Representing Ethnicity in Contemporary French Visual Culture

The issue of ethnicity in France, and how ethnicities are represented there visually, remains one of the most important and polemical aspects of French post-colonial politics and society. Representing ethnicity in contemporary French visual culture is the first book to analyse how a range of different ethnicities have been represented across contemporary French visual culture. Via a diverse series of case studies – ranging from the internationally acclaimed film Amélie to France's popular TV series Plus belle la vie – it explores how ethnicities have been represented in contemporary France across a wide variety of different media, including film, photography, television and the visual arts. Four chapters examine distinct areas of particular importance within contemporary France: national identity, people of Algerian heritage, Jewishness and France's second city Marseille.

Representing ethnicity in contemporary French visual culture will appeal to a wide range of readers. Its innovative, interdisciplinary approach and novel subject matter will complement university courses that focus on contemporary French society and visual culture. It will interest those researching and studying French and European film, photography and television, ethnicity in post-colonial France and visual culture generally.