Representations of the Black Body. “France noire” and her movement in colonial Paris.

Research tells us that “Black" can be a generic term that designates multiple and diverse subjects originating from various continents and parts of the globe with completely different trajectories and historical paths: Africa, the Americans, Asia, and now Europe. Linguistically, it does not seem certain that in English “Black France”, the title of a recent book, necessarily covers all of the signified in words “France noire.” While “Black France may be transparent in the same way the “Black America” is, “France noire” by contrast proves to be polysemic. The first meaning is devoid of any racial reference: it trivially refers to an underground France, parallel, clandestine, and invisible. In the second sense “French Noire” is amendable to politics and history and embodies the French imperialist vison. It designates, in effect, Blacks outside France, but from territory in France’s possession and under French political dominance, as is the case with African colonies and the French overseas departments and territories

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXIFAXCsMCU

Black Paris Tour

We were headed to little Africa. Our tour guide advised us not to take pictures of the blacks in this particular area. This was because of the culture of the integrated black population as they come into France in search for a better life. This group that we are on the way to see can be considered as another invisibles moment for me walking the streets of Paris, France. I not only had to be invisible on the elite side of Paris, I have to move through as if we were still living in colonial times.

A Book titled AOF AEF La France noire: ses peoples, son historie, ses richness illistraes this significance, which compartmentalizes the Black as a colonized subject and subaltern. The third meaning of “France noire,” a contemporary one, concerns the Blacks within Metropolitan France. It implicitly raises the questions of belonging and non-belonging while simultaneously acting as an intervention, affirming the Self as a being and as a subject.

Representations of the Black Body and it’s elevated start: There is in fact some representations of the black body that has evolved in France, in a way there are perceptions that race does not exist, but that depends of who you ask in France. Some see themselves as invisible and some not so much. Many black people move about France, some to visit and some to live. Those who visit can take note of the black bodies that are not often visible in media. The ones who stay are pointed into the direction of the Eurocentric French way. If we are to truly seek out how black bodies are viewed in France throughout media, we can be sure that we would see the integration of the colorblind and not the authentic Afro identity and her truth in France. We are sure to see mixed races of children, art and relationships. If you are black in France, that black could be invisible or embedded in the hegemony of France.