"Othering" and "Indigenization"?

Don't let academic jargon deter you from attending a presentation on the campus of Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis this week.

The title of the talk by Prof. Didier Gondola of Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis, “Transient Citizenship: The Othering and Indigenization of Blacks and Beurs within the French Republique”, can be "translated" as exploring the roots of racial confrontation and discontent in France.

You're invited to participate at 4:30 p.m. on Friday in room 508 of Cavanaugh Hall, 425 University Boulevard. It's part of IUPUI's acclaimed School of Liberal Arts Sabbatical Speakers Series.

Prof. Gondola, a professor of history at IUPUI, was born in the Congo and raised in Paris. He is the author of The History of the Congo.

For more information on his presentation or the series, contact: Annette Hill, 317:278-1839.

Here's John Clark (of the Sagamore Institute for Policy Research writing about Prof. Didier in IndyBuzz, his postings of "intellectual caffeine served piping hot" in Indianapolis:

"Riots in 2005 wreaked havoc in several French banlieues [French suburbs that feel more like inner city slums than US suburbs such as Carmel]. This led some black and beur [second and third generation French who roots are in North Africa and other parts of the former French Empire] civic organizations — including “les Indigènes de la République” — have attributed the anger fueling the riots to the persistence of colonial relations between France and its population of African descent, the so-called Français issus de l’immigration (first- and second-generation French) as opposed to Français de souche (“native” French). Needless to say, most French pundits and scholars quickly dismissed such an explanation not only as flawed but dangerous as well, a cipher likely to drive a wedge into French society. Instead, these pundits have turned the table on the rioters by putting forth arguments that range from the breakdown of African families living in France, to polygamy, rap music, and more generally their unwillingness or inability to assimilate as more accurate explanations for their marginalization."