Please join us for a “What I Am Thinking About Now” presentation by Magda Boutros, Postdoctoral Fellow in International and Public Affairs at Brown University, titled “Antiracism without races”.

Abstract: France’s dominant ideology is anti-racialist: it takes a stance against the concept of “race” which is viewed as essentializing and racist, and the law prohibits the collection of racial statistics. For activists seeking to challenge policing practices targeting racialized minorities, this presents formidable challenges. Magda Boutros’ research examines contemporary mobilizations contesting the police in France, and asks: how do activists endeavor to make the role of race in policing visible, in a “race-blind” society? The findings suggest that anti-racialism makes it difficult to make race and its effects visible, but not impossible. Activists’ work has allowed them to evidence racial disparities in police stops, highlight colonial continuities, and uncover institutional practices that disproportionately affect racial minorities. Boutros will show how different modes of knowledge production (statistical, historical, qualitative) inform and consolidate distinct understandings of police racism, as stereotype bias, structural oppression, or systemic discrimination.

Please register through Zoom. If you have previously RSVPed through our Google form, you will be automatically registered. 

“What I Am Thinking About Now” is an on-going informal workshop/seminar series to which faculty and graduate students are invited to present and discuss recently published work and work in progress. All are invited to attend and participate.