Colonial Metropolis

The Urban Grounds of Anti-Imperialism and Feminism in Interwar Paris

Jennifer Anne Boittin

• Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
• Year: 2010
• Print ISBN: 9780803225459
• eBook ISBN: 9780803229938
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Gender Studies
• Index: Social Sciences

World War I gave colonial migrants and French women unprecedented access to the workplaces and nightlife of Paris. After the war they were expected to return without protest to their homes—either overseas or metropolitan. Neither group, however, was willing to be discarded.
Between the world wars, the mesmerizing capital of France's colonial empire attracted denizens from Africa, the Caribbean, and the United States. Paris became not merely their home but also a site for political engagement. Colonial Metropolis tells the story of the interactions and connections of these black colonial migrants and white feminists in the social, cultural, and political world of interwar Paris. It explores why and how both were denied certain rights, such as the vote, how they suffered from sensationalist depictions in popular culture, and how they pursued parity in ways that were often interpreted as politically subversive.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Abbreviations
• 1. Josephine Baker: Colonial Woman
• 2. Dancing Dissidents & Dissident Dancers: The Urban Topography of Race
• 3. A Black Colony?: Race and the Origins of Anti-Imperialism
• 4. Reverse Exoticism & Masculinity: The Cultural Politics of Race Relations
• 5. In Black & White: Women, La Depeche Africaine, and the Print Culture of the Diaspora
• 6. "These Men's Minor Transgressions": White Frenchwomen on Colonialism and Feminism
• Conclusion
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index