French Encounters with Africans: White Response to Blacks, 1530-1880 - Hardcover

Cohen, William B.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0253349222 ISBN 13: 9780253349224

Publisher: Indiana University Press, 1980

Synopsis

In this pioneering work, William B. Cohen traces the ways in which negative attitudes toward blacks became deeply embedded in French culture. Examining the forces that shaped these views, Cohen reveals the persistent inequality of French interactions with blacks in Africa, in the slave colonies of the West Indies, and in France itself. A key role in the formation of negative stereotypes is shown to have been played by the 18th century philosophies, who, while proclaiming human equality, fostered doctrines of biological racism that emerged fully formed in the 19th-century's newly developing sciences, especially physical anthropology. After discussing the process by which these images were built, Cohen analyzes the types of social relations that evolved. Now a classic, "The French Encounter with Africans", is essential reading for anyone engaged in current discussions of European relations with non-Europeans, and with issues of racism, ethnicity, identity, colonialism, and empire.

About this title

Review:

""As French and American historians of France are revisiting the history of French racism today. William B. Cohen s book is more important than ever. It has become a classic."

""""As French and American historians of France are revisiting the history of French racism today. William B. Cohen s book is more important than ever. It has become a classic.""

About the Author:

William B. Cohen (1941-2002) was Professor and former Chair of the Department of History at Indiana University.His books include Rulers of Empire: The French Colonial Service in Africa.James D. Le Sueur is Associate Professor of History at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and lives in Lincoln.

About this edition

• Publisher: Indiana University Press
• Publication date: 1980
• ISBN 10: 0253349222
• ISBN 13: 9780253349224
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 382