Description
Book SynopsisEurope's imperial projects were often predicated on a series of legal and scientific distinctions that were frequently challenged by the reality of social and sexual interactions between the colonized and the colonizers. This title reveals the unacknowledged but central role of race in the definition of French nationality.
Trade Review"Empire's Children is a brilliant and deeply researched exploration of the place of race in the French citizenship experience, focusing on the rights of mixed-race people in French Indochina and other colonies. Emmanuelle Saada deftly weaves together the perspectives of jurists, colonial officials, journalists, and the mixed-raced individuals themselves to demonstrate why the French Empire - and by extension, today's France - cannot be analyzed in black-and-white terms. A nuanced and important account, beautifully translated by Arthur Goldhammer." (Mary Dewhurst Lewis, Harvard University)"