France
Racism and Xenophobia in Neoliberal France and Europe
In Europe today, political xenophobia is not limited to countries run by openly xenophobic parties; it is EU policy. This xenophobia, directed against non-Europeans, feeds racism against Europeans – in particular Blacks, Muslims, Roma people… This is why antiracism must fight, not only explicit racism, not just systemic racial discriminations, but also State xenophobia and policies that racialize European nations.
But the rise of racism and xenophobia in the EU has to be understood in a broader context: “Fortress Europe” is also neoliberal Europe. We have to understand how one logic is connected to the other, without assuming an economic determination that leaves out the role of politics. Comparing and contrasting different countries is needed. In particular, how are we to understand the two sides of today’s Germany – ruthless against the Greek people, compassionate towards refugees?
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Éric Fassin is a professor of sociology in the Political Science Department and the Gender Studies program at Paris 8 University, affiliated with the Laboratoire d’études de genre et de sexualité (LEGS, CNRS – Paris 8 – Paris Ouest). He works on contemporary sexual and racial politics in France and the United States, and their intersections (e.g. immigration in Europe). He is frequently involved in French public debates on issues his work addresses. He is the author of books such as L’inversion de la question homosexuelle (2005), Le sexe politique (2009), and Démocratie précaire. Chroniques de la déraison d’État (2012), co-author of four volumes on French immigration policies (Cette France-là, 2008-2012), co-editor of De la question sociale à la question raciale? (2006). Published in 2014: Roms & Riverains. Une politique municipale de la race (La Fabrique), Gauche : l’avenir d’une disillusion (Textuel), and the new edition of Foucault’s Herculine Barbin (Gallimard). He is at work on Le genre français (La Découverte, 2016).
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